The chances are you applied to enter the University of Nottingham because you value the degree certificate you will be awarded on completion of your studies. You were aware that the institution enjoys the reputation of being a first league learning centre, and that not all universities are the same. The central ethic that has assured both Nottingham's place among the notable, and the value of your certificate, is trust.

A university is a community in which ideas can be expressed freely, and where there is mutual respect even when ideas differ or conflict. But even where such freedom exists, sharing ideas will never be safe without some consensus about how to protect those ideas. It is from these concerns that conventions about how to cite other writers' thoughts, ideas and work have developed. Part of the learning process you have already been involved with will have encouraged you to acknowledge your sources, and to avoid the 'cut and paste' approach to written assignments that the digital age has allowed.

This concern for preserving the freedom of academic communities works in two directions. It both protects the intellectual ownership of others, but it also safeguards your own original contributions. It is an ethic that transcends time and includes all individuals and learning communities, past and present, which have contribution to the development of knowledge and understanding. In the global, borderless community of which we are a part, theories are to be found on the world-wide-web, in print, film and in new technologies which are rapidly developing. All of this represents intellectual effort and investments which need to be respected. Respecting the intellectual property of others is therefore the central ethic of academic integrity in the university community, which takes its place among many different knowledge producing communities. It is a responsibility and set of values for which all members of such communities are accountable to uphold and protect.

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