Ethical Academic Writing

The most crucial component in academic writing is planning. It encompasses selecting a topic, conducting research, and the structure of the paper. In addition, academic writing often requires writers to demonstrate comprehension of their topic, state a clear thesis statement, respond others work, and indicate the importance of their topic using reasons backed by evidence (Bullock et al., 2019). Accordingly, writing ethically in academic settings is a process that involves conducting research ethically, acknowledging sources, avoiding plagiarism, proper documentation, and proper use of artificial intelligence: Ethical Academic Writing.

Conducting Research Ethically

Conducting ethical research involves three steps: finding sources, evaluating the sources, and synthesizing ideas from the identified sources. Since academic writing demands the use of credible sources, it is essential to look for credible sources by, for instance, searching academic libraries and using databases such as CINAHL Complete depending on the subject of focus. Second, evaluating the sources follows to ensure the sources used are scholarly and credible.

Here, a researcher or writer in this case assesses the author’s credentials, relevance of the source’s topic, accuracy of the source, and publication date. Additionally, evaluating whether the publisher is professional and peer-reviewed is also valuable in determining the scholarliness of the source (Bullock et al., 2019).

Thirdly, synthesizing sources involves identifying patterns, themes, and main points from sources to find data that will support one’s own ideas (Bullock et al., 2021). Taking notes and writing brief summaries helps group similar pieces of information together and identify the connections, relationships, and patterns in the identified sources. Subsequently, after gaining an understanding of the concepts and interpretations surrounding the topic and gathering data from the sources, one moves from what the sources say and presents their own analysis, insights, and ideas about the topic (Bullock et al., 2021).

Acknowledging Sources: Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

Information obtained from the work of others must be acknowledged. Hence, quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing are critical to separating one’s ideas from those of others and giving credit to other authors (Bullock et al., 2019). In quoting, a writer uses another author’s exact words in their text.

The writer can use ellipses to omit unnecessary details or modify the quote so that it can flow smoothly with their writing (Bullock et al., 2019; Bullock et al., 2021). To distinguish the quoted information from one’s ideas, using appropriate signal phrases and quotation marks to enclose the quoted material and writing long quotes as blocks is vital. Additionally, quotes should be followed by proper citations.

Second, in paraphrasing, a writer restates another author’s ideas or work source using one’s own words and sentence structure. Techniques for proper paraphrasing include using one’s own words and sentence structure, utilizing signal phrases such as “according to” to introduce the paraphrased text, and indicating the source by naming the author and following proper documentation (Bullock et al., 2019). Lastly, summarizing constitutes concisely stating the key points of a source in one’s own words. It is appropriate when stating details is not necessary; therefore, summaries are brief. Guidelines for effective summarizing include leaving out details and only including the main points, writing using one’s own words, and indicating the source using appropriate in-text citations, depending on the documentation style.

Avoiding Plagiarism

Plagiarism is using another person’s “ideas, words, or work without proper attribution or permission and presenting it as one’s own” (Velmurugan, 2024, p. 13); thus, it is an unethical act. According to Velmurugan (2024), types of plagiarism include accidental plagiarism, where a writer unintentionally fails to cite sources properly; direct plagiarism, where a writer copy-pastes another person’s work into their text without citing the source; mosaic plagiarism or patch-writing, where one copy-pastes and combines information from multiple sources without proper citation; paraphrasing plagiarism, where a writer rephrases information obtained from sources but without proper attribution; and self-plagiarism, where one uses their own already published work without proper citation.

Plagiarism results in severe consequences. For students, consequences include failed grades, academic suspension, and expulsion (Purdue OWL, n.d.); thus, maintaining academic integrity is crucial. It may result in reputational damage, loss of credibility, and legal repercussions for researchers and loss of a job for employees (Purdue OWL, n.d.).

As such, the following practices are handy in avoiding plagiarism: clearly labeling quotations, using one’s own words (Suter & Suter, 2018) and sentence structure when paraphrasing and summarizing, giving credit to sources using proper citations, and ensuring quotes are both enclosed in quotation marks and documented properly (Bullock et al., 2021). Also, one can run their work through plagiarism detection software and paraphrase accordingly if plagiarism is detected.

Proper Documentation

Attributing ideas to their original authors requires proper documentation. While there are many citation and referencing styles, the Modern Language Association (MLA) and American Psychological Association (APA) styles are the most common systems in academic settings. MLA is used in the humanities.

In-text citations in MLA require indicating the author and page numbers. Subsequently, a works cited list is included to provide full bibliographic details of the in-text citations provided. The fundamental components of the works cited list include the author, the source’s title, publisher, publication date, and location (Bullock et al., 2019).

Conversely, APA is often used in the social sciences. Here, in-text citations follow an author-year format for paraphrases and summaries and an author-year-page number format for quotes. Like in MLA, APA requires the inclusion of a reference list detailing all the bibliographic information of each in-text citation. Accordingly, the key elements of the reference page include the author(s), publication year, title of the source, edition (for books), publisher (for books), volume and issue (for journals and magazines), pages, and URL or DOI for online sources (Bullock et al., 2019).

Writing Ethically in the Era of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Using AI is often prohibited in academic writing. Therefore, when permitted, its responsible and ethical use is mandated to avoid risks of inaccuracy and plagiarism, among others. In this regard, Huang and Tan (2023) state that using multiple sources to supplement the generated text, properly citing sources, using detection software to identify plagiarism, and thoroughly reviewing and editing the text to confirm its originality and credibility are crucial protocols in avoiding risks associated with AI use.

References

Bullock, R. H., Goggin, M. D., & Weinberg, F. (2019). The Norton Field Guide to writing with readings and handbook (5th ed.). W. W. Norton & Company.

Bullock, R., Brody, M., & Weinberg, F. (2021). The Little Seagull Handbook with exercises (4th ed.). W.W. Norton & Company Inc.

Huang, J., & Tan, M. (2023). The role of ChatGPT in scientific communication: writing better scientific review articles. American Journal of Cancer Research, 13(4), 1148–1154. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10164801/

Purdue OWL. (n.d.). Plagiarism overview. Purdue OWL® – Purdue University. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/avoiding_plagiarism/index.html

Suter, W. N., & Suter, P. M. (2018). Understanding plagiarism. Home Health Care Management & Practice, 30(4), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1177/1084822318779582

Velmurugan, V. S. (2024). Types and definitions of plagiarism: An overview. Global Research Journal of Social Sciences and Management, 2(1), 13–18. https://doi.org/10.55306/grjssm.2024.2102

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