# What is academic integrity?

> Academic integrity means honest work and fair assessment. Here's what breaks it, from plagiarism to AI-written work, and how schools can check fairly.

Learn · Glossary

Academic integrity is honesty in learning and assessment: doing your own work, crediting others' work, and taking exams fairly. Schools protect it with clear rules, good assessment design and fair checks.

- Page: https://sparkmentis.ai/learn/academic-integrity

## What breaks it

- Copying from other students or the web
- Handing in AI-written work as your own
- Getting help in an exam that isn't allowed
- Leaked papers

## Checking fairly

Plagiarism checks and exam integrity tools should raise flags, not verdicts. A person looks at the evidence and decides; marks never change on their own.

## Questions

**Can AI detection prove a student used AI?**

No tool can prove it reliably. Treat any signal as a reason to talk, not a verdict.

**How do schools reduce cheating?**

Clear rules, varied assessment, sealed papers and fair checks reviewed by people.

## Related

- [SparK-12: Plagiarism checker](https://app.sparkmentis.ai/features/plagiarism-checker): Student-to-student matching, web optional
- [Paper leak prevention](https://sparkmentis.ai/features/exam-paper-leak-prevention.md): SparkExam
- [SparkMentis vs Turnitin](https://app.sparkmentis.ai/compare/sparkmentis-vs-turnitin): On app.sparkmentis.ai

## Book a demo

Email info@sparkmentis.ai (subject "SparkMentis demo request") with your organization, your role and the products you're interested in.