Presenter/Author:
Francis Degnin
Philosophy & Medical Ethics
degnin@uni.edu
Primary Author:
Helen C. Harton
Professor of Psychology
Harton@uni.edu
What is Ethics?
Why Should I Care?
Ethos: (literally) Dwelling
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Ethics is about HOW we dwell
 With one another
 With our world
 Even with ourselves
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It’s about the entire range of human
activities which define us.
Aristotle: Ethics has a goal
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Human happiness/human flourishing
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Physical
Psychological
Social
Intellectual
Spiritual
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Flourishing is complex
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And while both the content and the values of what
makes on happy or allows one to flourish vary
greatly, there are common and communal
components.
Professional Ethics?
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By the very nature of being part of a profession, you are
engaging in social interactions and a social contract with
others.
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It is part of how we express and develop our intellectual
faculties.
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For most, it’s part of how we make our living, so it has to
do with the physical side of flourishing.
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It even feeds our psychological well being, for example,
our sense of self worth.
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For those who believe in a spiritual dimension, it usually
serves some function there as well.
Why Should I care about
Intellectual Property?
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The rules of our professions have a direct impact on
our lives and on the lives of others.
 If someone steals your intellectual property, that can effect
your reputation, professional advancement, livelihood, etc.
 If you steal someone else's intellectual property, in
addition to the above, is discovered, it can ruin your
reputation and livelihood.
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Lying about study methods or results can also result
in false results, which can impact science, policy
decisions, even the physical or psychological well
being of others.
Why do we care about proper
attribution of ideas?
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It’s stealing
It’s lazy
It doesn’t make an original contribution
It doesn’t show understanding or
processing
It may be misleading to the reader—
making the literature seem stronger or
weaker than it is
It may even be illegal (copyright
infringement)
What is plagiarism?
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“…plagiarism is defined as the process
of stealing or passing off as one’s own
the ideas or words of another, or
presenting as one’s own an idea or
product which is derived from an
existing source”
UNI Policies, Chapter 3, www.uni.edu/policies
What are its consequences?
At a minimum, failing the paper
 Potentially being asked to leave your
program and/or the university
 Legal consequences
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What products does it apply to?
Manuscripts submitted for publication
 Theses, dissertations, and research
papers
 Conference presentations
 Papers or presentations for class
 Thesis, dissertation, and research
proposals
 Take home tests
 Any other assignment or product
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Plagiarism of text
Always use quotation marks and page
numbers for direct quotes
 Sometimes even using one word without
quotation marks can be plagiarism!
 Don’t just thesaurus a few new words or
move things around
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Paraphrasing?
Requires BOTH:
 Substantial modification of the sentence
structure and language, with references and
quotation marks where appropriate.
 Includes “added material to fit [a]…. new
context and purpose.”
http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_paraphrase.html
Plagiarism of ideas
Always give credit to others’ ideas
 If the idea for a project came from
somewhere else (discussion section of
another article, personal
communication), cite that as well
 If you’re collaborating, make
ownership/authorship clear early in the
process (but leave room for changes)
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How can I avoid plagiarism?
Intention may not matter (guilt vs
remedy)
 Don’t just have strings of quotes
 Read, then pause before writing
 Make sure you understand what you’ve
read
 Make notes on the article
 Outline your article and then fill in
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Self-plagiarism
Republishing a paper or just adding data
 Cutting a paper up and publishing small
parts
 Re-using your old text
 Double-dipping (turning in parts of the
same paper for more than one
class/project)
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Understand the Goals?
Why is self plagiarism a problem?
 An editor may think that she/he is receiving an
original work, when it’s just a reprint, minor edit,
or a minor addition of data.
 You could be “padding” your resume in an
inauthentic way.
 Using the same assignment for two classes
means that you’ve not really done as much work
or learning.
Avoiding Self Plagiarism
Reusing data in a new way, or with substantial additions,
may be acceptable.
 Reusing older material as part of a larger or different
project is generally acceptable.
 Reprinting an article or case can also be acceptable.
 Even cutting up an article into smaller pieces CAN be
acceptable.
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THE KEY IS TRANSPARENCY:
 Acknowledge the original source in which it was published.
 Get permission, if needed, from the previous publication or
teacher.
 Make sure the new editor/teacher knows of the former
publication/paper.
Other unethical writing practices
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Citing something you haven’t read or have
only read the abstract of
Citing secondary sources in such a way as
to suggest you’ve also read the original or
where you should have read the original.
Selective reporting of literature
Selective reporting of method or results
Submitting things without co-author
approval
Who owns the data/product?
Professor?
 Student?
 Agency/Sponsor?
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Who should be an author?
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Duke University Policies: An author should meet ALL of the following
criteria:
 “made a significant contribution to the conception and design of the
project, or the analysis and interpretation of the data, or other substantial
scholarly effort….
 participated in drafting, reviewing and/or revising the work….
 approved the final version for publication.”
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Activities like data collection are not sufficient to warrant authorship.
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The order of authors should be consistent with the practices of one’s
discipline.
http://www.provost.duke.edu/pdfs/Authorship_guidelines.pdf
When you have doubts or
questions…
ASK!
 Look at guidelines in your discipline
 Resources will be posted with these
Powerpoints
 Error on the side of attribution and
transparency.
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