Information Ethics

1
Information Ethics Information Literacy

• Working with the Copy and Paste Generation

2
Free Papers!

• School Sucks Other People's Papers
• Absolutely Free Online Essays
• Free Termpapers International Dorian's Paper
  Archive
• Buy Your Paper Here! Evil House of Cheat
• Research Papers Online A A1 Termpaper
• Genius Papers Policy.com
• ERIC Digests Brookings Policy Briefs

3
Lest we forget...

• Many of our undergraduate and graduate students
  have not
• 1) written papers recently
• 2) used APA/MLA to cite or reference
• 3) had access to powerful electronic databases or
  rich information environments

4
Seven Antidotes to Prevent Highway Robbery in an
Electronic Age

• McKenzie, J. (1998, May). The New
  PlagiarismSeven Antidotes to Prevent Highway
  Robbery in an Electronic Age . From Now On The
  Educational Technology Journal. Retrieved
• May 2, 2002, from
• http//www.fno.org/may98/cov98may.html

5
Antidote 1

• Distinguish between levels and types of research.
• (You get what you ask for!)

6
Level One ResearchJust the facts

• In these kinds of projects and quests, the
  student is expected to gather basic facts and
  information about a genre, a culture or a battle
  - little thinking is required. This is
  information gathering at its crudest and simplest
  level.

7
Level Two ResearchOther Peoples Ideas

• Even though these kinds of projects may engage
  students in considering important questions such
  as the causes of acid rain or overpopulation, it
  is sufficient for the student to gather
  "conventional thinking" and the best ideas of
  others. These are the research projects most
  likely to inspire plagiarism as the student
  gathers other people's ideas and then passes them
  off as her or his own.

8
Level Three ResearchNew Ideas and Synthesis
These points could be used to... or this
would impact ___ because

• When we require fresh thinking, we stand the
  least risk of suborning plagiarism. If students
  cannot find the answers but must make the
  answers, they are less apt to pass off others'
  ideas as their own.

9
Antidote 2Discourage Trivial Pursuits

• Explanations Why?
• Problem-solving How?
• Choices Decision-Making Which is
  best?
• We transform topical research into projects which
  demand that students move past mere gathering of
  information to the construction of new meanings
  and insight.

10
Antidote 3Emphasize Essential Questions

• Essential questions are questions worth asking,
  questions that touch upon basic human issues or
  touch matters of the heart and the soul.

11
Antidote 4Require and enable students to make
their own answers.

• We need to ask students to make up their own
  minds and do their own thinking.

12
Antidote 5Focus on Systematic Storage

• We expect students to keep pertinent information
  only and we want them to be planning ahead for
  retrieval at a later stage.

13
Antidote 6Stress Citation Ethics

• If we hope to witness our students producing
  fresh thinking, then we need to award credit for
  smart collecting but also show them how to
  differentiate between the ideas they have
  collected from others and those ideas which have
  emerged in reaction to the ideas of others.

14
Antidote 7 Assess progress throughout the
research process

• If we seek an end to plagiarism, then we keep an
  eye on the note-taking and idea development as
  they evolve. We encourage, we provide nudges, we
  congratulate and we (occasionally) light fires.
  We do not wait until the end to let our students
  know how they are doing.

15
Be involved in the Writing Process!

• Require topic proposals, idea outlines, multiple
  drafts, interim working bibliographies and
  photocopies of sources.
• Require students to engage and apply
  ideas,
• not just describe them.
• Wilhoit, S. (1994). Helping Students Avoid
  Plagiarism. College Teaching, 42, 161-164.

16
Not everything is online!

• Require a variety of formats in your list of
  resource requirements, e.g., print, electronic
  and/or multimedia.

17
How can I prevent Student Plagiarism?

• Emphasize the processes involved in doing
  research and writing papers.
• Increase your students
• Information Literacy!

18
Information Literacy in Higher Education

• Association of College and Research Libraries
  Information Literacy
  Competency Standards for Higher Education
  Standards, Performance Indicators, and Outcomes
• Approved by ACRL Board,
• January 18, 2000.

19
Information Literacy and Higher Education

• Information literacy is a set of abilities
  requiring individuals to "recognize when
  information is needed and have the ability to
  locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed
  information.

20
An information literate individual is able to

• Determine the extent of information needed
• Access the needed information effectively and
  efficiently
• Evaluate information and its sources critically
• Incorporate selected information into ones
  knowledge base
• Use information effectively to accomplish a
  specific purpose
• Understand the economic, legal, and social issues
  surrounding the use of information, and access
  and use information ethically and legally

21
What we lose if we dont address the unethical
use of information

• Often lost in the discussion of plagiarism is the
  interest of the students who don't cheat. They do
  legitimate research and write their own papers.
  They work harder (and learn more) than the
  plagiarists, yet their grades may suffer when
  their papers are judged and graded against papers
  that are superior but stolen material. When
  teachers turn a blind eye to plagiarism, it
  undermines that right and denigrates grades,
  degrees,
• and even institutions.
• Hinchliffe, L. (1998,). Cut-and-Paste Plagiarism
  Preventing, Detecting and Tracking Online
  Plagiarism. Retrieved from http//alexia.lis.uiu
  c.edu/janicke/plagiary

22
We are not educating students so they will do
well in school.

• We are educating students so they do well in
  life.
• Address information ethics!