Q. I’m so worried about making an accidental academic integrity mistake that it’s giving me writer’s block. What happens if I make an honest mistake?

It’s great that you’re aware of academic integrity and that you’re doing your best to make choices that are respectful of your audience’s expectations. Honest mistakes happen, even when students are doing their best to demonstrate academic integrity. If you’re attending RRU, as set out in the procedures associated with the Academic Integrity policy for students, the first step when academic misconduct is suspected is a conversation between an instructor and a student to reach an informal resolution that addresses the error (Royal Roads University, n.d., para. 2). If an honest mistake happens, you'll be able to learn about the error, discuss what happened with your instructor, learn what you need to do differently next time, and discuss any further steps needed to resolve the situation. 

If you’re a RRU student and you’re feeling so overwhelmed by worrying about academic integrity mistakes that you have writer’s block, reach out to your instructor or the Writing Centre to learn more about academic integrity so you can feel more confident about your choices.

In the Writing Centre, we often hear from students that they’re very worried about academic integrity as it relates to quoting, paraphrasing, citing, and referencing sources according to the APA Style rules. Incorrect APA Style formatting isn’t necessarily academic misconduct, but we understand how not feeling confident about those two aspects of writing can combine to create writer’s block. If the root of your concern about academic integrity is not feeling confident about using the APA Style rules correctly to cite and reference information, we can help! Please refer to our APA Style (7th ed.) guide and the APA Style WriteAnswers FAQs. If you're a RRU student, contact us to ask a question, or schedule a 30-minute appointment so that we can assist you. 

Reference

Royal Roads University. (n.d.). Procedure: Academic integrity and misconduct for students. https://www.royalroads.ca/policies/academic-integrity-and-misconduct-students-0