Research and Scholarship Integrity Program
Small Group Discussion 2
Credit Attribution
Humanities
Adapted from Robin Levin Penslar, Research Ethics: Cases and Materials (Bloomington:
Indiana University), 188-189.
Using an Unpublished Dissertation
Professor Jones just published his third book, Fields of Dreams, on land reform in twentiethcentury South America. Chapter four relies heavily on a doctoral dissertation whose author,
Dunn, is now a second-year assistant professor at a major research university. Dunn is in the
process of revising the dissertation into a book; he intends to submit the manuscript to the top
publisher in his field next year.
Jones properly attributed the ideas presented in chapter four to Dunn in an initial footnote.
When Dunn read Jones's book, however, his reaction was one of shock. “Who will want to
publish my book now? All of my best ideas are in Jones's book. No one is going to read the
notes, and even if they do, the fact is that Jones said it first. It's books that count, not
dissertations.”
Questions
1. Has Jones done anything wrong? What use can scholars ethically make of unpublished
dissertations?
2. Are Dunn's fears justified?
3. Would it make a difference if instead of "relying heavily" on Dunn's dissertation, Jones
simply cited it for several specific points? Why or why not?
4. Would it make a difference if Dunn's work were a book or an article rather than a
dissertation? Why or why not?
5. Would it make a difference if Jones heavily relied not just on chapter four of Dunn's
thesis, but also on chapters two, three, and five (but not the introduction or chapter six)?
Why or why not?
6. Suppose that eight years have passed since Dunn completed his dissertation; he has not
yet published a book or major article based on it. Suppose also that Jones cites the
dissertation appropriately throughout his work. Can other scholars treat the dissertation as
if it were a book? How long should they wait to see if he will publish it? Must his
permission be sought before using it? What if the dissertation were 20 years old?
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Research and Scholarship Integrity Program
Small Group Discussion 2
Credit Attribution
Humanities
Adapted from Robin Levin Penslar, Research Ethics: Cases and Materials (Bloomington:
Indiana University), 190-191.
Footnote Mining
Edwards's dissertation was on nineteenth-century Georgia. He has been revising his dissertation
and hopes to publish it with a major university press. Thomas, a scholar who, though in the same
general field as Edwards, works on a different topic, has just published a book. Thomas's new
book, on farming in the South before the Civil War, departs from his usual line of research.
Edwards reads the book and finds to his initial satisfaction that his work has been cited. On
reading further, however, he finds that his dissertation was cited only once, for a rather obscure
point, but that Thomas has extensively cited the sources Edwards used. Edwards's feeling is that
Thomas simply "mined" his thesis for sources, but only gave him credit for the one detail. He
thinks that, at best, Thomas went back to the archives and at worst, Thomas stole Edwards's
work, citing sources he had never seen. In either case, Edwards thinks, Thomas should have cited
him as his source.
Questions
1. Did Thomas do anything wrong? If so, what?
2. Is it relevant that Edwards's work is a dissertation rather than a published book or article?
Why or why not?
3. What, if anything, can Edwards do?
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Research and Scholarship Integrity Program
Small Group Discussion 2
Credit Attribution
Humanities
Adapted from Robin Levin Penslar, Research Ethics: Cases and Materials (Bloomington:
Indiana University), 185-186.
Role of Research Assistants
Sam, a graduate student in history, has worked with Professor Brooks as a teaching assistant in
three courses and is now a research assistant for her. They have a very good working relationship
even though their central interests are quite different; in fact, Professor Brooks is not even on
Sam’s dissertation committee.
Professor Brooks receives a grant to edit a collection of essays on the history of the American
South. She envisions dividing the collection into three main sections and writing a general
introduction and an introduction to each of the sections. She knows that Sam really is more of
an expert on the topic of one of the sections than she is. Sam’s workload as Brooks’s research
assistant has been light for several months, whereas Brooks’s workload has been quite heavy, so
she asks Sam to write a draft of an introduction to the third section. “Just jot something out
quickly,” she says, “to help me organize my thoughts.”
Sam knows that it will be easy for him to “jot out” a draft introduction, and he does so over the
next two weeks.
Questions
1. Is it appropriate for Professor Brooks to give Sam this assignment? Is it less appropriate
to ask a research assistant to write something than it is to ask her or him to research
something?
2. Suppose Professor Brooks likes Sam's draft very much; she rearranges it a bit, adds a
section, drops a few paragraphs, and generally polishes the writing. Then she uses it as the
introduction, citing Sam only as her research assistant in the general acknowledgements,
without making reference to his written contribution. Is this okay? How much of an
acknowledgement should Sam get?
3. Suppose Sam's draft is so good that Professor Brooks hardly changes a word. How much
of an acknowledgement should he get?
4. Now imagine that rather than writing an introduction to one-third of the book, Sam
writes a draft of the general introduction. Due to time constraints, Professor Brooks
decides not to include the introductions to the separate sections. Now it turns out that
Professor Brooks’s contribution to the book amounts to making the difficult decisions on
what essays to include, getting the grant, and asking Sam to write the introduction. How
much of an acknowledgement does Sam deserve in this case?
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