Ph.D Coursework Paper - 1 Research Methodology
Assignment
Preface
Research should be more ethical in nature where research scholars should practice research ethics and academic integrity throughout their journey of research work and results of the research should be presented honestly and transparently with the individual's original contribution. But still there are many ethical issues we can observe in research works when research scholars do not follow the ethical standards provided by government organizations, academic societies, publishers, individual research institutions and members of the Committee on Publication Ethics that resulted in research misconduct. Few elements that can be identified as research misconduct are plagiarism, citing or referencing, with authorship of writing, errors in data analysis and storage, issues regarding submission or publication etc. Plagiarism is one of such ethical issues that comes in many forms and its interpretation varies with discipline, journal, publisher and with the time as occasionally it may include self-plagiarism.
What is Academic Integrity?
Why is it Important?
What are the fundamental values of it?
What is Plagiarism and its consequences?
How can we avoid it?
Answers to these questions will help us to recognize the importance of documentation and particularly citation in the research works like in research articles or dissertations.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is the set of values generally accepted by society regarding whatever we do and everyone should practice it ethically. These values should support us in academic or research work. It is the foundation for academic life that leads us towards a better academic journey. It refers to how we behave in an academic environment when we conduct research, writing a paper or creating a project. It is the commitment that we should follow research ethics in any situation and reflect honest and moral behavior in an academic setting. This is most relevant in research work as it relates to providing credit to other people when we use their works. During the process of literature review, we try to review, or paraphrase ideas discussed by others and when we use it in our research work, we should cite them properly. That can be one example of how we can practice academic integrity.
In simplest terms, it requires acknowledging the contributions of other people in our work. Academic integrity allows students and research scholars the freedom to have their new ideas, knowledge and creative works while respecting and acknowledging the work of others. Many teachers and students practiced the principles of academic integrity because they know that success in teaching, learning, and research can only be achieved with ethical standards. Ethical integrity is essential in all human efforts of excellence. The significance of academic integrity in research cannot be overemphasized. Rigorous and sincere commitment to ethical practices is important in developing a research environment. Therefore, it is important to make researchers and students aware and inform them regarding unacceptable behaviors in the universities and colleges.
Academic Integrity defines as a commitment to five fundamental values
- Honesty is a necessary foundation
of teaching, learning, research, and service, and a prerequisite
for full realization of trust, fairness, respect, and
responsibility.
- Trust in other people and in our community
strengthens our working relationships and is built on a foundation of
actions more importantly than words.
- Fair treatment is an essential factor
in the establishment of ethical communities.
Important components of fairness include predictability,
transparency, and clear, reasonable expectations.
- Respect, scholarly communities succeed only
where there is respect for community members and for the
diverse and sometimes contradictory opinions that they express.
- Responsibility for upholding the values of
integrity is simultaneously an individual duty and a shared concern. Every
member of an academic community - each student, faculty member and
research scholar responsible for safeguarding the integrity of its
scholarship, teaching and research.
Apart from these five, sixth value that can be added is
Courage requires translating the values from talking points into action - standing up for them in the face of pressure and adversity. Courage is the capacity to act without fear.
When we fail to provide such acknowledgement or practice values of academic integrity is plagiarism. Plagiarism is the most common violation of academic integrity, it is the use of material, ideas, figures, code or data, illustrations or graphics, opinions or facts without appropriate acknowledgement, permission or citation of the original source. This may involve submission of material or assignment that is written and published by someone.
Definition of Plagiarism
Derived from the Latin word plagiarius ("kidnapper"), to plagiarize means "to commit literary theft" and "to present as new and original idea or product derived from an exciting source.(Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary) Plagiarism is of two kinds, using another person's ideas, information or expressions without acknowledging that person's work constitutes intellectual theft and passing off another person's ideas, information, or expressions as your own to gain some advantages constitutes fraud. Plagiarism is sometimes a moral and ethical offense rather than a legal one.
Examples of plagiarism include:
- Reproducing
text/sentences from a report, book, thesis, publication or internet.
- Taking
material from class-notes or downloading material from internet sites, and
use it in reports, presentations, manuscripts or thesis without citing the
original source.
- Self-plagiarism
which constitutes reuse of our own earlier published work in a journal or
conference proceedings without appropriate citations.
- Direct
Patchwork plagiarism - Copying material from several writers &
rearranging with citation
- Insufficient
citation of quotes - Incorporating another writer's words or phrases
within a larger paraphrase, without quotation marks or citation
- Paraphrasing
without citing - Changing the words of an original source, but uses the
ideas without citing
- Insufficient
citation of paraphrase - Changing the words of an original source &
using the author's ideas with attempts to acknowledge the material's
source(s), but without correctly citing
- Plagiarism
in graph - Using graphs, charts, figures, or images from a source without
citing
Plagiarism is defined as “deliberate or reckless representation of another’s words, thoughts, or ideas as one’s own without attribution in connection with submission of academic work.
Avoiding plagiarism and maintaining academic honesty can be learned just
as any other skills, and they are essential for any researcher.
Consequences of Plagiarism
With plagiarism detection software so readily available and in use like Urkund, plagiarism can be easily caught, results of that can be personal, professional, ethical, and legal. Once anyone is accused of plagiarism, a person will most likely always be regarded with suspicion and provoke skepticism. The charge of plagiarism is a serious one for all writers, journalists, research scholars, faculties and students. Plagiarists are often considered as incapable of developing and expressing their own original thoughts, ideas or opinions and willing to deceive others. Professional writers like journalists when accused of Plagiarism they can lose their jobs and suffer public embarrassment and loss of prestige.
Destroyed Student or Scholar Reputation
Students who plagiarize or engage in academic dishonesty face serious consequences like failure in the assignment, grade reduction or course failure, suspension, and possibly dismissal. By undermining institutional standards for assigning grades and awarding degrees, student plagiarism also becomes a matter of significance to the public. When skills and knowledge of research scholars fail to match their degrees an institution's reputation is damaged. For example, no one is ready to take any advice or help from a research scholar who has not sound knowledge in his/her area of research, which seems that he has got only a degree not expertise in it. Finally, students who plagiarize harm themselves because no one is ready to trust them. They lose an important opportunity to learn how to write a research paper or conduct research. Knowing how to collect and analyze data and synthesize it in their own writing is essential to academic success. Learning the skill of academic writing opens the door to learning more about our own self and developing a personal voice and approach in our writing. It is essential for all research scholars or students to understand how to avoid plagiarism.
Destroyed Academic and Professional Reputation
A professional journalist, politician and writer may find that the
damage from plagiarism follows them for their entire career. Not only they will
be fired but also, they will surely find it hard to get another respectable job
as they lose the trust of the public. Ex. If irresponsible writers compose
their work without caring about citing other's work and present it
as their original writing may lose the trust of the readers and that trust
is never easy to win. They don't specify when they refer to another author's
ideas, facts and words, whether they want to agree with, object to, or analyze the source. It harms their professional life and ruins their reputation.
The consequences of plagiarism have been widely reported in the world of academia. Once we are caught with plagiarism, our career can be ruined. Publishing is an integral part of a prestigious academic career. To lose the ability to publish having plagiarism means the end of an academic position and a destroyed reputation.
Legal and Monetary Repercussions
Legal consequences of plagiarism can be quite serious. Copyright laws are there, one cannot use another person’s material without citation and reference. An author has the right to complain against a plagiarist. Some plagiarism may also be deemed a criminal offense, possibly leading to a prison sentence. Those who write for a living, such as journalists or authors, particularly face plagiarism issues. Those who write frequently must be aware of errors. Writers should be well aware about copyright laws and ways to avoid plagiarism. As a professional writer, plagiarizing is a serious ethical and perhaps legal issue. In the case where an author complains against plagiarism, may be granted monetary compensation.
Plagiarized Research
Plagiarized research is a terrific form of plagiarism. If the research is medical in nature, the consequences in loss of people's lives. Before attempting any writing project, we should learn about plagiarism and the importance of citation. We must think about how to avoid it. The rules are easy to understand and follow. We can use an online plagiarism checker or software for plagiarism detection before final draft and submission. Laziness or dishonesty can lead to a ruined reputation, the loss of a career, and legal problems.
Plagiarism leads to pointless research and encourages careless and unsystematic research. An accusation of plagiarism can severely damage our reputation, it could result in the loss of research funding and even our position. Plagiarizing has both short- and long-term consequences for our research career. In one example, Chinese researchers attempted to publish a plagiarized article in the Journal of Korean Medical Science. When they were caught, the researchers were banned from submitting to the journal for five years.
Unintentional Plagiarism
According to MLA 7th edition, the purpose of a research paper is to read, analyze and synthesize previous research and scholarship with our ideas on the subject. Therefore, we should feel free to use other persons words, facts, and thoughts in our research paper, but with proper citation. We should remember that we must document/cite everything that we use not only quotations and paraphrases but also information and ideas. Often Plagiarism in student writing is unintentional during research work and to avoid it we should keep our careful notes while reading previous works that always distinguish among these three types of materials : 1. our ideas and our summaries and 2. paraphrases of others ideas and facts and 3. exact wording we copy from source. Plagiarism sometimes happens because researchers do not keep precise records of their reading, and by the time they return to their notes, they have forgotten whether their summaries and paraphrases contain quoted material or not. Presenting an author's exact wording without marking it as a quotation is plagiarism, even if we cite the source.
Forms of Plagiarism
Repeating or Paraphrasing Wording
(Paraphrase Plagiarism)
Paraphrasing is itself repeating in our words what we interpreted someone else's ideas or thoughts. To paraphrase any kind of source, we must rework on the passage without changing the meaning of the original.
For example, we want to use the material as a following passage, which appears on page 94 of the book English Language Teaching (Methods, Tools & Techniques) by Dr. M.F. Patel and Praveen M. Jain
Original Source
The communicative approach is a learner centered approach. This approach gives the learner not only grammatical competence but also a social skill as to what to say. How to say, when to say and where, in order to satisfy his daily needs as a larger aim.
If we write the following sentence without documentation, we have plagiarized because we take another's words without acknowledgment, even though we changed its form:
Plagiarism
Communicative approach is focusing on the learner and developing the skill to use language in various social contexts and give exposure to actual use of language according to our daily needs rather than only grammatical knowledge. It teaches us about the process, time and place where we can use language according to the circumstances.
But we may present the material if we cite our source:
As Dr. M.F. Patel and Praveen M. Jain have mentioned , Communicative approach is focusing on the learner and developing the skill to use language in various social contexts and give exposure to actual use of language according to our daily needs rather than only grammatical knowledge. It teaches us about the process, time and place where we can use language according to the circumstances. (94)
The source is indicated, in accordance with MLA style, by the name of the author and by a page reference at the end of the sentence. The name refers the reader to the corresponding entry in the works cited list at end of the paper.
Patel, M F and Praveen M Jain. English language teaching: (methods, tools & techniques). Sunrise Publishers & Distributors, 2008.
Taking a Particularly Apt Phrase
Original Source
On each landing, opposite the lift shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran.
If we write following sentence without documentation, we have committed Plagiarism because we have borrowed without acknowledgement a term (BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU) invented by another author:
Plagiarism
Time will come when we will be under constant surveillance which will keep watch on the public and private lives of the people that can be termed as 'BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU'.
But we may present the material if we cite our source:
Time will come when we will be under constant surveillance which will keep watch on the public and private lives of the people that George Orwell termed as 'BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU'. (03)
In this revision, the author's name refers the reader to the full description of the work in the works-cited list and the parenthetical documentation identifies the location of the borrowed material (term) in the work.
Orwell, George. 1984. Secker & Warburg, 1949.
Apart from this, there are other forms like literal plagiarism or verbatim which is the most frequent textual varieties having word-for-word coping and mosaic plagiarism or patch where content is copied from multiple sources and presented as single content. Sometimes, less attention is given to the non-textual forms of plagiarism like the article's structure, theme, viewpoint, result and methods. In all these forms, the ethical point is to acknowledge others' contribution whether textual or non-textual, practical or theoretical and published or unpublished.
Strategies to avoid Plagiarism
How to Avoid Academic Dishonesty?
To practice academic integrity is important for any research scholar, students and teachers whether in writing small reports, preparing research papers or assignments. Plagiarism is a common issue either done intentionally or unintentionally. We can follow a few steps to avoid academic dishonesty.
Keep track of the sources we consult in our research.
When we do research or prepare an assignment, we should continuously keep record of the sources that we are referring to by keeping notes or copy-paste links of web sources in our devices and try to keep record of each and every piece of information, facts or ideas. Mostly research scholars or students commit plagiarism when they forget the source from where they borrowed information or some ideas because they have not recorded it properly. But one can easily avoid this by keeping notes organized regularly and having a list of citations either online or printed sources includes not only books and journal articles, but also things like websites, magazine articles, and videos. Then, one can easily go back to that recorded resource and learn how to cite properly.
Paraphrase or quote the sources
If we want to share some ideas from other sources, we should paraphrase or quote the original text. Paraphrasing the source means to explain some ideas and information that is mentioned in the source in our own words using our own voice. We can only paraphrase the most important information of the passage. To avoid plagiarism, we should take care that our text is not the same as the original one. Quoting means copying some information word by word from an author’s original writing with quotation marks while paraphrases do not require quotation marks, they require proper citations. Quotations must match the source word for word and attributed to the original author. None of us can be original all of the time, we have taken something from other resources which add reliability when we use other scholars’ ideas in our work. The importance is to do it properly with citation.
Credit the original author in an in-text citation and reference list
It is very important to give credit to a person whose resources we have used or who helped us in our research work. It is ethical practice that we should give credit to the authors whose ideas helped us in our research work with proper citation.
When we paraphrase or quote other's work, we must cite source in two ways:
1) At the end of paragraph or within the paragraph. This is
called an “in-text citation.” That includes brief information a reader will
need to find the complete reference in a list of sources such as the author,
date or page numbers at the end of the work.
2) At the end of our paper in a list of sources called “References,” “Works Cited,” or “Bibliography.” All the sources in our list must include the complete information required to identify and get back that source (author’s name, title of work, date of publication, URL, etc.).
There are many different citation styles like MLA, APA or Chicago used in various disciplines with different rules of citation but the important thing is to cite clearly and consistently. We can take help from a citation software or website which is easily available.
Use plagiarism checker before submission
Today, Technology has advanced in many ways as it also provides useful software so that we can easily check the percentage of plagiarism that students or research scholars have done. Many colleges and universities use this software to check how much students or research scholars have copied from other resources and what is their original contribution. Though we are sure that we haven't copied, an automated plagiarism checker can identify mistakes like missing citations and paraphrased passages that are too like the original text.
These are some plagiarism detection software for students or research scholars
Scribbr Plagiarism Checker
Urkund
Grammarly
PlagScan
Copyscape
iThenticate
Unicheck
In each plagiarism checker we can find the plagiarism percentage that
shows how much we have copied.
To sum up
Plagiarism is often committed unintentionally by students or professionals who are unaware of how to properly cite the sources. Avoiding plagiarism involves paying careful attention to where we find information and how we present it in our own words with our original thoughts and ideas. Proper documentation and citation are very important ethical practices which help us ultimately to avoid academic dishonesty.
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