Online Ethics and Etiquette

What is netiquette?

o The word “netiquette” is derived from two words, namely network and etiquette.
o Netiquette is a set of dos and don’ts that netizens should follow when surfing the internet.
o Although there are no specific written rules in the cyberspace, netizens are still expected to
follow a set of guidelines on how to behave when online.
o It is important for the netizens to know the proper netiquette so that one can express freely
without offending anyone.
o Netiquette does not only cover how one communicate with others, it also covers guidelines on
one can properly use resources online.

What is Intellectual Property?

o Intellectual property is anything that is a result of one’s creativity

o May be an invention, a design, or any form of art
o Protected by Intellectual Property Rights, a right of the property owner to decide to whom the
property will be shared, and gives the owner the right to sue anyone who uses the property
without his/her authorization
o Different types of Intellectual Property Rights addressed different types of intellectual property

Do Note
o The internet promotes freedom of speech, but the netizens must avoid flaming and insulting
fellow netizens
o Rules in real life still apply online.
o Exploiting children, spreading extremist ideologies, cyber theft, and Intellectual Property Right
violations are still punishable by law
o Internet has no borders but cultural differences are still existing; therefore, we are expected to
accept and respect each other’s culture and norms.
o Refrain from making racist jokes, participating in cyber bullying, or stalking someone without
their knowledge.
o These actions are considered abusive.

Online Research Tools

o Online research tools are a set of digital tool that aid the user in performing research.
 o Also have their advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of Online Research Tools

o Offer a single source of information where the user can perform data gathering from a single
point of location.
o Allow you to save a topic that you found online, securely store it and access it on a later time.
o Increase the pace of researchers when gathering and organizing data.
o Theoretically, a source of unlimited resources
o If used efficiently, the internet is like a large library that can provide you with all the information
you need to perform your research.

Disadvantages of Online Research Tools

o Some online resources come with additional fee for you to fully access their contents.
o Some will require you one-time payment
o Others will require you to pay a monthly subscription before you can access the content you
need
o Everyone is free to post anything online
o Articles published online more likely has gone through lesser quality assurance checks compared
to published books
o Anyone can buy a domain name and start publishing articles online.
o Contents are not strictly moderated - quality control is harder on the internet
o Many articles out there are biased towards specific brand/service they are advertising for

Google Search

o The most popular and powerful search engine in the 21st century
o This has evolved from a simple search engine into a smart one – capable of searching the web
through voice input and filtering the results according to your behavioral data

Google Scholar

o Gives users, especially researchers, a simpler way to search for scholarly literature on the
Internet
o You can search for research papers, articles, books, court rulings, and other sources of
information
o Great tool when looking for contents for the Related Literature section of your research paper

Online Journals

o Journal – A periodical publication that contains scholarly articles relating to a particular

discipline or field of study.
o These are published by academic or scientific institutions (including universities), and the
contributors are researchers, professors, doctors, and other professionals in their respective
fields.
 o Articles in journals are different from newspapers. Newspapers are intended for general readers
while journal articles are intended for academics and people who are engaged in specialized
fields of study.
o Most of the time, journal articles are the most useful as primary information sources for
research.
o Online journals, in turn, are scholarly publications released in a format accessible via the
Internet.
o In other words, journals that are kept in school libraries and other libraries in the world are kept
in the Cloud or Internet in digital format.
o e.g.
o Oxford University Press

Academic Websites

o Wikipedia is a common starting point when conducting research.

o However, the content that you are going to use when writing your paper must be taken from
the cited references for the Wikipedia article and not the article itself
o Primary source is not only more reliable source, but may contain information that you can use
to support your claims
o There are many academic websites and libraries that provide electronic copies of papers,
journals, books, videos, and audio recordings that may aid you in the research process.
o The following are the some of the most notable.
o Internet Archive – a non-profit electronic library that has a free-to-access collection of digitized
materials ranging from websites, multimedia files, and academic materials.
o A large number of books, including modern ones, can also be borrowed from the Open Library,
also run by the Internet Archive
o EBSCO is another digital library that offers premium fee-based access to mainly academic
materials that are normally not available for public use.
o It runs a service called EBSCOhost that provides an online research database with full-text digital
copies of books, medical references, and historical archives.
o JSTOR – another digital library that is primarily licensed to academic, scientific, and other
research and educational institutions.
o Like EBSCOhost, it provides full-text searches of books, primary sources, and other reference
and scholarly materials.
o Is part of ITHAKA, a non-profit organization that promotes sustainable research and teaching in
the academe via digital technologies
o Philippine Ejournals – is an online bibliographic database & repository of academic journals in
different disciplines from various resources https://ejournals.ph
o Pubmed – comprises more than 28 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life
science journals, and online books https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed
o Directory of Open Access Journals – is an online directory that indexes and provides access to
quality open access, peer-reviewed journals https://doaj.org
o sia Journals Online – a portal to scholarly journals published in Bangladesh, Nepal, The
Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia www.asiajol.info
How do we determine whether a source is credible?

1.) Check the URL

We can easily determine the type of organization behind the website
o .com is for commercial use
o .edu is for educational use
o .gov is for government use
o .org is usually for nonprofit organizations
o .net is usually for network service providers, and lastly
o .mil are for military use only
 The URL often contains the name of the abbreviation of the organization / publisher’s name in
its URL
2.) We should also take note of the following:
a.) Credibility of the content publisher
b.) The content must be unbiased and of no commercial use
c.) What are the target audience of the article and how recent was it published?
d.) The date of publish
e.) Citation and references

Final thoughts on Online Research

o With online research, we tend to be easily distracted by the other contents on the internet.
o Dramatically reduces our pace and productivity.
o When performing online research, we must maintain self-discipline so that we can efficiently
perform our tasks.

CONTEXTUALIZE SEARCH

o Can be defined as a skilled or optimized way of searching the Internet based on the “context”
provided, therefore narrowing down the results given back to you by the search engine
(Feldman, 2012)
o Fortunately, there are some handy tricks we can use when performing online research, making
the search easier and more precise.
o A few of this tricks will be discussed in the next slide

How to Google It