Ethical Use of Information
Introduction
A major goal of the College of William and Mary is to foster an environment
supporting the creation of original scholarly work that can be shared
beyond the university. To create this type of environment, it is important
that students learn how to use information in an ethical manner.
Clearly, stealing another person's scholarship undermines the core values
of our academic community, but you may have questions about specific aspects
of information ethics that will be addressed below.
When you research a topic and then use the information you have gathered
to prepare a paper, speech, or creative work, you must use that information
responsibly. This involves:
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Avoiding plagiarism by properly citing all sources.
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Respecting copyright law.
Avoiding Plagiarism
Plagiarism is representing someone else's work as your own by not clearly
acknowledging the source of your information. This behavior is a violation
of the College's Honor
Code, the agreement among all William and Mary students not to
lie, cheat or steal.
Clearly, turning in a paper downloaded from an Internet site or received
from a fellow student is a breach of academic integrity. Use of "paper
mill" sites and "borrowing" from another student are clear violations of
the College's Honor Code check.
More commonly students lose track of their sources during the research
process and then have trouble relating text passages to their sources during
the writing process. For example, the ease with which computer software
allows for cutting and pasting text from a variety of on-line sites can
lead to an awkward patchwork of information, all of which must then be
appropriately paraphrased and cited in order to be incorporated into an
acceptable paper. Just as you would put in quotes any passage typed directly
from a book or article, any passage cut and pasted directly into a paper
must be indicated with quotes.
Note-taking tips to avoid plagiarism:
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Place quotation marks around passages taken directly from a source. It
is important to copy the wording, punctuation and spelling exactly as it
appears in the original.
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Jot down the page number and author or title of the source each time you
make a note, even when paraphrasing.
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As you paraphrase, do not simply re-arrange words and/or replace certain
words with their synonyms. It is best to not refer to the original passage
while creating a paraphrase. Check for accuracy after writing your own
version of the passage.
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Be sure to keep a working bibliography in your research notes so that you
will have the necessary information to construct citations during the writing
process.
Self-plagiarism: Re-using a paper written for one course to satisfy
the requirements of another course is also plagiarism. If you wish to use
a previously completed paper as a starting point for new research, ask
for the instructor's permission first. If you want to use substantially
similar papers to satisfy the requirements for two related courses, then
ask for permission from both instructors.
Examples of Paraphrasing
The following quote is from Ann Cooper Albright's Choreographing Difference:
The Body and Identity in Contemporary Dance:
"During the past decade, there has been a virtual explosion
of dances that use upper body strength (particularly in women) and require
the stamina to endure unprecedented athletic challenges. The romanticized
image of the ballerina as an embodiment of feminine grace and beauty, or
even the image of the early modern dancer poised proud and tall in her
weighted stance has been displaced by a fearless, aerobicized physicality."
The following version is an unacceptable paraphrase and an example
of plagiarism:
Over the last 10 years, there has been a big increase in choreographic
works that require dancers to have unprecedented amounts of upper body
strength, stamina and endurance. The romantic idea of a graceful and beautiful
ballerina or the image of a proud and tall modern dancer has been replaced
by a fearless and aerobicized physical presence.
The above paragraph is plagiarized because the writer only changed some
of the word choices and word order of the original, failing to actually
summarize the information in her own words. She also gives no citation
of the source of the ideas. In addition, due to the poor re-writing, she
lost some of the meaning of the original information.
The following version is an acceptable paraphrase:
Contemporary choreography has most recently called upon dancers
- and, in particular, female dancers - to exhibit greater and greater levels
of physical strength and endurance. Softer images of female dancers, in
both ballet and modern styles, are being supplanted by images of female
physical power (Albright, 35).
This paragraph is acceptable because the writer relayed the original information
accurately in her own words, and she cited her source.
Here is an example of a paraphrase and a quote used together in an acceptable
manner:
Contemporary choreography has most recently called upon dancers
- and, in particular, female dancers - to exhibit greater and greater levels
of physical strength and endurance. "The romanticized image of the ballerina
as an embodiment of feminine grace and beauty, or even the image of the
early modern dancer poised proud and tall in her weighted stance" are being
supplanted by images of female physical power (Albright, 35).
The above paragraph is acceptable because the writer relayed some of the
original information in her own words, she indicated which information
was taken directly from her source by putting the passage in quotations,
and she cited the source.
Citing Sources
Following are examples of sources that must be acknowledged: Books, articles,
web pages, listserv postings, films, videos, sound recordings, software,
TV and radio broadcasts, interviews, speeches, letters and email messages.
You must acknowledge sources of information (paraphrased ideas, direct
quotes, artwork, graphics, calculations, etc.) that are:
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Not your own.
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Not common knowledge.
Common knowledge refers to information likely to be known by many
people. If you already knew a piece of information before you started your
research, generally you would not need to cite a source. You also do not
need to cite commonly known facts (e.g., Bill Clinton was elected president
of the U.S in 1992).
You must properly credit the author of any source you use by:
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Citing sources when you refer to them within your paper, and
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Citing them in the bibliography at the end of your work
Citations generally include all information someone would need in order
to locate your source. For example:
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Books: Author, title, publisher, place, and date.
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Articles: Author, title, journal title, volume, and date.
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Web Page: Author, title, URL, and date accessed.
The process of incorporating citations will improve your scholarship by:
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Allowing you to more easily retrace your steps during the research phase
of your project
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Helping your readers identify and locate the sources you have cited
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Lending greater credibility to your project.
In addition, your instructor will require that all your sources be correctly
cited.
Style Manuals
Your citation format depends upon which style manual you are using. Many
instructors will ask you to use a particular style, depending on the discipline
you are studying. The most typical citation styles are:
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Turabian - A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations
by Kate Turabian. Adapted from The Chicago Manual of Style. "Turabian"
is a good, basic style manual and is used in many classes.
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MLA - MLA Style Manual of the Modern Language Association. This
style is typically used in the humanities.
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APA - Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
This format is often used in the social sciences.
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CBE - Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors,
and Publishers of the Council of Biology Editors. This format is often
used in the sciences.
You can find citation formats for web references at Citation
Styles Online (http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/citex.html).
A software program (such as Endnote) which creates citations
when you enter the reference information, can also be a helpful tool during
your research process.
Copyright
Copyright is designed to protect authors, composers, flimmakers and artists
from unauthorized copy, display, distribution or sale of their work. Copyright
applies to works found in any tangible medium -- print, electronic or audiovisual.
Such works are copyrighted even if they do not display a copyright notice.
The Internet is a relatively new information medium, but web page authors
are also protected by copyright.
Obeying copyright law means not copying, displaying or distributing
material:
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without the permission of the copyright holder or
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in a way that violates "fair use" provisions of the law.
When a copyright expires, the work enters the public domain. In general,
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Works published before 1923 are in the public domain.
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Works published after 1977 are protected by copyright for the life of the
author plus 70 years.
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Works published from 1923-1977 are protected by copyright for 95 years
unless the copyright was not renewed for the second term.
Whether an information source is copyrighted or in the public domain, you
must cite that source if you quote or paraphrase it in your research.
Fair Use
Fair use allows copyrighted works to be copied without permission of the
author for certain limited purposes. These purposes include: criticism,
comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Copyrighted
media include such items as books, articles, poetry, music scores, recorded
music, films, videos, paintings, graphics, software and web pages. Fair
use generally applies to not-for-profit, educational purposes that do not
affect the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
For example, a book reviewer may include excerpts from a book in a review
or a student may copy a magazine article for personal use in completing
a research paper. However, making multiple copies of that article to give
to friends infringes on the copyright owner's exclusive right to distribute
the work.
In terms of the Internet, a student may copy a web page for personal
use in learning coursework, but cutting and pasting that material to create
his or her own web page without permission of the web page author would
be a copyright infringement. Downloading music and video files without
permission of the copyright owner is also a copyright infringement.
Please Note: Even when a work may be copied under the fair use statute of
the copyright law, you must still cite that source in your research to avoid
plaigiarism.
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