INFORMATION LITERACY &

RESEARCH SKILLS 11
UCS105

Chapter 9
Ethical use of Information

October 2015
 OUTLINE

1. Understanding plagiarism.
2. Communicating information legally and
ethically.
3. Citing information sources and references.
 Ethics

 Ethics – the discipline concerned

with what is morally good and bad,
right and wrong.

Ethics. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica.

Retrieved October  6,  2007, from Encyclopædia
Britannica Online:
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9106054

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 What is Ethics
Some thoughts on Ethics:

 Ethics has to do with what your feelings tell

you is right or wrong.
 Ethics has to do with your religious beliefs.
 Being ethical is doing what the law requires.
 Ethics consists of the standards of behaviour

that our society accepts.

Ethical Use of Information

 Intellectual property
 Copyright
 Plagiarism
 Patenting
 Definition of Scientific Misconduct
Scientific misconduct is fabrication,
falsification, or plagiarism in proposing,
performing, or reviewing research, or in
reporting research results (Federal Register,
October, 1999).

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 Seven Areas of Scientific
Dishonesty

1.Plagiarism
2.Fabrication and falsification
3.Faulty data-gathering procedures
4.Poor data storage and retention
5.Misleading authorship
6.Sneaky publication practices

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 Plagiarism
 Plagiarism—using the ideas, writings, and
drawings of others as your own.

Plagiarism is intellectual theft.

Any use of another author’s
research, ideas or language
without proper attribution may
be considered plagiarism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptHIA5bMnio
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 How to avoid Plagiarism
1. Research: Keep a record of the collection of
research notes.
2. Writing: Avoid following the pattern of
argument or writing used by others.
3. Footnoting: Be aware of the footnote (or
endnote) and the different ways to
acknowledge the work of others.
4. Editing: When completed, look again and ask:
 Is the idea or argument, and language

expressed entirely your own?

 Should more credit be given to the original

author?
 Fabrication and Falsification
 Fabrication and falsification: making up or
altering data. The integrity of research
depends on the integrity of the data and the
data record.
 Falsification can be the practice of omitting
or altering:
 research materials,
 equipment,
 data,
 and processes to affect the results of the

research.
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Faulty gathering of Data: Omitting
Falsification of data includes omitting of
data:

 Data that don’t support the desired outcome

are not included or omitted in results.
 Outlier – unrepresentative score; a score that
lies outside of the normal scores are not
included.
 Bad data (inaccurate) should be recognised
while it is being collected or analysed to redo.

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 Ethical Data Gathering
Ethical practice in data gathering:

 Collect not only the most important or most

aggravating data.
 Not dropping non-complying data
 To fix broken equipment for accuracy of data.
 Treat subjects with respect and dignity.
 Record data accurately.
 Safe and private place for data storage.
 Faulty Data Gathering

Wrong practice towards use of participants:

 Collecting data. Could be from non-qualified

participants with requirements of the study.
 Treating participants inappropriately-
pressure.

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 Poor Data Storage and Retention

Data should be stored in its original collected

form for at least 3 years after publication to be
checked.

 Data should be made available for examination.

 Confidentiality of participants should be
maintained.

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 Misleading Authorship
Misleading authorship—who should be an
author?

• Technicians do not necessarily become

joint authors.
• Authorship should involve only those
who contribute directly.
• Discuss authorship before the project!

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 Unethical Publication Practices
 Publication of the thesis
or dissertation:
◦ Should be regarded as
the student’s work.
◦ Committee chair and
members may be listed
as secondary authors.
 Dual publication – a
manuscript should only
be published once in a
single journal.
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 Copyright
 Copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade
secrets are examples of different legal
mechanisms for protecting intellectual
property.
 A copyright is a form of legal protection

provided by the Government.

 Copyright grants the creator the right to

reproduce the work, prepare derivatives of it,

and to lend, rent, lease, or sell copies of the
work to others.
 Referencing
 Doing references or ‘Citation is the practice of
systematically indicating the origins of
thoughts, ideas, knowledge, or words that one
uses to author a report, essay, article, speech,
book Web site, or other work’ (Walker & Taylor,
2006, p. 29).
 Reasons for Referencing
Neville (2007) gives 9 important reasons why authors need to
follow academic writing conventions by including referencing:

1. Accurate referencing to avoid being accused of plagiarism.

2. To indicate appreciation, to show courtesy and respect, about
honouring the work of other researchers.
3. To trace the origin of ideas.
4. To build your own set of ideas.
5. To validate an argument presentation of valid evidence in an
assignment.
6. To spread knowledge- lists of references at the end can be used
in identifying other related sources for your own research.
7. To show the authors or sources that influences your writing
8. Evidence of your intellectual integrity.
 Why you should not Plagiarise?
Here are some of the reasons why you should NOT
plagiarise:

 It is unfair to the true author.

 You will not learn anything.
 Teachers are trained to recognise plagiarism.
 Now there are plagiarism detection softwares to use.
 You will get a bad reputation.
 You could be expelled from your studies.
 You could get fined.
 You could lose your job.
 Referencing Styles
 Hundreds of different referencing styles for citing
the sources of your research material.
 Use the referencing style recommended.
 Select a referencing style, follow the same style
consistently.
Examples:
 APA: American Psychological Association.

 MLA: Modern Language Association

 Harvard

 Chicago Manual of Style

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10eg_GB_A9E
 Elements in References
 Book: author(s), title, edition, year of publication,
publisher, place of publication, page numbers of
cited material (depending on style requirements).
 Book chapter: editor(s), title, author(s) of chapter,
title of chapter, edition, year of publication,
publisher, place of publication, page numbers of
chapter, page numbers of cited material
(depending on style requirements).
 Journal article: author(s), year of publication, article
title, journal title, volume number, issue number,
page numbers.
 Webpage: individual author(s) or organisation, date
created, title, date accessed, URL.
American Psychological Association

Single Author

 Last name first, followed by author’s

initials. Example:

Schmidt, J.J. (2008). Counselling in schools:

comprehensive programs of responsive
services for all students. Boston:
Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.
American Psychological Association

Two Authors
 List by their last names and initials. Use the

ampersand “&” instead of “and”

 Example:

Senadza, B. & Petty, R. E. (2012). Education

inequality in Ghana: Gender and spatial
dimensions. Journal of Economic Studies,
39 (6), 724-739.
APA Style
Two Authors
 APA: Edited Book

Edited Book, (No Author)

 Tribe, J. (Ed.). (2009). Philosophical issues in

tourism. Bristol, UK: Channel View
Publications.
 Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for

preparing psychology journal articles. Journal

of Comparative and Physiological Psychology,
55, 893-896.
 Example of APA Style
Referencing in APA Style:

 Title: How to design and evaluate research in education

 Language: English
 Authors : Fraenkel, J. R. & Wallen, N. E.
 Publication Information: New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
 Edition:7th ed.
 Publication Date:2009

Fraenkel, J. R., & Wallen, N. E. (2009). How to design

and evaluate research in education (7th ed.). New York,
NY: McGraw-Hill.
 NOTE
 For extra notes in referencing in APA style,
please read:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource
/560/01/