Using Sources Ethically

The complex, lively process of research is enriched by the exchange of ideas. However, discussions of research ethics sometimes reduce that topic to one issue: plagiarism. Plagiarism is viewed especially seriously in college because it shows a deep disrespect for the work of the academic world — investigating, evaluating, analyzing, interpreting, and synthesizing ideas. And it may have serious consequences — failing a paper, failing a course, or being dismissed from the institution.

Plagiarism Problem Remedy
You have dawdled. Someone tells you about a site that sells papers, but you know this is wrong. Plus their topics don’t sound like your assignment, and you need to hand in drafts and an annotated bibliography, too. Don’t buy the paper. Ask your instructor for more time, even with a penalty. Cancel your social life for the week, and hunt for recommended sources. Be proud that you showed integrity and didn’t risk your college career.
You’ve fully investigated a serious research question about a problem affecting your family, but now you’re mixing up what you’ve quoted, summed up, and thought up yourself. You’re afraid your disorganization will look like plagiarism. Stop and get organized. Link every note or file to its source with the author’s last name (or brief title) and page number. Treat unidentified leftover notes as background. Don’t add what you can’t credit.
You found a great book in the library but had only a minute to record the basics. Later you found these notes:

InDfCult, HUP, Cambridge, Carol Padden, Tom Humphries, 5 122 For Df voice/technol = issue Relates to cult def

 Go back to the library, and get help finding the book. Spell out clear information about Inside Deaf Culture by Carol Padden and Tom Humphries, published in Cambridge, MA, by Harvard University Press in 2005. Turn back to p. 122. Decide what to do: quote (exact words with quotation marks) or paraphrase (your own words, not “parroting”).
You’ve never read a book with hard words like transmogrify and heuristic. You can’t restate them because you don’t understand them. You’re afraid your instructor will think you’re a cheater who just copied, not an embarrassed student who can’t read well enough. Don’t use a source you can’t understand. Look for others shelved nearby or listed under the same keywords. If the source is required, reread and sum up each passage in turn to master it. Spend time improving your reading using campus or community support services.
You’re struggling to start writing. Finally you’re creating sentences, then pasting in notes. You suddenly wonder how you’ll figure out where to add your source citations. What if you didn’t identify a few sources or add the page numbers for quotations? Backtrack fast. Add notes (color, brackets, or comments) to mark exactly where you need to add a source citation later. For yourself, note the basics — author and page. Add quotation marks for words directly from the source at the moment you integrate them.
In your home country, you and your friends worked together to state the answer the teacher expected. Everyone handed it in, so nobody was left out. Here your teacher wants different papers, and you are afraid yours will be wrong. Different cultures have different expectations. Research papers here often are explorations, not right answers. Think about ideas of classmates or sources, but write down your own well-reasoned thoughts. Get advice from the ESL or writing center.

Plagiarists intentionally present someone else’s work as their own — whether they dishonestly submit as their own a paper purchased from the Web, pretend that passages copied from an article are their own writing, present the ideas of others without identifying their sources, or paste in someone else’s graphics without acknowledgment or permission.

Although college writers may not intend to plagiarize, most campus policies look at the outcome, not the intent. Working carefully with sources and treating ideas and expressions of others respectfully can build the skills necessary to avoid mistakes. Educating yourself about the standards of your campus, instructor, and profession also can protect you from ethical errors with heavy consequences. The chart on page 688 illustrates how to avoid or remedy common situations that can generate problems.

Careful researchers acknowledge intellectual obligations and responsibilities, showing respect for all engaged in the academic exchange:

RESEARCH CHECKLIST

Learning How to Conduct Research Ethically

  • Have you accepted the responsibility of reviewing your campus standards for ethical academic conduct? Have you checked your syllabus for any explanation about how those standards apply in your course?
  • If you feel ill prepared for doing research, have you sought help from your instructor or staff at the library, writing center, or computer lab?
  • Are you regularly recording source entries in your working bibliography?
  • Are you carefully distinguishing your own ideas from those of your sources when you record notes or gather material for your research archive? Have you tried putting source notes in one column on a page and your thoughts in a second column?
  • Are you sticking to your research schedule to avoid a deadline crisis?
  • Have you analyzed your paper-writing habits to identify any, such as procrastination, that might create ethical problems for you? How do you plan to change such habits to avoid problems?
  • Have you used this book to practice and improve research skills (such as quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing)?
  • Have you found the chapter in this book that explains the documentation style you’ll use in your paper? If not, find it now.
  • Have you identified and followed campus procedures for conducting field research involving other people?
  • Have you recorded contact information so that you can request permission to include any visual materials from sources in your paper?
  • If your research is part of a group project, have you honored your agreements, meeting your obligations in a timely manner?
  • Have you asked your instructor’s advice about any other ethical issues that have arisen during your research project?