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How to Write an Ethics Paper: Guide & Ethical Essay Examples

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An ethics essay is a type of academic writing that explores ethical issues and dilemmas. Students should evaluates them in terms of moral principles and values. The purpose of an ethics essay is to examine the moral implications of a particular issue, and provide a reasoned argument in support of an ethical perspective.

Writing an essay about ethics is a tough task for most students. The process involves creating an outline to guide your arguments about a topic and planning your ideas to convince the reader of your feelings about a difficult issue. If you still need assistance putting together your thoughts in composing a good paper, you have come to the right place. We have provided a series of steps and tips to show how you can achieve success in writing. This guide will tell you how to write an ethics paper using ethical essay examples to understand every step it takes to be proficient. In case you don’t have time for writing, get in touch with our professional essay writers for hire . Our experts work hard to supply students with excellent essays.

What Is an Ethics Essay?

An ethics essay uses moral theories to build arguments on an issue. You describe a controversial problem and examine it to determine how it affects individuals or society. Ethics papers analyze arguments on both sides of a possible dilemma, focusing on right and wrong. The analysis gained can be used to solve real-life cases. Before embarking on writing an ethical essay, keep in mind that most individuals follow moral principles. From a social context perspective, these rules define how a human behaves or acts towards another. Therefore, your theme essay on ethics needs to demonstrate how a person feels about these moral principles. More specifically, your task is to show how significant that issue is and discuss if you value or discredit it.

Purpose of an Essay on Ethics

The primary purpose of an ethics essay is to initiate an argument on a moral issue using reasoning and critical evidence. Instead of providing general information about a problem, you present solid arguments about how you view the moral concern and how it affects you or society. When writing an ethical paper, you demonstrate philosophical competence, using appropriate moral perspectives and principles.

Things to Write an Essay About Ethics On

Before you start to write ethics essays, consider a topic you can easily address. In most cases, an ethical issues essay analyzes right and wrong. This includes discussing ethics and morals and how they contribute to the right behaviors. You can also talk about work ethic, code of conduct, and how employees promote or disregard the need for change. However, you can explore other areas by asking yourself what ethics mean to you. Think about how a recent game you watched with friends started a controversial argument. Or maybe a newspaper that highlighted a story you felt was misunderstood or blown out of proportion. This way, you can come up with an excellent topic that resonates with your personal ethics and beliefs.

Ethics Paper Outline

Sometimes, you will be asked to submit an outline before writing an ethics paper. Creating an outline for an ethics paper is an essential step in creating a good essay. You can use it to arrange your points and supporting evidence before writing. It also helps organize your thoughts, enabling you to fill any gaps in your ideas. The outline for an essay should contain short and numbered sentences to cover the format and outline. Each section is structured to enable you to plan your work and include all sources in writing an ethics paper. An ethics essay outline is as follows:

• Background information
• Thesis statement
• Restate thesis statement
• Summarize key points
• Final thoughts on the topic

Using this outline will improve clarity and focus throughout your writing process.

Ethical Essay Structure

Ethics essays are similar to other essays based on their format, outline, and structure. An ethical essay should have a well-defined introduction, body, and conclusion section as its structure. When planning your ideas, make sure that the introduction and conclusion are around 20 percent of the paper, leaving the rest to the body. We will take a detailed look at what each part entails and give examples that are going to help you understand them better.  Refer to our essay structure examples to find a fitting way of organizing your writing.

Ethics Paper Introduction

An ethics essay introduction gives a synopsis of your main argument. One step on how to write an introduction for an ethics paper is telling about the topic and describing its background information. This paragraph should be brief and straight to the point. It informs readers what your position is on that issue. Start with an essay hook to generate interest from your audience. It can be a question you will address or a misunderstanding that leads up to your main argument. You can also add more perspectives to be discussed; this will inform readers on what to expect in the paper.

Ethics Essay Introduction Example

You can find many ethics essay introduction examples on the internet. In this guide, we have written an excellent extract to demonstrate how it should be structured. As you read, examine how it begins with a hook and then provides background information on an issue. 

In this example, the first sentence of the introduction makes a claim or uses a question to hook the reader.

Ethics Essay Thesis Statement

An ethics paper must contain a thesis statement in the first paragraph. Learning how to write a thesis statement for an ethics paper is necessary as readers often look at it to gauge whether the essay is worth their time.

When you deviate away from the thesis, your whole paper loses meaning. In ethics essays, your thesis statement is a roadmap in writing, stressing your position on the problem and giving reasons for taking that stance. It should focus on a specific element of the issue being discussed. When writing a thesis statement, ensure that you can easily make arguments for or against its stance.

Ethical Paper Thesis Example

Look at this example of an ethics paper thesis statement and examine how well it has been written to state a position and provide reasons for doing so:

The above thesis statement example is clear and concise, indicating that this paper will highlight the effects of dishonesty in society. Moreover, it focuses on aspects of personal and professional relationships.

Ethics Essay Body

The body section is the heart of an ethics paper as it presents the author's main points. In an ethical essay, each body paragraph has several elements that should explain your main idea. These include:

• A topic sentence that is precise and reiterates your stance on the issue.
• Evidence supporting it.
• Examples that illustrate your argument.
• A thorough analysis showing how the evidence and examples relate to that issue.
• A transition sentence that connects one paragraph to another with the help of essay transitions .

When you write an ethics essay, adding relevant examples strengthens your main point and makes it easy for others to understand and comprehend your argument. 

Body Paragraph for Ethics Paper Example

A good body paragraph must have a well-defined topic sentence that makes a claim and includes evidence and examples to support it. Look at part of an example of ethics essay body paragraph below and see how its idea has been developed:

Ethics Essay Conclusion

A concluding paragraph shares the summary and overview of the author's main arguments. Many students need clarification on what should be included in the essay conclusion and how best to get a reader's attention. When writing an ethics paper conclusion, consider the following:

• Restate the thesis statement to emphasize your position.
• Summarize its main points and evidence.
• Final thoughts on the issue and any other considerations.

You can also reflect on the topic or acknowledge any possible challenges or questions that have not been answered. A closing statement should present a call to action on the problem based on your position.

Sample Ethics Paper Conclusion

The conclusion paragraph restates the thesis statement and summarizes the arguments presented in that paper. The sample conclusion for an ethical essay example below demonstrates how you should write a concluding statement.  

In the above extract, the writer gives final thoughts on the topic, urging readers to adopt honest behavior.

How to Write an Ethics Paper?

As you learn how to write an ethics essay, it is not advised to immediately choose a topic and begin writing. When you follow this method, you will get stuck or fail to present concrete ideas. A good writer understands the importance of planning. As a fact, you should organize your work and ensure it captures key elements that shed more light on your arguments. Hence, following the essay structure and creating an outline to guide your writing process is the best approach. In the following segment, we have highlighted step-by-step techniques on how to write a good ethics paper.

1. Pick a Topic

Before writing ethical papers, brainstorm to find ideal topics that can be easily debated. For starters, make a list, then select a title that presents a moral issue that may be explained and addressed from opposing sides. Make sure you choose one that interests you. Here are a few ideas to help you search for topics:

• Review current trends affecting people.
• Think about your personal experiences.
• Study different moral theories and principles.
• Examine classical moral dilemmas.

Once you find a suitable topic and are ready, start to write your ethics essay, conduct preliminary research, and ascertain that there are enough sources to support it.

2. Conduct In-Depth Research

Once you choose a topic for your essay, the next step is gathering sufficient information about it. Conducting in-depth research entails looking through scholarly journals to find credible material. Ensure you note down all sources you found helpful to assist you on how to write your ethics paper. Use the following steps to help you conduct your research:

• Clearly state and define a problem you want to discuss.
• This will guide your research process.
• Develop keywords that match the topic.
• Begin searching from a wide perspective. This will allow you to collect more information, then narrow it down by using the identified words above.

3. Develop an Ethics Essay Outline

An outline will ease up your writing process when developing an ethic essay. As you develop a paper on ethics, jot down factual ideas that will build your paragraphs for each section. Include the following steps in your process:

• Review the topic and information gathered to write a thesis statement.
• Identify the main arguments you want to discuss and include their evidence.
• Group them into sections, each presenting a new idea that supports the thesis.
• Write an outline.
• Review and refine it.

Examples can also be included to support your main arguments. The structure should be sequential, coherent, and with a good flow from beginning to end. When you follow all steps, you can create an engaging and organized outline that will help you write a good essay.

4. Write an Ethics Essay

Once you have selected a topic, conducted research, and outlined your main points, you can begin writing an essay . Ensure you adhere to the ethics paper format you have chosen. Start an ethics paper with an overview of your topic to capture the readers' attention. Build upon your paper by avoiding ambiguous arguments and using the outline to help you write your essay on ethics. Finish the introduction paragraph with a thesis statement that explains your main position.  Expand on your thesis statement in all essay paragraphs. Each paragraph should start with a topic sentence and provide evidence plus an example to solidify your argument, strengthen the main point, and let readers see the reasoning behind your stance. Finally, conclude the essay by restating your thesis statement and summarizing all key ideas. Your conclusion should engage the reader, posing questions or urging them to reflect on the issue and how it will impact them.

5. Proofread Your Ethics Essay

Proofreading your essay is the last step as you countercheck any grammatical or structural errors in your essay. When writing your ethic paper, typical mistakes you could encounter include the following:

• Spelling errors: e.g., there, they’re, their.
• Homophone words: such as new vs. knew.
• Inconsistencies: like mixing British and American words, e.g., color vs. color.
• Formatting issues: e.g., double spacing, different font types.

While proofreading your ethical issue essay, read it aloud to detect lexical errors or ambiguous phrases that distort its meaning. Verify your information and ensure it is relevant and up-to-date. You can ask your fellow student to read the essay and give feedback on its structure and quality.

Ethics Essay Examples

Writing an essay is challenging without the right steps. There are so many ethics paper examples on the internet, however, we have provided a list of free ethics essay examples below that are well-structured and have a solid argument to help you write your paper. Click on them and see how each writing step has been integrated. Ethics essay example 1

Ethics essay example 2

Ethics essay example 3

Ethics essay example 4

College ethics essay example 5

Ethics Essay Writing Tips

When writing papers on ethics, here are several tips to help you complete an excellent essay:

• Choose a narrow topic and avoid broad subjects, as it is easy to cover the topic in detail.
• Ensure you have background information. A good understanding of a topic can make it easy to apply all necessary moral theories and principles in writing your paper.
• State your position clearly. It is important to be sure about your stance as it will allow you to draft your arguments accordingly.
• When writing ethics essays, be mindful of your audience. Provide arguments that they can understand.
• Integrate solid examples into your essay. Morality can be hard to understand; therefore, using them will help a reader grasp these concepts.

Bottom Line on Writing an Ethics Paper

Creating this essay is a common exercise in academics that allows students to build critical skills. When you begin writing, state your stance on an issue and provide arguments to support your position. This guide gives information on how to write an ethics essay as well as examples of ethics papers. Remember to follow these points in your writing:

• Create an outline highlighting your main points.
• Write an effective introduction and provide background information on an issue.
• Include a thesis statement.
• Develop concrete arguments and their counterarguments, and use examples.
• Sum up all your key points in your conclusion and restate your thesis statement.

Contact our academic writing platform and have your challenge solved. Here, you can order essays and papers on any topic and enjoy top quality. 

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Imagine living in a world where people only lie, and honesty is becoming a scarce commodity. Indeed, modern society is facing this reality as truth and deception can no longer be separated. Technology has facilitated a quick transmission of voluminous information, whereas it's hard separating facts from opinions.

The moral implications of dishonesty are far-reaching as they undermine trust, integrity, and other foundations of society, damaging personal and professional relationships. 

Honesty is an essential component of professional integrity. In many fields, trust and credibility are crucial for professionals to build relationships and success. For example, a doctor who is dishonest about a potential side effect of a medication is not only acting unethically but also putting the health and well-being of their patients at risk. Similarly, a dishonest businessman could achieve short-term benefits but will lose their client’s trust.

In conclusion, the implications of dishonesty and the importance of honesty in our lives cannot be overstated. Honesty builds solid relationships, effective communication, and better decision-making. This essay has explored how dishonesty impacts people and that we should value honesty. We hope this essay will help readers assess their behavior and work towards being more honest in their lives.

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• Ethical Considerations in Research | Types & Examples

Ethical Considerations in Research | Types & Examples

Published on October 18, 2021 by Pritha Bhandari . Revised on May 9, 2024.

Ethical considerations in research are a set of principles that guide your research designs and practices. Scientists and researchers must always adhere to a certain code of conduct when collecting data from people.

The goals of human research often include understanding real-life phenomena, studying effective treatments, investigating behaviors, and improving lives in other ways. What you decide to research and how you conduct that research involve key ethical considerations.

These considerations work to

• protect the rights of research participants
• enhance research validity
• maintain scientific or academic integrity

Table of contents

Why do research ethics matter, getting ethical approval for your study, types of ethical issues, voluntary participation, informed consent, confidentiality, potential for harm, results communication, examples of ethical failures, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research ethics.

Research ethics matter for scientific integrity, human rights and dignity, and collaboration between science and society. These principles make sure that participation in studies is voluntary, informed, and safe for research subjects.

You’ll balance pursuing important research objectives with using ethical research methods and procedures. It’s always necessary to prevent permanent or excessive harm to participants, whether inadvertent or not.

Defying research ethics will also lower the credibility of your research because it’s hard for others to trust your data if your methods are morally questionable.

Even if a research idea is valuable to society, it doesn’t justify violating the human rights or dignity of your study participants.

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Before you start any study involving data collection with people, you’ll submit your research proposal to an institutional review board (IRB) .

An IRB is a committee that checks whether your research aims and research design are ethically acceptable and follow your institution’s code of conduct. They check that your research materials and procedures are up to code.

If successful, you’ll receive IRB approval, and you can begin collecting data according to the approved procedures. If you want to make any changes to your procedures or materials, you’ll need to submit a modification application to the IRB for approval.

If unsuccessful, you may be asked to re-submit with modifications or your research proposal may receive a rejection. To get IRB approval, it’s important to explicitly note how you’ll tackle each of the ethical issues that may arise in your study.

There are several ethical issues you should always pay attention to in your research design, and these issues can overlap with each other.

You’ll usually outline ways you’ll deal with each issue in your research proposal if you plan to collect data from participants.

Voluntary participation means that all research subjects are free to choose to participate without any pressure or coercion.

All participants are able to withdraw from, or leave, the study at any point without feeling an obligation to continue. Your participants don’t need to provide a reason for leaving the study.

It’s important to make it clear to participants that there are no negative consequences or repercussions to their refusal to participate. After all, they’re taking the time to help you in the research process , so you should respect their decisions without trying to change their minds.

Voluntary participation is an ethical principle protected by international law and many scientific codes of conduct.

Take special care to ensure there’s no pressure on participants when you’re working with vulnerable groups of people who may find it hard to stop the study even when they want to.

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Informed consent refers to a situation in which all potential participants receive and understand all the information they need to decide whether they want to participate. This includes information about the study’s benefits, risks, funding, and institutional approval.

You make sure to provide all potential participants with all the relevant information about

• what the study is about
• the risks and benefits of taking part
• how long the study will take
• your supervisor’s contact information and the institution’s approval number

Usually, you’ll provide participants with a text for them to read and ask them if they have any questions. If they agree to participate, they can sign or initial the consent form. Note that this may not be sufficient for informed consent when you work with particularly vulnerable groups of people.

If you’re collecting data from people with low literacy, make sure to verbally explain the consent form to them before they agree to participate.

For participants with very limited English proficiency, you should always translate the study materials or work with an interpreter so they have all the information in their first language.

In research with children, you’ll often need informed permission for their participation from their parents or guardians. Although children cannot give informed consent, it’s best to also ask for their assent (agreement) to participate, depending on their age and maturity level.

Anonymity means that you don’t know who the participants are and you can’t link any individual participant to their data.

You can only guarantee anonymity by not collecting any personally identifying information—for example, names, phone numbers, email addresses, IP addresses, physical characteristics, photos, and videos.

In many cases, it may be impossible to truly anonymize data collection . For example, data collected in person or by phone cannot be considered fully anonymous because some personal identifiers (demographic information or phone numbers) are impossible to hide.

You’ll also need to collect some identifying information if you give your participants the option to withdraw their data at a later stage.

Data pseudonymization is an alternative method where you replace identifying information about participants with pseudonymous, or fake, identifiers. The data can still be linked to participants but it’s harder to do so because you separate personal information from the study data.

Confidentiality means that you know who the participants are, but you remove all identifying information from your report.

All participants have a right to privacy, so you should protect their personal data for as long as you store or use it. Even when you can’t collect data anonymously, you should secure confidentiality whenever you can.

Some research designs aren’t conducive to confidentiality, but it’s important to make all attempts and inform participants of the risks involved.

As a researcher, you have to consider all possible sources of harm to participants. Harm can come in many different forms.

• Psychological harm: Sensitive questions or tasks may trigger negative emotions such as shame or anxiety.
• Social harm: Participation can involve social risks, public embarrassment, or stigma.
• Physical harm: Pain or injury can result from the study procedures.
• Legal harm: Reporting sensitive data could lead to legal risks or a breach of privacy.

It’s best to consider every possible source of harm in your study as well as concrete ways to mitigate them. Involve your supervisor to discuss steps for harm reduction.

Make sure to disclose all possible risks of harm to participants before the study to get informed consent. If there is a risk of harm, prepare to provide participants with resources or counseling or medical services if needed.

Some of these questions may bring up negative emotions, so you inform participants about the sensitive nature of the survey and assure them that their responses will be confidential.

The way you communicate your research results can sometimes involve ethical issues. Good science communication is honest, reliable, and credible. It’s best to make your results as transparent as possible.

Take steps to actively avoid plagiarism and research misconduct wherever possible.

Plagiarism means submitting others’ works as your own. Although it can be unintentional, copying someone else’s work without proper credit amounts to stealing. It’s an ethical problem in research communication because you may benefit by harming other researchers.

Self-plagiarism is when you republish or re-submit parts of your own papers or reports without properly citing your original work.

This is problematic because you may benefit from presenting your ideas as new and original even though they’ve already been published elsewhere in the past. You may also be infringing on your previous publisher’s copyright, violating an ethical code, or wasting time and resources by doing so.

In extreme cases of self-plagiarism, entire datasets or papers are sometimes duplicated. These are major ethical violations because they can skew research findings if taken as original data.

You notice that two published studies have similar characteristics even though they are from different years. Their sample sizes, locations, treatments, and results are highly similar, and the studies share one author in common.

Research misconduct

Research misconduct means making up or falsifying data, manipulating data analyses, or misrepresenting results in research reports. It’s a form of academic fraud.

These actions are committed intentionally and can have serious consequences; research misconduct is not a simple mistake or a point of disagreement about data analyses.

Research misconduct is a serious ethical issue because it can undermine academic integrity and institutional credibility. It leads to a waste of funding and resources that could have been used for alternative research.

Later investigations revealed that they fabricated and manipulated their data to show a nonexistent link between vaccines and autism. Wakefield also neglected to disclose important conflicts of interest, and his medical license was taken away.

This fraudulent work sparked vaccine hesitancy among parents and caregivers. The rate of MMR vaccinations in children fell sharply, and measles outbreaks became more common due to a lack of herd immunity.

Research scandals with ethical failures are littered throughout history, but some took place not that long ago.

Some scientists in positions of power have historically mistreated or even abused research participants to investigate research problems at any cost. These participants were prisoners, under their care, or otherwise trusted them to treat them with dignity.

To demonstrate the importance of research ethics, we’ll briefly review two research studies that violated human rights in modern history.

These experiments were inhumane and resulted in trauma, permanent disabilities, or death in many cases.

After some Nazi doctors were put on trial for their crimes, the Nuremberg Code of research ethics for human experimentation was developed in 1947 to establish a new standard for human experimentation in medical research.

In reality, the actual goal was to study the effects of the disease when left untreated, and the researchers never informed participants about their diagnoses or the research aims.

Although participants experienced severe health problems, including blindness and other complications, the researchers only pretended to provide medical care.

When treatment became possible in 1943, 11 years after the study began, none of the participants were offered it, despite their health conditions and high risk of death.

Ethical failures like these resulted in severe harm to participants, wasted resources, and lower trust in science and scientists. This is why all research institutions have strict ethical guidelines for performing research.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Normal distribution
• Measures of central tendency
• Chi square tests
• Confidence interval
• Quartiles & Quantiles
• Cluster sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Thematic analysis
• Cohort study
• Peer review
• Ethnography

Research bias

• Implicit bias
• Cognitive bias
• Conformity bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Availability heuristic
• Attrition bias
• Social desirability bias

Ethical considerations in research are a set of principles that guide your research designs and practices. These principles include voluntary participation, informed consent, anonymity, confidentiality, potential for harm, and results communication.

Scientists and researchers must always adhere to a certain code of conduct when collecting data from others .

These considerations protect the rights of research participants, enhance research validity , and maintain scientific integrity.

Research ethics matter for scientific integrity, human rights and dignity, and collaboration between science and society. These principles make sure that participation in studies is voluntary, informed, and safe.

Anonymity means you don’t know who the participants are, while confidentiality means you know who they are but remove identifying information from your research report. Both are important ethical considerations .

You can only guarantee anonymity by not collecting any personally identifying information—for example, names, phone numbers, email addresses, IP addresses, physical characteristics, photos, or videos.

You can keep data confidential by using aggregate information in your research report, so that you only refer to groups of participants rather than individuals.

These actions are committed intentionally and can have serious consequences; research misconduct is not a simple mistake or a point of disagreement but a serious ethical failure.

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Academic Ethics and Academic Integrity

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Research and scholarly publishing ; Responsible conduct in teaching ; Scholarly integrity ; Teaching ethics/research ethics

Introduction

Academic Ethics and Academic Integrity refers to responsible and ethical conduct in university-based teaching, student performance, research, and in the dissemination of research through publishing. The history of Academic Ethics might be considered opaque given the breadth of what can meaningfully be considered relevant to the topics that will be discussed in this entry. While this may be true in terms of long-term historical roots, this is not the case with respect to the contemporary discussion of academic integrity from the latter part of the twentieth century until now, both with respect to teaching and to research practices. This article will address these matters.

Some would begin any discussion of academic integrity with an introduction to the literature on the purpose of a university. This is a topic in itself so it will only be noted...

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Acknowledgments

It should be noted that some of the material for this entry is drawn from a keynote address by the author entitled “The Role of Research Integrity and Publication Ethics and University Education for the Twenty-First Century” presented at the European Network for Academic Integrity Conference held at MRUniversity held in Vilnius, Lithuania, June 19, 2019.

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Correspondence to Deborah Poff .

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Ottawa, ON, Canada

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Poff, D. (2020). Academic Ethics and Academic Integrity. In: Poff, D., Michalos, A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Business and Professional Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23514-1_405-1

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23514-1_405-1

Received : 26 March 2020

Accepted : 03 April 2020

Published : 22 June 2020

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Central to any academic writing project is crediting (or citing) someone else' words or ideas. The following sites will help you understand academic writing expectations.

Academic integrity is truthful and responsible representation of yourself and your work by taking credit only for your own ideas and creations and giving credit to the work and ideas of other people. It involves providing attribution (citations and acknowledgments) whenever you include the intellectual property of others—and even your own if it is from a previous project or assignment. Academic integrity also means generating and using accurate data.

Responsible and ethical use of information is foundational to a successful teaching, learning, and research community. Not only does it promote an environment of trust and respect, it also facilitates intellectual conversations and inquiry. Citing your sources shows your expertise and assists others in their research by enabling them to find the original material. It is unfair and wrong to claim or imply that someone else’s work is your own.

Failure to uphold the values of academic integrity at the GSD can result in serious consequences, ranging from re-doing an assignment to expulsion from the program with a sanction on the student’s permanent record and transcript. Outside of academia, such infractions can result in lawsuits and damage to the perpetrator’s reputation and the reputation of their firm/organization. For more details see the Academic Integrity Policy at the GSD. 

The GSD’s Academic Integrity Tutorial can help build proficiency in recognizing and practicing ways to avoid plagiarism.

• Avoiding Plagiarism (Purdue OWL) This site has a useful summary with tips on how to avoid accidental plagiarism and a list of what does (and does not) need to be cited. It also includes suggestions of best practices for research and writing.
• How Not to Plagiarize (University of Toronto) Concise explanation and useful Q&A with examples of citing and integrating sources.

This fast-evolving technology is changing academia in ways we are still trying to understand, and both the GSD and Harvard more broadly are working to develop policies and procedures based on careful thought and exploration. At the moment, whether and how AI may be used in student work is left mostly to the discretion of individual instructors. There are some emerging guidelines, however, based on overarching values.

• Always ask first if AI is allowed and specifically when and how.
• Always check facts and sources generated by AI as these are not reliable.
• Cite your use of AI to generate text or images. Citation practices for AI are described in Using Sources and AI.

Since policies are changing rapidly, we recommend checking the links below often for new developments, and this page will continue to update as we learn more.

• Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) from HUIT Harvard's Information Technology team has put together this webpage explaining AI and curating resources about initial guidelines, recommendations for prompts, and recommendations of tools with a section specifically on image-based tools.
• Generative AI in Teaching and Learning at the GSD The GSD's evolving policies, information, and guidance for the use of generative AI in teaching and learning at the GSD are detailed here. The policies section includes questions to keep in mind about privacy and copyright, and the section on tools lists AI tools supported at the GSD.
• AI Code of Conduct by MetaLAB A Harvard-affiliated collaborative comprised of faculty and students sets out recommendations for guidelines for the use of AI in courses. The policies set out here are not necessarily adopted by the GSD, but they serve as a good framework for your own thinking about academic integrity and the ethical use of AI.
• Prompt Writing Examples for ChatGPT+ Harvard Libraries created this resource for improving results through crafting better prompts.
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Writing Ethical Papers: Top Tips to Ace Your Assignment

17 August, 2021

13 minutes read

Author:  Kate Smith

Writing a complex essay paper can be a tough task for any student, especially for those who do not have their skills developed well or do not have enough time for lengthy assignments. At the same time, the majority of college students need to keep their grades high to maintain their right to receive merit-based scholarships and continue their studies the next year. To help you with your ethical papers writing, we created this guide. Below, you will find out what an ethical paper is, how to structure it and write it efficiently. 

What is an Ethical Paper?

An ethics paper is a type of an argumentative assignment that deals with a certain ethical problem that a student has to describe and solve. Also, it can be an essay where a certain controversial event or concept is elaborated through an ethical lens (e.g. moral rules and principles), or a certain ethical dilemma is explained. Since ethics is connected to moral concepts and choices, a student needs to have a fair knowledge of philosophy and get ready to answer questions related to relationships, justice, professional and social duties, the origin of good and evil, etc., to write a quality paper. Also, writing an ethics paper implies that a student should process a great amount of information regarding their topic and analyze it according to paper terms.

General Aspects of Writing an Ethics Paper

Understanding the ethical papers’ features.

Every essay has differences and features that make it unique. Writing ethical papers implies that a student will use their knowledge of morality and philosophy to resolve a certain ethical dilemma or solve a situation. It can also be a paper in which a student needs to provide their reasoning on ethical or legal circumstances that follow a social issue. Finally, it can be an assignment in which an ethical concept and its application are described. On the contrary, a history essay deals with events that took place somewhen earlier, while a narrative essay is a paper where students demonstrate their storytelling skills, etc.

Defining What Type of Essay Should Be Written

Most of the time, ethical paper topics imply that a student will write an argumentative essay; however, ethics essays can also be descriptive and expository. Each of these essay types has different guidelines for writing, so be sure you know them before you start writing your papers on ethics. In case you missed this step in your ethical paper preparation stage, you would end up writing a paper that misses many important points.

Studying the Ethical Paper Guidelines

Once you get your ethical paper assignment, look through the guidelines that your instructor provided to you. If you receive them during the class, don’t hesitate to pose any questions immediately to remove any misunderstanding before writing an ethics paper outline, or ask for references that you need to use. When you are about to write your first draft, don’t rush: read the paper instructions once again to make sure you understand what is needed from you.

Paying Attention to the Paper Topic

The next thing you need to pay attention to is the ethical paper topic: once you are given one, make sure it falls into the scope of your educational course. After that, consider what additional knowledge may be needed to elaborate on your topic and think about what courses of your program could be helpful for it. Once you are done, read through your topic again to recheck whether you understand your assignment right.

Understanding the Notions of Ethical Arguments, Ethical and Legal Implications, and Ethical Dilemma

Last but not least, another important factor is that a student has to understand the basic terms of the assignment to write a high-quality paper. Ethical arguments are a set of moral rules that are used to defend your position on an ethical issue stated in your essay topic. We refer to ethical versus legal implications when we think about the compensation for certain ethical dilemma outcomes and whether it should be a moral punishment or legal judgment. An ethical dilemma itself refers to a problem or situation which makes an individual doubt what position to take: e.g, abortion, bribery, corruption, etc.

Writing Outline and Structure of an Ethics Paper

Every essay has a structure that makes it a solid piece of writing with straight reasoning and argumentation, and an ethics paper is not an exclusion. This paper has an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Below, we will describe how each part of ethical papers should be organized and what information they should contain.

First comes the introduction. It is the opening part of your paper which helps a reader to get familiar with your topic and understand what your paper will be about. Therefore, it should contain some information on your ethics paper topics and a thesis statement, which is a central statement of your paper.

The essay body is the most substantive part of your essay where all the reasoning and arguments should be presented. Each paragraph should contain an argument that supports or contradicts your thesis statement and pieces of evidence to support your position. Pick at least three arguments to make your position clear in your essay, and then your paper will be considered well-structured.

The third part of an ethics paper outline is a conclusion, which is a finishing essay part. Its goal is to wrap up the whole essay and make the author’s position clear for the last time. The thoughtful formulation in this essay part should be especially clear and concise to demonstrate the writer’s ability to make conclusions and persuade readers.

Also, don’t forget to include the works cited page after your writing. It should mention all the reference materials that you used in your paper in the order of appearance or in the alphabetical one. This page should be formatted according to the assigned formatting style. Most often, the most frequently used format for ethical papers is APA.

20 Examples of Ethical Paper Topics

• Are there any issues in the 21st century that we can consider immoral and why?
• What is corporate ethics?
• Why is being selfish no longer an issue in 2023?
• Euthanasia: pros and cons
• Marijuana legalization: should it be allowed all over the world?
• Is abortion an ethical issue nowadays?
• Can we invent a universal religion appropriate for all?
• Is the church necessary to pray to God?
• Can we forgive infidelity and should we do it?
• How to react if you are witnessing high school bullying?
• What are the ways to respond to a family abusing individual?
• How to demand your privacy protection in a digital world?
• The history of the American ethical thought
• Can war be ethical and what should the conflicting sides do to make it possible?
• Ethical issues of keeping a zoo in 2023
• Who is in charge of controlling the world’s population?
• How to achieve equality in the world’s rich and poor gap?
• Is science ethical?
• How ethical is genetic engineering?
• Why many countries refuse to go back to carrying out the death penalty?

Ethical Papers Examples

If you still have no idea about how to write an ethics paper, looking through other students’ successful examples is always a good idea. Below, you can find a relevant ethics paper example that you can skim through and see how to build your reasoning and argumentation in your own paper.

https://www.currentschoolnews.com/education-news/ethics-essay-examples/

https://sites.psu.edu/academy/2014/11/18/essay-2-personal-ethics-and-decision-making/

Ethical Papers Writing Tips

Choose a topic that falls into the ethics course program.

In case you were not given the ethics paper topic, consider choosing it yourself. To do that, brainstorm the ethical issues that fascinate you enough to do research. List all these issues on a paper sheet and then cross out those that are too broad or require expertise that you don’t have. The next step you need to take is to choose three or four ethical topics for papers from the list and try to do a quick search online to find out whether these topics are elaborated enough to find sources and reference materials on them. Last, choose one topic that you like the most and find the most relevant one in terms of available data for reference.

Do your research

Once the topic is chosen and organized, dive deeper into it to find the most credible, reliable, and trusted service. Use your university library, online scientific journals, documentaries, and other sources to get the information from. Remember to take notes while working with every new piece of reference material to not forget the ideas that you will base your argumentation on.

Follow the guidelines for a paper outline

During the preparation for your ethical paper and the process of writing it, remember to follow your professor’s instructions (e.g. font, size, spacing, citation style, etc.). If you neglect them, your grade for the paper will decrease significantly.

Write the essay body first

Do not rush to start writing your ethics papers from the very beginning; to write a good essay, you need to have your outline and thesis statement first. Then, go to writing body paragraphs to demonstrate your expertise on the issue you are writing about. Remember that one supporting idea should be covered in one paragraph and should be followed by the piece of evidence that confirms it.

Make sure your introduction and conclusion translate the same message

After your essay body is done, write a conclusion and an introduction for your paper. The main tip regarding these ethics paper parts is that you should make them interrelated: your conclusion has to restate your introduction but not repeat it. Also, a conclusion should wrap up your writing and make it credible for the audience.

Add citations

Every top-quality paper has the works cited page and citations to demonstrate that the research on the topic has been carried out. Therefore, do not omit this point when formatting your paper: add all the sources to the works cited page and pay attention to citing throughout the text. The latter should be done according to the formatting style indicated in your instructions.

Edit your paper

Last but not least is the editing and proofreading stage that you need to carry out before you submit your paper to your instructor. Consider keeping your first draft away from sight for a day or two to have a rest, and then go back to check it for errors and redundant phrases. Don’t rush to change anything immediately after finishing your writing since you are already tired and less focused, so some mistakes may be missed.

Writing Help by Handmadewriting

If you feel that you need help with writing an ethics paper in view of its chellnging nature, you can contact us and send an order through a respective button. You can add your paper details by following all steps of the order placing process that you will find on the website. Once your order is placed, we will get back to you as soon as possible. You will be able to contact your essay writer and let them know all your wishes regarding your ethical paper.

Our writers have expertise in writing ethical papers including, so you don’t need to worry about the quality of the essay that you will receive. Your assignment will be delivered on time and at a reasonable price. Note that urgent papers will cost slightly more than assignments with a postponed deadline, so do not wait too long to make your order. We will be glad to assist you with your writing and guarantee 24/7 support until you receive your paper.

Lastly, remember that no paper can be written overnight, so if you intend to complete your paper in a few hours, you can end up writing only a first draft with imperfections. If you have only half a day before your task is due, feel free to place an urgent order, and we will deliver it in just three hours.

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Capstone Form and Style

Evidence-based arguments: writing with integrity, writing with integrity: paraphrasing and giving credit.

As we describe in other pages on paraphrasing, successful paraphrasing is the writer’s own explanation or interpretation of another person's ideas or synthesis of other ideas. The goal is to provide a scholarly discussion of other writer’s ideas, provide the original author with credit, and to summarize, synthesize, or expand on the point in an original work.

Ensuring integrity in writing can be a challenge. The standard in American Academic English is to paraphrase and provide a citation to credit the source. This is not the writing expectation in all styles and cultures, so we understand that students sometimes have questions about this. Writing with integrity means the author is writing using his or her own words and being sure to not inadvertently mislead the reader about whether an idea was the writer’s own. Writing with integrity is about rephrasing ideas in the author’s own words and understanding, while also providing credit to the original source.

The example below can be used to understand how to incorporate evidence from previous researchers and authors, providing proper credit to the source. Again, the goal is to write and cite, creating original material and ensuring integrity (avoiding any potential plagiarism concerns).

Example of Uncredited Source

Consider this partial paragraph:

In this example, Organization A is going through a variety of changes in leadership, but this is the norm for organizations in general. Organizations go through change all the time. However, the nature, scope, and intensity of organizational change vary considerably.

Here is the paragraph again, with the second and third sentences bolded and marked in red type:

The red marking is a match from TurnItIn (TII) because those sentences are word-for-word from the original source. TII has matched this text. TII provides an overall percent match in the report.  The percentage itself matters less than the user's review of the report. For example, although text may match the 8-word-standard-match-setting, it may not truly be a copy of others' work.  Also, TII will match full references; this of course adds to the total matching percentage.

Here is a screenshot of a Google Books search where this text can be found online:

In the screenshot, the words highlighted in yellow are the search phrases, and the red box indicates the sentences that appear in the example paragraph. This text was taken directly out of a book on organizational change. This is problematic because it appears in the example paragraph above to be the writer’s own idea when it is not—it came from this book. This misrepresentation, intentional or not, is an academic integrity issue.

Revising a Paragraph With an Uncredited Source

What if the writer adds a citation.

Note the added parenthetical citation, (Nadler & Tushman, 1994), at the end of the third sentence.

In this example, Organization A is going through a variety of changes in leadership, but these types of changes are the norm for organizations in general. Organizations go through change all the time. However, the nature, scope, and intensity of organizational change vary considerably (Nadler & Tushman, 1994).

This change is incorrect because it is still using the original authors’ words. Though a source is provided, the text should be paraphrased, not word-for-word. This citation does not make the reader aware that the words in the preceding two sentences are the original author’s.

What if the writer adds a citation and quotation marks?

In this revision, the writer has added quotation marks around the words borrowed directly from the original author.

In this example, Organization A is going through a variety of changes in leadership, but these types of changes are the norm for organizations in general. “Organizations go through change all the time. However, the nature, scope, and intensity of organizational change vary considerably” (Nadler & Tushman, 1994, p. 279).

Yes, this would be correct APA formatting to use quotations, if a passage is word-for-word, and provide a citation including the page number. However, at the graduate level of writing and academics, writers should generally avoid quoting and opt for paraphrasing. Writers should avoid quoting other authors because this does not demonstrate scholarship. Walden editors suggest that Walden writers reserve quotations for a few specific instances like definitions, if the author’s original phrasing is the subject of the analysis, or if the idea simply cannot be conveyed accurately by paraphrasing.

So, what is the best course of action?

Paraphrasing the idea from the original source and including a citation is the best course of action.

In this example, Organization A is going through a variety of changes in leadership, but these types of changes are the norm for organizations in general. Although the size of the change and the impact on the organization may fluctuate, organizations are constantly changing (Nadler & Tushman, 1994).

This example includes a paraphrase of the passage that was marked as unoriginal. Here is a reminder of the passage:

Organizations go through change all the time. However, the nature, scope, and intensity of organizational change vary considerably

In the paraphrase above, the same idea is provided and the authors are given credit, but this is done using original writing, not what ends up being plagiarism, and not a quotation (as that does not demonstrate understanding and application).

Writing With Integrity in Doctoral Capstone Studies

For doctoral capstone students, it is also important to adequately cite your sources in your final capstone study. Learn more about writing with integrity in the doctoral capstone specifically on the Form and Style website.

• Previous Page: Citing Sources Properly
• Next Page: Types of Sources to Cite in the Doctoral Capstone
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Academic Integrity and Ethics

Introduction, some causes of academic misconduct, violations and sanctions, data gathering, storage, retention, publication practices: authorship, supervision of research personnel, issues of attribution, being a responsible teacher, teaching responsible conduct, reporting research misconduct, copyright guidelines, patent rights, conflict of interest and commitment, bibliography.

“You know it's not the honors and the prizes and the fancy outsides of life which ultimately nourish our souls. It's the knowing that we can be trusted, that we never have to fear the truth, that the bedrock of our very being is good stuff." — Fred “Mr. Rogers” Rogers

Note: the information below may be outdated, please check the Ethics and Integrity at Carolina website or with your department for the most current guidelines.

As an emerging researcher, the questions you ask and the answers you find will lead you and your colleagues into uncharted waters of knowledge. With intellectual discovery and collaboration come new responsibilities. In conducting and then disseminating the results of your research, you will be accountable both to your colleagues and to the public. The material that follows is intended to help you navigate the complex moral situations that you will encounter in an advanced academic setting.

Trust is the foundation of scholarship at the University. Innovation can continue only in an atmosphere of confidence and fairness. You must be able to trust that your colleagues are honest in presenting their research, and they must have the same trust in your work. The range of research subjects and methods, along with systems of analysis and data presentation that guide each field, give rise to situations of great moral complexity. Likewise, relationships between teachers and students, along with great opportunity, carry important responsibilities and obligations. Students will strengthen the foundation of trust within the University by gaining knowledge of their fields and committing themselves to cultivating collegial relationships.

Academic integrity is essential not only for progress within the academy, but also for maintaining the trust granted by the people of North Carolina, the nation, and the world. The independence and reputation of the University rest in the hands of those who are scrupulous in their search for truth. This responsibility is now yours.

Graduate students are under a lot of pressure while completing their academic programs. These pressures may tempt scholars and researchers to “cut corners,” borrow an idea without proper attribution, or stray from standard practices in a particular academic field. Student teachers and researchers should strive to be attentive to how these pressures impact their conduct in the classroom, the library, and the laboratory. These pressures include:

• Deadlines: Deadlines determined by university calendars and other schedules can complicate the research process and offer a temptation to “cut corners.”
• Productivity and competition: Scholars may feel pressure to increase their output to secure monetary or professional rewards.
• Collaborative and individual work: Research projects offer great opportunities for collaboration—and the need to accept responsibility for one’s own role in the project, as well as the results obtained by the group.
• Criticism and trust: Scholars scrutinize and analyze the work of other academics in order to ensure that research methods are appropriately applied and results rigorously reviewed. Criticism is intended to build trust and increase knowledge; however, dishonest criticism will produce an erosion of that trust.
• Multiple roles: Graduate students often are teachers as well as researchers, and thus must consider the ethical implications of the instructor-student relationship as well as those of relationships between professional equals.
• Processes and products: Elaborate processes may not always produce intended results. Disappointment may tempt one toward misrepresentation.
• Lack of information: Learning new skills can include becoming aware of new ethical dilemmas.

These pressures or some combination thereof will be present throughout your graduate career and beyond. As you make your way in an academic discipline, continue to be aware of the ethical implications of the work that you do. The professional associations that govern your discipline are likely to have published guidelines for professional practice and scholarship. Allow these guidelines to inform your own, personal values in conducting scholarship, teaching, and research.

Continue to include ethical considerations in discussions with your student colleagues, teachers, researchers and others with whom you will be working. A healthy dialogue about academic integrity and ethics will go a long way to ensure that the public trust and the professional trust are in good hands. As times change and knowledge increases, new ethical demands will be placed on you and your work. With a clearly articulated set of standards, you will be able to meet the ethical challenges that this new knowledge presents.

The University, along with professional associations, monitors and applies sanctions in response to violations of normative practices in scholarship, teaching, and research. There are a variety of University agencies and policies that address academic or research misconduct. Consult with your academic advisor, a faculty member, the chair of your department, dean of your school/college, or a dean in the Graduate School if you have questions about the ethical dimensions of any component of your program at Carolina.

Also, consult the resources listed in the enclosed booklet, Responsible Conduct of Research, for more information specifically related to integrity in research. Other University policies relating to ethics in research, scholarship and teaching are found in the third section of this orientation binder, “Policies and Procedures.” They include policies on:

• Amorous relationships between students and faculty
• Ethics in research; conflict of interest
• The Honor Code; Instrument of Student Judicial Governance
• Incidents of racial and sexual harassment, including sexual orientation.

Consult these documents, the Graduate School (966-2611), or the Assistant Dean of Students/Judicial Programs Officer in the Office of the Dean of Students (966-4042) for more information or to register your concern about issues of academic misconduct on campus.

Ethical Issues in Research

Guidelines for research.

There has been a good deal of concern in the U.S. Congress, among grant funding agencies, and among the general public about “fraud in research.” The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has put in place its “Policy and Procedures on Ethics in Research” as required by these agencies. All persons engaged in research should be familiar with these rules. (Copies are available from the Office of Sponsored Research, 966-3412 or 3411.)

Clearly it is important for the Institution as well as for the individual not just to know how to deal with fraud in research when it has occurred but—perhaps more importantly—to prevent such fraud from occurring in the first place. In fact, we should comport ourselves in such a way that even the suspicion of fraud is unlikely to arise and, if it does arise unjustly, we have the records in hand to prove that the allegation was misplaced.

Therefore the present guidelines, relating to Data Gathering, Storage and Retention , to Publication Practices and Authorship and to Supervision of Research Personnel were devised by the Faculty Committee on Research. Many are based on similar guidelines already extant at other institutions or in our School of Medicine. Although they do not have the force of law or regulation, they are strongly commended to your attention as desirable and prudent practices.

The most important ingredients in avoiding fraud are the integrity and high ethical standards of the research project leader. If the project leader cuts corners and is more concerned with next week’s publication or next month’s research grant renewal than with a life-long reputation and the integrity of the research, these guidelines are not likely to be of much help. They have been designed to assist those who are determined to maintain high standards in their research careers.

In making the following recommendations, the Faculty Committee on Research recognizes that there are wide variations from one field to another. Nevertheless we strongly urge adherence to these guidelines, if necessary with appropriate modifications to accommodate solidly established practices within a field.

General University Policies

Anyone engaged in research must abide by University, Divisional and Departmental policies and procedures concerning research.

A common denominator in most cases of alleged scientific misconduct has been the absence of a complete set of verifiable data. The retention of accurately recorded and retrievable results is of the utmost importance for the progress of scientific inquiry. A scientist must have access to their original results in order to respond to questions including, but not limited to, those that may arise without any implication of impropriety. Moreover, errors may be mistaken for misconduct when the primary experimental results are unavailable.

Recommendations:

• Original research results should be promptly recorded, and should be kept in as organized and accessible a fashion as possible.
• The research project leader should retain the raw research data pertinent to publication for a reasonable period of time (normally five years) after publication. In no instance should primary data be destroyed while questions may be raised which are answerable only by reference to such data.
• Documentation of required approvals of the Human Rights and Animal Use Committee should be retained in the research project leader’s files for a period of five years.

A gradual diffusion of responsibility for multi-authored or collaborative studies has led in recent years to the publication of papers for which no single author was prepared to take full responsibility. Two critical safeguards in the publication of accurate scientific reports are the active participation of each coauthor in verifying that part of a manuscript that falls within their specialty area and the designation of one author who is responsible for the validity of the entire manuscript.

• An author submitting a paper should never include the name of a coauthor without that person’s consent. Each coauthor should be furnished with a copy of the manuscript before it is submitted. Coauthorship should be offered to (and limited to) anyone who has clearly made a significant contribution to the work.
• Anyone accepting coauthorship of a paper should realize that this action implies a responsibility as well as a privilege. If a potential coauthor has serious reservations concerning a publication the individual should decline coauthorship.
• The senior author or authors of a paper, individually or in concert, should be prepared to identify the contributions of each coauthor.
• Simultaneous submission of essentially identical manuscripts to different journals is improper.
• As a general principle, research should be published in the scientific literature before reports of such research are released to the public press.

Careful supervision of all research personnel by their research project leaders is in the best interest of the trainee, the institution, and the scientific community. The complexity of scientific methods, the necessity for caution in interpreting possibly ambiguous data, and the need for advanced statistical analysis, all require an active role for the research project leader in the guidance of research personnel.

• All research personnel, such as technicians, graduate students, and postdoctoral trainees, should be specifically supervised by a designated research project leader.
• The ratio of research personnel to project leaders should be small enough that close interaction is possible for scientific interchange as well as oversight of the research at all stages.
• The project leader should supervise the design of experiments and the process of acquiring, recording, examining, interpreting and sorting data. (A project leader who limits their role to the editing of manuscripts does not provide adequate supervision.)
• Collegial discussions among project leaders and research personnel constituting a research unit should be held regularly, both to contribute to the scientific efforts of the members of the group and to provide informal peer review of research results.
• The project leader or supervisor should provide each investigator (whether student, postdoctoral fellow or other research personnel) with applicable governmental and institutional requirements for conduct of studies involving healthy volunteers or patients, animals, radioactive or other hazardous substances, and recombinant DNA.

Ethics in Scholarship

Scholarly research and writing requires a delicate weaving of your ideas with the ideas, research, and methods of other scholars. As isolating (and private) an act as scholarship might feel, after long, lonely hours in a library or a laboratory, scholarship is accomplished within a community of scholars, whether or not you ever meet the people upon whose ideas you build your own. Scholars must rely responsibly on the work of others. Therefore, it is important that you know what constitutes appropriate attribution of source material when you write and conduct research.

Become familiar with the guidelines for attribution outlined in the booklet, Responsible Conduct of Research, or in documents prepared by your department or the professional association in your field. These issues become particularly important when attributing credit for work and authorship in scholarship conducted collaboratively. Do not hesitate to contact your advisor or the chair of your department for guidance.

It is important to know exactly what plagiarism is in order to avoid it in your work. While the Instrument of Judicial Governance addresses academic offenses under the Honor Code (see the Policies section of this orientation binder), several examples of plagiarism may make the concepts clearer.

Plagiarism, as defined by the Instrument of Judicial Governance is the “intentional representation of another person’s words, thoughts, or ideas as one’s own.” Plagiarism is wrong, and should not be condoned. Cases of plagiarism strongly affect the University community. The normal sanction for plagiarism is suspension of the student from the University. For graduate students who may be assigned a failing grade on recommendations of the Graduate Honor Court because of documented plagiarism, the result is expulsion from their program and the end of their graduate career at Carolina.

Independent thought is encouraged in graduate education, but mature scholarship requires that one person’s ideas be built with the help of other scholars and researchers. In the academy it is expected that all “borrowed” material will be appropriately credited to the originator of the thoughts, ideas, and words.

Any amount of material copied from an unacknowledged source, no matter how small, can be considered plagiarism. Ignorance of citation procedures is not an excuse for plagiarism. At the graduate level, it is assumed that all students know the rules of citation and quotation. It is not enough to list a source in the bibliography without proper citation of the material in the body of a text. If you are unsure of the rules of citation and attribution, talk with your instructor or consult any of the style and writing manuals listed at the end of this section of the orientation binder.

One practice that may lead to unintentional plagiarism is careless note taking, but even here, there is no excuse. Take good and thorough notes when reviewing literature or recording data; record exact sources and citations, including page numbers. Students often will forget if a sentence or passage is something they wrote or if it was taken from another source. The following are examples of plagiarism:

1. Quoting Directly without Proper Acknowledgment

In this example, the student made changes to the first part of the sentence, then copied directly from the source. All material borrowed from another source must be placed in quotation marks. Quoted material longer than three sentences should be indented without quotation marks.

For decades, student athletes, usually seventeen-to-nineteen-year-old freshmen, have informally agreed to contract with the university to attend: athletic performance in exchange for an education. The athletes have kept their part of the bargain; the universities have not. Universities and athletic departments have gained huge gate receipts, television revenues, national visibility, donors to university programs, and more, as a result of the performances of gifted basketball and football players, of whom a disproportionate number of the most gifted and most exploited have been black.

From Harry Edwards (1983) “Educating Black Athletes” The Atlantic Monthly, August 1983

From the student’s paper

For years, young student athletes have virtually signed four years of their lives away to compete for a university in exchange for a college degree. The athletes have kept their part of the bargain; the universities have not. Universities and athletic departments have gained huge gate receipts, television revenues, national visibility, donors to university programs, and more, as a result of the performances of gifted basketball and football players, of whom a disproportionate number of the most gifted and most exploited have been black.

2. Paraphrasing

In the passages that follow, the student has recorded the source by substituting words and changing sentences, but keeps the ideas and thoughts of the source. Although the student has reworded the sentences or passage extensively, the author still must be acknowledged. When used properly, paraphrasing can be a valuable tool for summarizing the author’s ideas into your own thoughts. When paraphrasing, if most of the ideas are coming from the source, you must include an appropriate citation to the original author. Paraphrasing, without proper citation, is plagiarism.

Generations of athletes entering colleges and universities across the country have signed a contract with the university to compete in sports, giving their athletic services in exchange for room, board, tuition, and a college degree.

The athletes have kept their part of the bargain by dedicating themselves to the university for four years; the universities have not, with eight out of ten leaving the university without a college degree.

The sports programs at these universities have profited tremendously from the talent of football and basketball players, of whom, blacks tend to be over represented. The dramatic increase in the proportion of black college athletes has paralleled college sports’ ability to attract television revenues, huge gate receipts, and national visibility.

Plagiarism can be easily avoided by consulting any of the many writing manuals. There are many different ways to note a source. The most widely used is the University of Chicago Manual of Style, favored in the traditional humanities. The economy of citation used by the Modern Language Association (MLA) also is widely accepted. The following style and writing manuals are in the library:

• The Chicago Manual of Style (14th edition)
• MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (4th edition)
• C.B.E. Style Manual (5th edition): a guide for authors, editors, and publishers in the biological sciences.
• Electronic Style: A Guide to Citing Electronic Information

The secret to using sources productively is to use them to support and develop your own ideas. If you find that too much of your paper is coming from the source, start over. If you have doubts about how to cite material, consult your instructor to see which method is preferred in your department or field.

Ethics in Teaching

Good teaching requires that you both act responsibly and teach your students how to act responsibly.

There are number of ethical issues of which you should be aware when teaching. These include, but are not limited to, confidentiality, racial and sexual harassment, favoritism, exploitation, and conflict of interest. It is crucial that you have an attitude of respect toward your students and that you uphold their right to a fair and impartial classroom environment. If you are unsure about what is required of you, consult the TA coordinator in your department or in the Center for Teaching and Learning. Many of these issues will be discussed in departmental TA training courses or the Orientation Program for TAs conducted by the Center for Teaching and Learning.

In acting respectfully toward your students, you will be teaching them about proper academic behavior. You also have a responsibility to promote and enforce the Honor Code in your classroom (see the Policies section of this orientation binder). The way in which you do this will depend, of course, on your teaching situation; however, there are some general strategies that you can implement.

• Talk about your expectations. Be explicit about what they need to cite when writing a paper and the extent to which they can use notes or work with other people on their assignments.
• When writing a syllabus, include a section on the Honor Code and how it applies to the course you are teaching. You may be able to get ideas about how to do this from faculty members or other graduate students in your department.
• If you suspect that an Honor Code violation has occurred, you have a responsibility to report it to the Student Attorney General (966-4042).

If at any time you have questions about the Honor Code or how it applies to your course, do not hesitate to contact either the Attorney General or Assistant Dean for Students/Judicial Programs in the Office of the Dean of Students (966-4042).

Research Misconduct

Public trust in the integrity and ethical behavior of scholars must be maintained if research is to continue to play its proper role in our University and society. It is the policy of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (hereinafter "University") that its research be carried out with the highest standards of integrity and ethical behavior. While the primary responsibility for maintaining integrity in research rests with those who conduct it, the University has established standards to ensure a healthy environment for research and compliance with law. Such standards include this Policy and Procedures on Responding to Allegations of Research Misconduct (hereinafter "Policy").

Each member of the University community has a personal responsibility for implementing this Policy in relation to any scholarly work with which he or she is associated and for helping his or her associates in continuing efforts to avoid any activity which might be considered in violation of this Policy. Failure to comply with this Policy shall be dealt with according to the procedures specified herein and is considered to be a violation of the trust placed in each member of the University community.

This Policy applies to University research personnel, including faculty, staff, students, trainees, technicians, guest researchers, collaborators and consultants. In addition this Policy applies to all research conducted under the auspices of the University, regardless of the source of financial support.

Any use of this Policy or these Procedures to bring malicious charges or charges not otherwise in good faith against any individual and any act of retaliation or reprisal against an individual for reporting in good faith a charge of misconduct in research shall be violations of this Policy. Such violations shall be dealt with through regular administrative processes for violations of University policies.

1. "Research Misconduct" means fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results. Research misconduct does not include honest error or differences of opinion.

2. Any individual having reason to believe that someone has engaged in research misconduct related to University research has an obligation to report their concerns to their own department chair (or equivalent unit head) or directly to the Research Integrity Officer (RIO). The Department Chair (or equivalent) shall immediately notify the RIO, who will inform the Deciding Official. If the circumstances described do not meet the definition of research misconduct, as set forth in Section IV.A of the Policy , the RIO may refer the individual or allegation to other offices or officials with responsibility for resolving the issue. Research misconduct is a confidential personnel matter.

3. The RIO will assess the allegation to determine whether it (1) falls within the definition of research misconduct in the Policy and applicable federal regulations, including, as applicable 42 C.F.R. § 93.103 and other federal agency guidance, and (2) is sufficiently credible and specific so that potential evidence of research misconduct may be identified. An Inquiry will be conducted if both of these criteria are met. The Inquiry is a step in the process to conduct an initial review of the available evidence to determine whether an Investigation is warranted. An Investigation is warranted if: (1) there is a reasonable basis for concluding that the allegation falls within the definition of research misconduct in this Policy and (2) preliminary information-gathering and preliminary fact-finding from the Inquiry indicate that the allegation may have substance.

5. A research misconduct matter that progresses to an Investigation is the formal development and examination of a factual record leading to (1) a decision not to make a finding of research misconduct or (2) a recommendation for a finding of research misconduct, which may include a recommendation for internal administrative or other appropriate action.

6. A finding of research misconduct requires: (1) the misconduct alleged meets the definition of research misconduct as set forth in this Policy or applicable federal agency policy; (2) the alleged misconduct is a significant departure from accepted practices of the relevant research community; and (3) the misconduct was committed intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly. A finding of research misconduct must be proven by a preponderance of the evidence. If the respondent presents any affirmative defenses to an allegation of research misconduct, the respondent has the burden of going forward with and the burden of proving, by a preponderance of the evidence, such affirmative defenses.

Revised 12/03/2015

You can report research misconduct by:

• Contacting UNC's Institutional Research Integrity Officer
• Reporting to the University's Compliance Line (EthicsPoint) The use of EthicsPoint through the Compliance Line can be anonymous. The University will respond to anonymous concerns.
• You can also bring your concerns to department chairs, unit deans or The Graduate School.

University Policies Affecting Graduate Student Research

Participating in research that is important, challenging, feasible, ethical, and complementary to your needs is fundamental to your success in graduate school. Each graduate research experience involves a unique set of circumstances, including sources of extramural support, involvement of external collaborators, relationships between graduate students and faculty, and supervision of people and resources. Understanding the dynamics of managing a multidisciplinary research project is one of the most valuable aspects of the graduate experience.

In order to prevent misunderstandings, it is essential that faculty and graduate students engage in frequent, candid and thoughtful discussions about the technical and ethical implications of their research. You should ask your research advisor about 1) all sources of extramural funding directly supporting your research experience, 2) all collaborators and co-investigators who may be directly involved in your research, 3) any of his or her personal and/or professional relationships that may be directly involved in supporting your research, and 4) any implied or implicit restrictions on your learning experience related to the preceding items.

As you conduct your research, there will be a number of pertinent institutional policies with which you must comply. A short list may include the protection of research subjects, safe laboratory procedures, animal care policies, grant and contract requirements for disclosure of research findings, and infectious disease control policies. The exact mix of these policies that will affect you depends greatly upon the specific nature of your research project. Ask your research advisor to explain, and make available to you, those policies which affect your lab and your research project. Short descriptions of University policies on copyright, patent rights and involvement of graduate students in the outside commercial interests of faculty members follow.

As a graduate student, you may be both producing works entitled to copyright protection and using, either in teaching or research, materials which are copyright protected. Thus, a thumbnail sketch of copyright guidelines is useful. Subject to important exceptions, one who holds a copyright has the right to prevent others from using or reproducing the copyrighted work without permission. University policy provides that in general, copyright in copyrightable materials (e.g, written or visual works, sound recordings or software) is held by the creator. Creators of a joint work are co-owners of the copyright. In instances where the University does not own all or part of a copyright, distribution of income from the copyrighted work, rare in an academic setting, is a matter of arrangement between the creator(s) and the publishers or licensees. Be aware, however, that many publishers require authors of journal articles to assign copyright as a condition of publication.

General exceptions to the preceding rules apply to those who are hired to produce a specific work, where the University retains copyright, and where a sponsored research agreement requires a different arrangement, where either the University or sponsor retains copyright, depending on the provisions of the research agreement. In the case where an author uses unique University resources on a sustained and significant basis as in the production of software or audio-visual materials, the contribution of the University is acknowledged through joint copyright ownership. Also, some University units or departments, under policies approved by the Chancellor, require faculty, staff and students to assign copyright to the University.

In the case of student works, the University Copyright Guidelines make a couple of special exceptions to the general presumption that the creator holds copyright. When your dissertation, thesis or other student work is part of a larger University research project, original records of the investigation (i. e., data or notebooks) are property of the University, but may be retained by the student at the discretion of the chair of the student’s major department. The University shall also have, as a condition of enrollment in any course or the award of any degree, the royalty-free right to retain and use a limited number of copies of a student work. In the case of theses and dissertations, the University has the right to require their publication for archival use.

The “fair use” doctrine is a defense to claims of copyright infringement. Where the doctrine applies, one may copy and use copyrighted works without permission of the copyright owner. At the University, such copying or use should not be undertaken without consultation with the appropriate legal counsel staff. Students may consult Student Legal Services regarding application of the fair use doctrine to their research activities. Questions about unauthorized use or reproduction of copyrighted materials in other contexts should be directed to the Office of University Counsel .

In some cases, the research you do as a graduate student might lead to patentable discoveries. Assignment of patent rights and shares of any royalty income for work done by you while at the University is governed by the Board of Governors’ Patent and Copyright Policies and UNC-Chapel Hill’s Patent and Copyright Procedures. The policy applies whenever there is any use of institutional time, resources, or facilities by faculty, staff, or students. If you believe you have made a patentable discovery, you should contact the Office of Technology Development in Bynum Hall.

Patent rights may be affected by contractual arrangements between the University and the sponsor of your research project. Under the terms of some research contracts between the University and various agencies of government, private or public corporations, or other private interests, the University may be required to license all patent rights to the contracting party. In these cases, specific provisions of the grant or contract will govern rights and revenue distribution regarding inventions made in connection with sponsored research.

Funding the research enterprise is becoming a more complex endeavor than in the past. Faculty members are increasingly engaging in consulting and outside commercial interests to capitalize upon the discoveries made in their academic research labs. These developments offer a variety of new opportunities for graduate student research. The Policy on Conflicts of Interest and Commitment helps to assure the primacy of academic integrity in these relationships between faculty members, graduate students, and a faculty member’s outside commercial interests.

The University requires disclosure to academic administration and a heightened level of oversight in cases where 1) a faculty member assigns any students, postdocs or other trainees to projects sponsored by a for-profit or non-profit business in which the faculty member, or a family member, has a significant financial interest, or 2) a faculty member allows participation of students or other trainees in a consulting relationship meeting the definition of a significant financial interest.

In these cases, a management plan must be devised by the Department Chair, with the Dean’s approval, to monitor and correct any adverse effects upon involved, and non-involved, graduate students. Regular monitoring and establishment of open feedback channels for the graduate students should be a normal part of each management plan must be devised by the Department Chair, with the Dean’s approval, to monitor and correct any adverse effects upon involved, and non-involved, graduate students. Regular monitoring and establishment of open feedback channels for the graduate students should be a normal part of each management plan. If you become involved in the outside commercial interests of a faculty member, any concerns that arise should be addressed as soon as they arise to your advisor or your Department Chair or Dean.

This document benefited from the UNC School of Pharmacy’s Rights and Procedure of Recourse for Students Involved in Research and discussions of the Conflict of Interest and Commitment Committee of the Administrative Board of the Graduate School.

American Association of University Professors. (1994). Policy documents and reports. Washington, DC: American Association of University Professors.

————. (1987). Statement on professional ethics. Academe. July-August, 1987. 49. Asmore, R. B. & Starr, W. C. (Eds.). (1991). Ethics across the curriculum: The Marquette experience. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press.

Association of American Medical Colleges. (1994). Teaching the responsible conduct of research through a case study approach: A handbook for instructors. Washington, DC: Association of American Medical Colleges.

Baca, M. C. & Stein, R. H. (Eds.). (1983). Ethical principles, practices and problems in higher education. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, Publisher.

Bok, D. C. (1976). Can ethics be taught? Change. October 1976. 4-6.

Cahn, S. (Ed.). (1990). Morality, responsibility, and the university. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Collins, M. J. (Ed.). (1983). Teaching values and ethics in college. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, New Directions for Teaching and Learning, No. 13, March 1983.

Getman, J. (1992). In the company of scholars. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

Kasworm, C. E. (1988). “Facilitating ethical development: A paradox” in Brockett, R. G. (Ed.) Ethical issues in adult education. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University.

Keith-Spiegel, P.; Wittig, A.F.; Perkins, D.V.; Balogh, D. W. & Whitley, R., B. E. (1993). The ethics of teaching: A casebook. Muncie, IN: Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology, Ball State University.

LaPidus, J. B. & Mishkin, B. “Values and ethics in the graduate education of scientists” in May, W. W. (Ed.) Ethics and higher education. New York: Macmillan.

Long, E., Jr. (1992). Higher education as a moral enterprise. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

May, W. (Ed.). (1990). Ethics and higher education. New York: Macmillan. Menand, L. (1993). “The future of academic freedom.” Academe, (May-June 1993).

Payne, S. & Charnov, B. (Eds.). (1987). Ethical dilemmas for academic professionals. Springfield, IL: Thomas Books.

Swartzlander, S. D.; Pace, D. & Stamler, V. L. (1993). “The ethics of requiring students to write about their personal lives.” Chronicle of Higher Education, (February 17, 1993, B1-2).

Swayze, J.P.; Louis, K. S. & Anderson, M. S. (1994). “The ethical training of graduate students requires serious and continuing attention.” Chronicle of Higher Education, (March 9, 1994, B1-4).

Sylvan Lake Associates. (1994). Ethical issues in research and science. (A computer-aided, self-instructional course).

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Introduction of moral codes

• Problems of divine origin
• Nonhuman behaviour
• Kinship and reciprocity
• Anthropology and ethics
• The Middle East
• Ancient Greece
• The Epicureans
• Ethics in the New Testament
• St. Augustine
• St. Thomas Aquinas and the Scholastics
• Machiavelli
• The first Protestants
• Early intuitionists: Cudworth, More, and Clarke
• Shaftesbury and the moral sense school
• Butler on self-interest and conscience
• The climax of moral sense theory: Hutcheson and Hume
• The intuitionist response: Price and Reid
• Moore and the naturalistic fallacy
• Modern intuitionism
• Existentialism
• Universal prescriptivism
• Moral realism
• Kantian constructivism: a middle ground?
• Irrealist views: projectivism and expressivism
• Ethics and reasons for action
• The debate over consequentialism
• Varieties of consequentialism
• Objections to consequentialism
• An ethics of prima facie duties
• Rawls’s theory of justice
• Rights theories
• Natural law ethics
• Virtue ethics
• Feminist ethics
• Ethical egoism
• Environmental ethics
• War and peace
• Abortion, euthanasia, and the value of human life

What is ethics?

How is ethics different from morality, why does ethics matter, is ethics a social science.

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• Table Of Contents

The term ethics may refer to the philosophical study of the concepts of moral right and wrong and moral good and bad, to any philosophical theory of what is morally right and wrong or morally good and bad, and to any system or code of moral rules, principles, or values. The last may be associated with particular religions , cultures, professions, or virtually any other group that is at least partly characterized by its moral outlook.

Traditionally, ethics referred to the philosophical study of morality, the latter being a more or less systematic set of beliefs, usually held in common by a group, about how people should live. Ethics also referred to particular philosophical theories of morality. Later the term was applied to particular (and narrower) moral codes or value systems. Ethics and morality are now used almost interchangeably in many contexts, but the name of the philosophical study remains ethics .

Ethics matters because (1) it is part of how many groups define themselves and thus part of the identity of their individual members, (2) other-regarding values in most ethical systems both reflect and foster close human relationships and mutual respect and trust, and (3) it could be “rational” for a self-interested person to be moral, because his or her self-interest is arguably best served in the long run by reciprocating the moral behaviour of others.

No. Understood as equivalent to morality, ethics could be studied as a social-psychological or historical phenomenon, but in that case it would be an object of social-scientific study, not a social science in itself. Understood as the philosophical study of moral concepts, ethics is a branch of philosophy , not of social science.

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ethics , the discipline concerned with what is morally good and bad and morally right and wrong. The term is also applied to any system or theory of moral values or principles.

(Read Britannica’s biography of this author, Peter Singer.)

How should we live? Shall we aim at happiness or at knowledge, virtue , or the creation of beautiful objects? If we choose happiness, will it be our own or the happiness of all? And what of the more particular questions that face us: is it right to be dishonest in a good cause? Can we justify living in opulence while elsewhere in the world people are starving? Is going to war justified in cases where it is likely that innocent people will be killed? Is it wrong to clone a human being or to destroy human embryos in medical research? What are our obligations, if any, to the generations of humans who will come after us and to the nonhuman animals with whom we share the planet?

Ethics deals with such questions at all levels. Its subject consists of the fundamental issues of practical decision making , and its major concerns include the nature of ultimate value and the standards by which human actions can be judged right or wrong .

The terms ethics and morality are closely related. It is now common to refer to ethical judgments or to ethical principles where it once would have been more accurate to speak of moral judgments or moral principles. These applications are an extension of the meaning of ethics. In earlier usage, the term referred not to morality itself but to the field of study, or branch of inquiry, that has morality as its subject matter. In this sense, ethics is equivalent to moral philosophy .

Although ethics has always been viewed as a branch of philosophy, its all-embracing practical nature links it with many other areas of study, including anthropology , biology , economics , history , politics , sociology , and theology . Yet, ethics remains distinct from such disciplines because it is not a matter of factual knowledge in the way that the sciences and other branches of inquiry are. Rather, it has to do with determining the nature of normative theories and applying these sets of principles to practical moral problems.

This article, then, will deal with ethics as a field of philosophy, especially as it has developed in the West. For coverage of religious conceptions of ethics and the ethical systems associated with world religions, see Buddhism ; Christianity ; Confucianism ; Hinduism ; Jainism ; Judaism ; Sikhism .

The origins of ethics

Mythical accounts.

When did ethics begin and how did it originate? If one has in mind ethics proper—i.e., the systematic study of what is morally right and wrong—it is clear that ethics could have come into existence only when human beings started to reflect on the best way to live. This reflective stage emerged long after human societies had developed some kind of morality, usually in the form of customary standards of right and wrong conduct . The process of reflection tended to arise from such customs, even if in the end it may have found them wanting. Accordingly, ethics began with the introduction of the first moral codes .

Virtually every human society has some form of myth to explain the origin of morality. In the Louvre in Paris there is a black Babylonian column with a relief showing the sun god Shamash presenting the code of laws to Hammurabi (died c. 1750 bce ), known as the Code of Hammurabi . The Hebrew Bible ( Old Testament ) account of God’s giving the Ten Commandments to Moses (flourished 14th–13th century bce ) on Mount Sinai might be considered another example. In the dialogue Protagoras by Plato (428/427–348/347 bce ), there is an avowedly mythical account of how Zeus took pity on the hapless humans, who were physically no match for the other beasts. To make up for these deficiencies, Zeus gave humans a moral sense and the capacity for law and justice , so that they could live in larger communities and cooperate with one another.

That morality should be invested with all the mystery and power of divine origin is not surprising. Nothing else could provide such strong reasons for accepting the moral law. By attributing a divine origin to morality, the priesthood became its interpreter and guardian and thereby secured for itself a power that it would not readily relinquish. This link between morality and religion has been so firmly forged that it is still sometimes asserted that there can be no morality without religion. According to this view, ethics is not an independent field of study but rather a branch of theology ( see moral theology ).

There is some difficulty, already known to Plato, with the view that morality was created by a divine power. In his dialogue Euthyphro , Plato considered the suggestion that it is divine approval that makes an action good . Plato pointed out that, if this were the case, one could not say that the gods approve of such actions because they are good. Why then do they approve of them? Is their approval entirely arbitrary? Plato considered this impossible and so held that there must be some standards of right or wrong that are independent of the likes and dislikes of the gods. Modern philosophers have generally accepted Plato’s argument, because the alternative implies that if, for example, the gods had happened to approve of torturing children and to disapprove of helping one’s neighbours, then torture would have been good and neighbourliness bad.

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Your environment. your health., what is ethics in research & why is it important, by david b. resnik, j.d., ph.d..

December 23, 2020

The ideas and opinions expressed in this essay are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of the NIH, NIEHS, or US government.

When most people think of ethics (or morals), they think of rules for distinguishing between right and wrong, such as the Golden Rule ("Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"), a code of professional conduct like the Hippocratic Oath ("First of all, do no harm"), a religious creed like the Ten Commandments ("Thou Shalt not kill..."), or a wise aphorisms like the sayings of Confucius. This is the most common way of defining "ethics": norms for conduct that distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable behavior.

Most people learn ethical norms at home, at school, in church, or in other social settings. Although most people acquire their sense of right and wrong during childhood, moral development occurs throughout life and human beings pass through different stages of growth as they mature. Ethical norms are so ubiquitous that one might be tempted to regard them as simple commonsense. On the other hand, if morality were nothing more than commonsense, then why are there so many ethical disputes and issues in our society?

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One plausible explanation of these disagreements is that all people recognize some common ethical norms but interpret, apply, and balance them in different ways in light of their own values and life experiences. For example, two people could agree that murder is wrong but disagree about the morality of abortion because they have different understandings of what it means to be a human being.

Most societies also have legal rules that govern behavior, but ethical norms tend to be broader and more informal than laws. Although most societies use laws to enforce widely accepted moral standards and ethical and legal rules use similar concepts, ethics and law are not the same. An action may be legal but unethical or illegal but ethical. We can also use ethical concepts and principles to criticize, evaluate, propose, or interpret laws. Indeed, in the last century, many social reformers have urged citizens to disobey laws they regarded as immoral or unjust laws. Peaceful civil disobedience is an ethical way of protesting laws or expressing political viewpoints.

Another way of defining 'ethics' focuses on the disciplines that study standards of conduct, such as philosophy, theology, law, psychology, or sociology. For example, a "medical ethicist" is someone who studies ethical standards in medicine. One may also define ethics as a method, procedure, or perspective for deciding how to act and for analyzing complex problems and issues. For instance, in considering a complex issue like global warming , one may take an economic, ecological, political, or ethical perspective on the problem. While an economist might examine the cost and benefits of various policies related to global warming, an environmental ethicist could examine the ethical values and principles at stake.

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Many different disciplines, institutions , and professions have standards for behavior that suit their particular aims and goals. These standards also help members of the discipline to coordinate their actions or activities and to establish the public's trust of the discipline. For instance, ethical standards govern conduct in medicine, law, engineering, and business. Ethical norms also serve the aims or goals of research and apply to people who conduct scientific research or other scholarly or creative activities. There is even a specialized discipline, research ethics, which studies these norms. See Glossary of Commonly Used Terms in Research Ethics and Research Ethics Timeline .

There are several reasons why it is important to adhere to ethical norms in research. First, norms promote the aims of research , such as knowledge, truth, and avoidance of error. For example, prohibitions against fabricating , falsifying, or misrepresenting research data promote the truth and minimize error.

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Second, since research often involves a great deal of cooperation and coordination among many different people in different disciplines and institutions, ethical standards promote the values that are essential to collaborative work , such as trust, accountability, mutual respect, and fairness. For example, many ethical norms in research, such as guidelines for authorship , copyright and patenting policies , data sharing policies, and confidentiality rules in peer review, are designed to protect intellectual property interests while encouraging collaboration. Most researchers want to receive credit for their contributions and do not want to have their ideas stolen or disclosed prematurely.

Third, many of the ethical norms help to ensure that researchers can be held accountable to the public . For instance, federal policies on research misconduct, conflicts of interest, the human subjects protections, and animal care and use are necessary in order to make sure that researchers who are funded by public money can be held accountable to the public.

Fourth, ethical norms in research also help to build public support for research. People are more likely to fund a research project if they can trust the quality and integrity of research.

Finally, many of the norms of research promote a variety of other important moral and social values , such as social responsibility, human rights, animal welfare, compliance with the law, and public health and safety. Ethical lapses in research can significantly harm human and animal subjects, students, and the public. For example, a researcher who fabricates data in a clinical trial may harm or even kill patients, and a researcher who fails to abide by regulations and guidelines relating to radiation or biological safety may jeopardize his health and safety or the health and safety of staff and students.

Codes and Policies for Research Ethics

Given the importance of ethics for the conduct of research, it should come as no surprise that many different professional associations, government agencies, and universities have adopted specific codes, rules, and policies relating to research ethics. Many government agencies have ethics rules for funded researchers.

• National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• National Science Foundation (NSF)
• Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• US Department of Agriculture (USDA)
• Singapore Statement on Research Integrity
• American Chemical Society, The Chemist Professional’s Code of Conduct
• Code of Ethics (American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science)
• American Psychological Association, Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct
• Statement on Professional Ethics (American Association of University Professors)
• Nuremberg Code
• World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki

Ethical Principles

The following is a rough and general summary of some ethical principles that various codes address*:

Strive for honesty in all scientific communications. Honestly report data, results, methods and procedures, and publication status. Do not fabricate, falsify, or misrepresent data. Do not deceive colleagues, research sponsors, or the public.

Objectivity

Strive to avoid bias in experimental design, data analysis, data interpretation, peer review, personnel decisions, grant writing, expert testimony, and other aspects of research where objectivity is expected or required. Avoid or minimize bias or self-deception. Disclose personal or financial interests that may affect research.

Keep your promises and agreements; act with sincerity; strive for consistency of thought and action.

Carefulness

Avoid careless errors and negligence; carefully and critically examine your own work and the work of your peers. Keep good records of research activities, such as data collection, research design, and correspondence with agencies or journals.

Share data, results, ideas, tools, resources. Be open to criticism and new ideas.

Transparency

Disclose methods, materials, assumptions, analyses, and other information needed to evaluate your research.

Accountability

Take responsibility for your part in research and be prepared to give an account (i.e. an explanation or justification) of what you did on a research project and why.

Intellectual Property

Honor patents, copyrights, and other forms of intellectual property. Do not use unpublished data, methods, or results without permission. Give proper acknowledgement or credit for all contributions to research. Never plagiarize.

Confidentiality

Protect confidential communications, such as papers or grants submitted for publication, personnel records, trade or military secrets, and patient records.

Responsible Publication

Publish in order to advance research and scholarship, not to advance just your own career. Avoid wasteful and duplicative publication.

Responsible Mentoring

Help to educate, mentor, and advise students. Promote their welfare and allow them to make their own decisions.

Respect for Colleagues

Respect your colleagues and treat them fairly.

Social Responsibility

Strive to promote social good and prevent or mitigate social harms through research, public education, and advocacy.

Non-Discrimination

Avoid discrimination against colleagues or students on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, or other factors not related to scientific competence and integrity.

Maintain and improve your own professional competence and expertise through lifelong education and learning; take steps to promote competence in science as a whole.

Know and obey relevant laws and institutional and governmental policies.

Animal Care

Show proper respect and care for animals when using them in research. Do not conduct unnecessary or poorly designed animal experiments.

Human Subjects protection

When conducting research on human subjects, minimize harms and risks and maximize benefits; respect human dignity, privacy, and autonomy; take special precautions with vulnerable populations; and strive to distribute the benefits and burdens of research fairly.

* Adapted from Shamoo A and Resnik D. 2015. Responsible Conduct of Research, 3rd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press).

Ethical Decision Making in Research

Although codes, policies, and principles are very important and useful, like any set of rules, they do not cover every situation, they often conflict, and they require interpretation. It is therefore important for researchers to learn how to interpret, assess, and apply various research rules and how to make decisions and act ethically in various situations. The vast majority of decisions involve the straightforward application of ethical rules. For example, consider the following case:

The research protocol for a study of a drug on hypertension requires the administration of the drug at different doses to 50 laboratory mice, with chemical and behavioral tests to determine toxic effects. Tom has almost finished the experiment for Dr. Q. He has only 5 mice left to test. However, he really wants to finish his work in time to go to Florida on spring break with his friends, who are leaving tonight. He has injected the drug in all 50 mice but has not completed all of the tests. He therefore decides to extrapolate from the 45 completed results to produce the 5 additional results.

Many different research ethics policies would hold that Tom has acted unethically by fabricating data. If this study were sponsored by a federal agency, such as the NIH, his actions would constitute a form of research misconduct , which the government defines as "fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism" (or FFP). Actions that nearly all researchers classify as unethical are viewed as misconduct. It is important to remember, however, that misconduct occurs only when researchers intend to deceive : honest errors related to sloppiness, poor record keeping, miscalculations, bias, self-deception, and even negligence do not constitute misconduct. Also, reasonable disagreements about research methods, procedures, and interpretations do not constitute research misconduct. Consider the following case:

Dr. T has just discovered a mathematical error in his paper that has been accepted for publication in a journal. The error does not affect the overall results of his research, but it is potentially misleading. The journal has just gone to press, so it is too late to catch the error before it appears in print. In order to avoid embarrassment, Dr. T decides to ignore the error.

Dr. T's error is not misconduct nor is his decision to take no action to correct the error. Most researchers, as well as many different policies and codes would say that Dr. T should tell the journal (and any coauthors) about the error and consider publishing a correction or errata. Failing to publish a correction would be unethical because it would violate norms relating to honesty and objectivity in research.

There are many other activities that the government does not define as "misconduct" but which are still regarded by most researchers as unethical. These are sometimes referred to as " other deviations " from acceptable research practices and include:

• Publishing the same paper in two different journals without telling the editors
• Submitting the same paper to different journals without telling the editors
• Not informing a collaborator of your intent to file a patent in order to make sure that you are the sole inventor
• Including a colleague as an author on a paper in return for a favor even though the colleague did not make a serious contribution to the paper
• Discussing with your colleagues confidential data from a paper that you are reviewing for a journal
• Using data, ideas, or methods you learn about while reviewing a grant or a papers without permission
• Trimming outliers from a data set without discussing your reasons in paper
• Using an inappropriate statistical technique in order to enhance the significance of your research
• Bypassing the peer review process and announcing your results through a press conference without giving peers adequate information to review your work
• Conducting a review of the literature that fails to acknowledge the contributions of other people in the field or relevant prior work
• Stretching the truth on a grant application in order to convince reviewers that your project will make a significant contribution to the field
• Stretching the truth on a job application or curriculum vita
• Giving the same research project to two graduate students in order to see who can do it the fastest
• Overworking, neglecting, or exploiting graduate or post-doctoral students
• Failing to keep good research records
• Failing to maintain research data for a reasonable period of time
• Making derogatory comments and personal attacks in your review of author's submission
• Promising a student a better grade for sexual favors
• Using a racist epithet in the laboratory
• Making significant deviations from the research protocol approved by your institution's Animal Care and Use Committee or Institutional Review Board for Human Subjects Research without telling the committee or the board
• Not reporting an adverse event in a human research experiment
• Wasting animals in research
• Exposing students and staff to biological risks in violation of your institution's biosafety rules
• Sabotaging someone's work
• Stealing supplies, books, or data
• Rigging an experiment so you know how it will turn out
• Making unauthorized copies of data, papers, or computer programs
• Owning over $10,000 in stock in a company that sponsors your research and not disclosing this financial interest
• Deliberately overestimating the clinical significance of a new drug in order to obtain economic benefits

These actions would be regarded as unethical by most scientists and some might even be illegal in some cases. Most of these would also violate different professional ethics codes or institutional policies. However, they do not fall into the narrow category of actions that the government classifies as research misconduct. Indeed, there has been considerable debate about the definition of "research misconduct" and many researchers and policy makers are not satisfied with the government's narrow definition that focuses on FFP. However, given the huge list of potential offenses that might fall into the category "other serious deviations," and the practical problems with defining and policing these other deviations, it is understandable why government officials have chosen to limit their focus.

Finally, situations frequently arise in research in which different people disagree about the proper course of action and there is no broad consensus about what should be done. In these situations, there may be good arguments on both sides of the issue and different ethical principles may conflict. These situations create difficult decisions for research known as ethical or moral dilemmas . Consider the following case:

Dr. Wexford is the principal investigator of a large, epidemiological study on the health of 10,000 agricultural workers. She has an impressive dataset that includes information on demographics, environmental exposures, diet, genetics, and various disease outcomes such as cancer, Parkinson’s disease (PD), and ALS. She has just published a paper on the relationship between pesticide exposure and PD in a prestigious journal. She is planning to publish many other papers from her dataset. She receives a request from another research team that wants access to her complete dataset. They are interested in examining the relationship between pesticide exposures and skin cancer. Dr. Wexford was planning to conduct a study on this topic.

Dr. Wexford faces a difficult choice. On the one hand, the ethical norm of openness obliges her to share data with the other research team. Her funding agency may also have rules that obligate her to share data. On the other hand, if she shares data with the other team, they may publish results that she was planning to publish, thus depriving her (and her team) of recognition and priority. It seems that there are good arguments on both sides of this issue and Dr. Wexford needs to take some time to think about what she should do. One possible option is to share data, provided that the investigators sign a data use agreement. The agreement could define allowable uses of the data, publication plans, authorship, etc. Another option would be to offer to collaborate with the researchers.

The following are some step that researchers, such as Dr. Wexford, can take to deal with ethical dilemmas in research:

What is the problem or issue?

It is always important to get a clear statement of the problem. In this case, the issue is whether to share information with the other research team.

What is the relevant information?

Many bad decisions are made as a result of poor information. To know what to do, Dr. Wexford needs to have more information concerning such matters as university or funding agency or journal policies that may apply to this situation, the team's intellectual property interests, the possibility of negotiating some kind of agreement with the other team, whether the other team also has some information it is willing to share, the impact of the potential publications, etc.

What are the different options?

People may fail to see different options due to a limited imagination, bias, ignorance, or fear. In this case, there may be other choices besides 'share' or 'don't share,' such as 'negotiate an agreement' or 'offer to collaborate with the researchers.'

How do ethical codes or policies as well as legal rules apply to these different options?

The university or funding agency may have policies on data management that apply to this case. Broader ethical rules, such as openness and respect for credit and intellectual property, may also apply to this case. Laws relating to intellectual property may be relevant.

Are there any people who can offer ethical advice?

It may be useful to seek advice from a colleague, a senior researcher, your department chair, an ethics or compliance officer, or anyone else you can trust. In the case, Dr. Wexford might want to talk to her supervisor and research team before making a decision.

After considering these questions, a person facing an ethical dilemma may decide to ask more questions, gather more information, explore different options, or consider other ethical rules. However, at some point he or she will have to make a decision and then take action. Ideally, a person who makes a decision in an ethical dilemma should be able to justify his or her decision to himself or herself, as well as colleagues, administrators, and other people who might be affected by the decision. He or she should be able to articulate reasons for his or her conduct and should consider the following questions in order to explain how he or she arrived at his or her decision:

• Which choice will probably have the best overall consequences for science and society?
• Which choice could stand up to further publicity and scrutiny?
• Which choice could you not live with?
• Think of the wisest person you know. What would he or she do in this situation?
• Which choice would be the most just, fair, or responsible?

After considering all of these questions, one still might find it difficult to decide what to do. If this is the case, then it may be appropriate to consider others ways of making the decision, such as going with a gut feeling or intuition, seeking guidance through prayer or meditation, or even flipping a coin. Endorsing these methods in this context need not imply that ethical decisions are irrational, however. The main point is that human reasoning plays a pivotal role in ethical decision-making but there are limits to its ability to solve all ethical dilemmas in a finite amount of time.

Promoting Ethical Conduct in Science

Do U.S. research institutions meet or exceed federal mandates for instruction in responsible conduct of research? A national survey

 Read about U.S. research instutuins follow federal manadates for ethics in research 

Learn more about NIEHS Research

Most academic institutions in the US require undergraduate, graduate, or postgraduate students to have some education in the responsible conduct of research (RCR) . The NIH and NSF have both mandated training in research ethics for students and trainees. Many academic institutions outside of the US have also developed educational curricula in research ethics

Those of you who are taking or have taken courses in research ethics may be wondering why you are required to have education in research ethics. You may believe that you are highly ethical and know the difference between right and wrong. You would never fabricate or falsify data or plagiarize. Indeed, you also may believe that most of your colleagues are highly ethical and that there is no ethics problem in research..

If you feel this way, relax. No one is accusing you of acting unethically. Indeed, the evidence produced so far shows that misconduct is a very rare occurrence in research, although there is considerable variation among various estimates. The rate of misconduct has been estimated to be as low as 0.01% of researchers per year (based on confirmed cases of misconduct in federally funded research) to as high as 1% of researchers per year (based on self-reports of misconduct on anonymous surveys). See Shamoo and Resnik (2015), cited above.

Clearly, it would be useful to have more data on this topic, but so far there is no evidence that science has become ethically corrupt, despite some highly publicized scandals. Even if misconduct is only a rare occurrence, it can still have a tremendous impact on science and society because it can compromise the integrity of research, erode the public’s trust in science, and waste time and resources. Will education in research ethics help reduce the rate of misconduct in science? It is too early to tell. The answer to this question depends, in part, on how one understands the causes of misconduct. There are two main theories about why researchers commit misconduct. According to the "bad apple" theory, most scientists are highly ethical. Only researchers who are morally corrupt, economically desperate, or psychologically disturbed commit misconduct. Moreover, only a fool would commit misconduct because science's peer review system and self-correcting mechanisms will eventually catch those who try to cheat the system. In any case, a course in research ethics will have little impact on "bad apples," one might argue.

According to the "stressful" or "imperfect" environment theory, misconduct occurs because various institutional pressures, incentives, and constraints encourage people to commit misconduct, such as pressures to publish or obtain grants or contracts, career ambitions, the pursuit of profit or fame, poor supervision of students and trainees, and poor oversight of researchers (see Shamoo and Resnik 2015). Moreover, defenders of the stressful environment theory point out that science's peer review system is far from perfect and that it is relatively easy to cheat the system. Erroneous or fraudulent research often enters the public record without being detected for years. Misconduct probably results from environmental and individual causes, i.e. when people who are morally weak, ignorant, or insensitive are placed in stressful or imperfect environments. In any case, a course in research ethics can be useful in helping to prevent deviations from norms even if it does not prevent misconduct. Education in research ethics is can help people get a better understanding of ethical standards, policies, and issues and improve ethical judgment and decision making. Many of the deviations that occur in research may occur because researchers simply do not know or have never thought seriously about some of the ethical norms of research. For example, some unethical authorship practices probably reflect traditions and practices that have not been questioned seriously until recently. If the director of a lab is named as an author on every paper that comes from his lab, even if he does not make a significant contribution, what could be wrong with that? That's just the way it's done, one might argue. Another example where there may be some ignorance or mistaken traditions is conflicts of interest in research. A researcher may think that a "normal" or "traditional" financial relationship, such as accepting stock or a consulting fee from a drug company that sponsors her research, raises no serious ethical issues. Or perhaps a university administrator sees no ethical problem in taking a large gift with strings attached from a pharmaceutical company. Maybe a physician thinks that it is perfectly appropriate to receive a $300 finder’s fee for referring patients into a clinical trial.

If "deviations" from ethical conduct occur in research as a result of ignorance or a failure to reflect critically on problematic traditions, then a course in research ethics may help reduce the rate of serious deviations by improving the researcher's understanding of ethics and by sensitizing him or her to the issues.

Finally, education in research ethics should be able to help researchers grapple with the ethical dilemmas they are likely to encounter by introducing them to important concepts, tools, principles, and methods that can be useful in resolving these dilemmas. Scientists must deal with a number of different controversial topics, such as human embryonic stem cell research, cloning, genetic engineering, and research involving animal or human subjects, which require ethical reflection and deliberation.

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Promoting Academic Integrity 

While it is each student’s responsibility to understand and abide by university standards towards individual work and academic integrity, instructors can help students understand their responsibilities through frank classroom conversations that go beyond policy language to shared values. By creating a learning environment that stimulates engagement and designing assessments that are authentic, instructors can minimize the incidence of academic dishonesty.

Academic dishonesty often takes place because students are overwhelmed with the assignments and they don’t have enough time to complete them. So, in addition to being clear about expectations and responsibilities related to academic integrity, instructors should also invite students to  plan accordingly and communicate with them in the event of an emergency. Instructors can arrange extensions and offer solutions in case that students have an emergency. Communication between instructors and students is vital to avoid bad practices and contribute to hold on to the academic integrity values. 

The guidance and strategies included in this resource are applicable to courses in any modality (in-person, online, and hybrid) and includes a discussion of addressing generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT with students. 

On this page:

What is academic integrity, why does academic dishonesty occur, strategies for promoting academic integrity, academic integrity in the age of artificial intelligence, columbia university resources.

• References and Additional Resources
• Acknowledgment

Cite this resource: Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning (2020). Promoting Academic Integrity. Columbia University. Retrieved [today’s date] from https://ctl.columbia.edu/resources-and-technology/resources/academic-integrity/

According to the  International Center for Academic Integrity , academic integrity is “a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to six fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage.” We commit to these values to honor the intellectual efforts of the global academic community, of which Columbia University is an integral part.

Academic dishonesty in the classroom occurs when one or more values of academic integrity are violated. While some cases of academic dishonesty are committed intentionally, other cases may be a reflection of something deeper that a student is experiencing, such as language or cultural misunderstandings, insufficient or misguided preparation for exams or papers, a lack of confidence in their ability to learn the subject, or perception that course policies are unfair (Bernard and Keith-Spiegel, 2002).

Some other reasons why students may commit academic dishonesty include:

• Cultural or regional differences in what comprises academic dishonesty
• Lack or poor understanding on how to cite sources correctly
• Misunderstanding directions and/or expectations
• Poor time management, procrastination, or disorganization
• Feeling disconnected from the course, subject, instructor, or material
• Fear of failure or lack of confidence in one’s ability
• Anxiety, depression, other mental health problems
• Peer/family pressure to meet unrealistic expectations

Understanding some of these common reasons can help instructors intentionally design their courses and assessments to pre-empt, and hopefully avoid, instances of academic dishonesty. As Thomas Keith states in “Combating Academic Dishonesty, Part 1 – Understanding the Problem.” faculty and administrators should direct their steps towards a “thoughtful, compassionate pedagogy.”

The CTL is here to help!

The CTL can help you think through your course policies and ways to create community, design course assessments, and set up CourseWorks to promote academic integrity. Email [email protected] to schedule your 1-1 consultation .

In his research on cheating in the college classroom, James Lang argues that “the amount of cheating that takes place on our campuses may well depend on the structures of the learning environment” (Lang, 2013a; Lang, 2013b). Instructors have agency in shaping the classroom learning experience; thus, instances of academic dishonesty can be mitigated by efforts to design a supportive, learning-oriented environment (Bertam, 2017 and 2008).

Understanding Student’s Perceptions about Cheating 

It is important to know how students understand critical concepts related to academic integrity such as: cheating, transparency, attribution, intellectual property, etc. As much as they know and understand these concepts, they will be able to show good academic integrity practices.

1. Acknowledge the importance of the research process, not only the outcome, during student learning.

Although the research process is slow and arduous, students should understand the value of the different processes involved during academic writing: investigation, reading, drafting, revising, editing and proof-reading. For Natalie Wexler, using generative Artificial Intelligence tools like ChatGPT as a substitute of writing itself is beyond cheating, an act of self cheating: “The process of writing itself can and should deepen that knowledge and possibly spark new insights” (“‘ Bots’ Can Write Good Essays, But That Doesn’t Make Writing Obsolete” ).

Ways to understand the value of writing their own work without external help, either from external sources, peers or AI, hinge on prioritizing the process over the product:

• Asking students to present drafts of their work and receive feedback can help students to gain confidence to continue researching and writing.
• Allowing students the freedom to choose or change their research topic can increase their investment in an assignment, which can motivate them to conduct their own writing and research rather than relying on AI tools. 

2. Create a supportive learning environment

When students feel supported in a course and connected to instructors and/or TAs and their peers, they may be more comfortable asking for help when they don’t understand course material or if they have fallen behind with an assignment.

Ways to support student learning include:

• Convey confidence  in your students’ ability to succeed in your course from day one of the course (this may ease student anxiety or  imposter syndrome ) and through timely and regular feedback on what they are doing well and areas they can improve on. 
• Explain the relevance  of the course to students; tell them why it is important that they actually learn the material and develop the skills for themselves. Invite students to connect the course to their goals, studies, or intended career trajectories. Research shows that students’ motivation to learn can help deter instances of academic dishonesty (Lang, 2013a). 
• Teach important skills  such as taking notes, summarizing arguments, and citing sources. Students may not have developed these skills, or they may bring bad habits from previous learning experiences. Have students practice these skills through exercises (Gonzalez, 2017). 
• Provide students multiple opportunities to practice challenging skills  and receive immediate feedback in class (e.g., polls, writing activities, “boardwork”). These frequent low-stakes assessments across the semester can “[improve] students’ metacognitive awareness of their learning in the course” (Lang, 2013a, pp. 145). 
• Help students manage their time  on course tasks by scheduling regular check-ins to reduce students’ last minute efforts or frantic emails about assignment requirements. Establish weekly online office hours and/or be open to appointments outside of standard working hours. This is especially important if students are learning in different time zones. Normalize the use of campus resources and academic support resources that can help address issues or anxieties they may be facing.  (See the Columbia University Resources section below for a list of support resources.)
• Provide lists of approved websites and resources  that can be used for additional help or research. This is especially important if on-campus materials are not available to online learners. Articulate permitted online “study” resources to be used as learning tools (and not cheating aids – see McKenzie, 2018) and how to cite those in homework, writing assignments or problem sets. 
• Encourage TAs (if applicable) to establish good relationships  with students and to check-in with you about concerns they may have about students in the course. (Explore the  Working with TAs Online  resource to learn more about partnering with TAs.)

3. Clarify expectations and establish shared values

In addition to including Columbia’s  academic integrity policy  on syllabi, go a step further by creating space in the classroom to discuss your expectations regarding academic integrity and what that looks like in your course context. After all, “what reduces cheating on an honor code campus is not the code itself, but  the dialogue about academic honesty that the code inspires. ” (Lang, 2013a, pp. 172)

Ways to cultivate a shared sense of responsibility for upholding academic integrity include: 

• Ask students to identify goals and expectations  around academic integrity in relation to course learning objectives. 
• Communicate your expectations  and explain your rationale for course policies on artificial intelligence tools, collaborative assignments, late work, proctored exams, missed tests, attendance, extra credit, the use of plagiarism detection software or proctoring software, etc. It will make a difference to take the time at the beginning of the course to explain differences between quoting, summarizing and paraphrasing. Providing examples of good and bad quotation/paraphrasing will help students to know what constitutes good academic writing. 
• Define and provide examples  for what constitutes plagiarism or other forms of academic dishonesty in your course.
• Invite students to generate ideas  for responding to scenarios where they may be pressured to violate the values of academic integrity (e.g.: a friend asks to see their homework, or a friend suggests using chat apps during exams), so students are prepared to react with integrity when suddenly faced with these situations. 
• State clearly when collaboration and group learning is permitted  and when independent work is expected. Collaboration and group work provide great opportunities to build student-student rapport and classroom community, but at the same time, it can lead students to fall into academic misconduct due to unintended collaboration/failure to safeguard their work.
• Discuss the ethical, academic, and legal repercussions  of posting class recordings, notes and/or class materials online (e.g., to sites such as Chegg, GitHub, CourseHero – see Lederman, 2020).
• Partner with TAs  (if applicable) and clarify your expectations of them, how they can help promote shared values around academic integrity, and what they should do in cases of suspected cheating or classroom difficulties

4. Design assessments to maximize learning and minimize pressure

High stakes course assessments can be a source of student anxiety. Creating multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning, and spreading assessments  throughout  the semester can lessen student stress and keep the focus on student learning (see  Darby, 2020  for strategies on assessing students online). As Lang explains, “The more assessments you provide, the less pressure you put on students to do well on any single assignment or exam. If you maintain a clear and consistent academic integrity policy, and ensure that all students caught cheating receive an immediate and substantive penalty, the benefit of cheating on any one assessment will be small, while the potential consequences will be high” (Lang, 2013a and Lang, 2013c). For support with creating online exams, please please refer to our  Creating Online Exams resource .

Ways to enhance one’s assessment approach:

• Design assignments  based on authentic problems in your discipline. Ask students to  apply  course concepts and materials to a problem or concept. 
• Structure assignments into smaller parts  (“scaffolding”) that will be submitted and checked throughout the semester. This scaffolding can also help students learn how to tackle large projects by breaking down the tasks. 
• Break up a single high-stakes exam  into smaller, weekly tests. This can help distribute the weight of grades, and will lessen the pressure students feel when an exam accounts for a large portion of their grade. 
• Give students options  in how their learning is assessed and/or invite students to present their learning in creative ways (e.g., as a poster, video, story, art project, presentation, or oral exam).
• Provide feedback prior to grading  student work. Give students the opportunity to implement the feedback. The revision process encourages student learning, while also lowering the anxiety around any one assignment. 
• Utilize multiple low-stakes assignments  that prepare students for high-stakes assignments or exams to reduce anxiety (e.g., in-class activities, in-class or online discussions)
• Create grading rubrics and share them  with your students and TAs (if applicable) so that expectations are clear, to guide student work, and aid with the feedback process.  
• Use individual student portfolio folders  and provide tailored feedback to students throughout the semester. This can help foster positive relationships, as well as allow you to watch students’ progress on drafts and outlines. You can also ask students to describe how their drafts have changed and offer rationales for those decisions.
• For exams , consider refreshing tests every term, both in terms of organization and content. Additionally, ground your assignments by having students draw connections between course content and the unique experience of your course in terms of time (unique to the semester), place (unique to campus, local community, etc. ), personal (specific student experiences), and interdisciplinary opportunities (other courses students have taken, co-curricular activities, campus events, etc.). (Lang, 2013a, pp. 77).

Since its release, ChatGPT has raised concern in universities across the country about the opportunity it presents for students to cheat and appropriate AI ideas, texts, and even code as their own work. However, there are also potential positive uses of this tool in the learning process–including as a tool for teachers to rely on when creating assessments or working with repetitive and time-consuming tasks.

Possible Advantages of ChatGPT

Due to the novelty of this tool, the possible advantages that might present in the teaching-learning process should be under the control of each instructor since they know exactly what they expect from students’ work. 

Prof. Ethan Mollick teaches innovation and entrepreneurship at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and has been openly sharing on his Twitter account his journey incorporating ChatGPT into his classes. Prof. Mollick advises his students to experiment with this tool, trying and retrying prompts. He recognizes the importance of acknowledging its limits and the risks of violating academic honesty guidelines if the use of this tool is not stated at the end of the assignment.

Prof. Mollick uncovers four possible uses of this AI tool, ranging from using ChatGPT as an all-knowing intern, as a game designer, as an assistant to launch a business, or even to “hallucinate” together ( “Four Paths to the Revelation” ). For Prof. Mollick, ChatGPT is a useful technology to craft initial ideas, as long as the prompts are given within a specific field, include proper context, step-by-step directions and have the proper changes and edits.

Resources for faculty: 

• Academic Integrity Best Practices for Faculty (Columbia College & School of Engineering and Applied Sciences)
• Faculty Statement on Academic Integrity (Columbia College)
• FAQs: Academic Integrity from Columbia Student Conduct and Community Standards 
• Ombuds Office for assistance with academic dishonesty issues. 
• Columbia Center of Artificial Intelligence Technology

Resources for students: 

• Policies from Columbia Student Conduct and Community Standards
• Understanding the Academic Integrity Policy (Columbia College & School of Engineering and Applied Sciences)

Student support resources:

• Maximizing Student Learning Online (Columbia Online)
• Center for Student Advising Tutoring Service (Berick Center for Student Advising)
• Help Rooms and Private Tutors by Department (Berick Center for Student Advising
• Peer Academic Skills Consultants (Berick Center for Student Advising)
• Academic Resource Center (ARC) for School of General Studies
• Center for Engaged Pedagogy (Barnard College)
• Writing Center (for Columbia undergraduate and graduate students)
• Counseling and Psychological Services
• Disability Services

For graduate students: 

• Writing Studio (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences)
• Student Center (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences)
• Teachers College

Columbia University Information Technology (CUIT) CUIT’s Academic Services provides services that can be used by instructors in their courses such as Turnitin , a plagiarism detection service and online proctoring services such as Proctorio , a remote proctoring service that monitors students taking virtual exams through CourseWorks. 

Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) The CTL can help you think through your course policies, ways to create community, design course assessments, and setting up CourseWorks to promote integrity, among other teaching and learning facets. To schedule a one-on-one consultation, please contact the CTL at [email protected] . 

References 

Bernard, W. Jr. and Keith-Spiegel, P. (2002).  Academic Dishonesty: An Educator’s Guide . Mahwah, NJ: Psychology Press.

Bertram Gallant, T. (2017).  Academic Integrity as a Teaching and Learning Issue: From Theory to Practice .  Theory Into Practice,  56(2), 88-94.

Bertram Gallant, T. (Ed.). (2008).  Academic Integrity in the Twenty-First Century: A Teaching and Learning Imperative .  ASHE Higher Education Report . 33(5), 1-143. 

Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning (2020).  Creating Online Exams . 

Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning (2020).  Working with TAs online . 

Darby, F. (2020).  7 Ways to Assess Students Online and Minimize Cheating .  The Chronicle of Higher Education.  

Gonzalez, J. (2017, February).  Teaching Students to Avoid Plagiarism . Cult of Pedagogy, 26.

International Center for Academic Integrity (2023).  Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity .

International Center on Academic Integrity (2023).  https://academicintegrity.org/

Keith, T. Combating Academic Dishonesty, Part 1 – Understanding the Problem. The University of Chicago. (2022, Feb 16).

Lang, J.M. (2013a).  Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty . Harvard University Press.

Lang, J. M. (2013b).  Cheating Lessons, Part 1 .  The Chronicle of Higher Education. 

Lang, J. M. (2013c).  Cheating Lessons, Part 2 .  The Chronicle of Higher Education. 

Lederman, D. (2020, February 19).  Course Hero Woos Professors . Inside Higher Ed. 

McKenzie, L. (2018, May 8).  Learning Tool or Cheating Aid?   Inside Higher Ed.

Marche, S. (2022, Dec 6). The College Essay is Dead. The Atlantic.

Mollick, E. (2023, Jan 17). All my Classes Suddenly Became AI Classes. One Useful Thing.

Mollick, Ethan. (2022, Dic 8). Four Paths to the Revelation. One Useful Thing.

Wexler, N. Bots’ Can Write Good Essays, But That Doesn’t Make Writing Obsolete. Minding the Gap.

Additional Resources

Bretag, T. (Ed.). (2016). Handbook of Academic Integrity. Singapore: Springer Publishing.

Ormand, C. (2017 March 6).  SAGE Musings: Minimizing and Dealing with Academic Dishonesty . SAGE 2YC: 2YC Faculty as Agents of Change.

WCET (2009).  Best Practice Strategies to Promote Academic Integrity in Online Education .

Thomas, K.  (2022 February 16). Combating Academic Dishonesty, Part 1 – Understanding the Problem. The University of Chicago. Academic Technology Solutions.

______. (2022 February 25). Combating Academic Dishonesty, Part 2: Small Steps to Discourage Academic Dishonesty. The University of Chicago. Academic Technology Solutions.

______.  (2022 April 28). Combating Academic Dishonesty, Part 3: Towards a Pedagogy of Academic Integrity. The University of Chicago. Academic Technology Solutions.

______.  (2022 June 7). Combating Academic Dishonesty, Part 4: Library Services to Support Academic Honesty. The University of Chicago. Academic Technology Solutions.

Acknowledgement

This resource was adapted from the faculty booklet  Promoting Academic Integrity & Preventing Academic Dishonesty: Best Practices at Columbia University  developed by Victoria Malaney Brown, Director of Academic Integrity at Columbia College and Columbia Engineering, Abigail MacBain and Ramón Flores Pinedo, PhD students in GSAS. We would like to thank them for their extensive support in creating this academic integrity resource.

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Academic Integrity Essay | Importance and Essay on Academic Integrity 800 Words in English

October 16, 2021 by Prasanna

Academic Integrity Essay: Academic Integrity is a fundamental part of third-level instruction since it is the major structure block from which we determine our expert morals and integrity. It sets an example for long-lasting respectability in all everyday issues. Our work as understudies is to build information sincerely and reasonably. A culture of genuineness acquires a lot of regards.

Academic respectability is the quest for insightful action in an open, legit and dependable way. All understudies should act with individual respectability, regard other understudies’ pride, rights and property, and help establish and keep a climate wherein all can prevail through the products of their endeavours.

You can also find more  Essay Writing  articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more.

Essay on Academic Integrity 800 Words in English

Academic integrity implies being ethically and morally upstanding with regards to Academics. Instruction should energize decency, and moral conduct considering assists individuals with developing and accomplish the objectives they merit. It remembers liability and integrity for Academics by keeping away from demonstrations of Academic unfortunate behaviour like cheating, utilizing unapproved materials during tests and ill-advised coordinated effort with different understudies on a given task or undertaking. Academic unfortunate behaviour additionally happens when one somebody duplicates work on the web and presents it as their own. It incorporates giving a task twice for isolated courses, producing, manufacturing or changing archives to get Academic benefit or helping others in the offence. Scary or attempting to pay off somebody to keep them from detailing unfortunate behaviour abuses the code of respectability.

There are six basic beliefs of Academic respectability that incorporate trust, decency, boldness, genuineness, obligation and regard. Deceptive understudies are deceiving the instructor to get a passing mark they don’t merit, and they are likewise misleading themselves. They are distorting their abilities and information. Cheating is indecent as it shows that one isn’t ready to deal with the workspace. Deceptive understudies can keep conning individuals in their social and private lives even after school since they are not used to difficult work. Another worth is the obligation, when an individual holds the title of a specialist, legal counsellor, or designer they are considered liable for their capacity to perform inside their calling.

The training framework is intended to hone understudies for this present reality and on the off chance that they will hold these titles, it is reckless of them as they might possibly jeopardize their lives and of individuals inside their workplace. Trust is another basic belief of Academic respectability. At the point when an understudy does a test or task, they are showing that they have learned and can be trusted with the following stage of the occupation they are seeking after. An expert can’t be trusted with his work in case he was not legit in his understudy function as they can’t play out the assignment they have been dependent on. This is will make an adverse consequence on the general public and the lying proficient.

An individual who maintains the upsides of Academic integrity recognizes his friends and instructors. It is very impolite to cheat in a test that different understudies have forfeited such a lot of time reading for and afterward get a similar grade or better. It is additionally unscrupulous to the experts who put in the energy to instruct and be remunerated for it unjustifiably; it extends an absence of regard and sabotages their insight. It is wrong to meddle with the respectability code and examinations done by the uprightness council. Plagiarism is one more type of unfortunate behaviour and is generally normal among understudies.

It is additionally unjustifiable that an unscrupulous understudy ought to get a passing grade they don’t merit; the understudy enjoys an upper hand over the rest since they don’t have equivalent admittance to data in the test room. It is unreasonable to the legit understudies who stepped up to the plate and try sincerely and afterward get a similar assessment as an in understudy a test. The exploitative understudy may even perform better compared to the rest and end up on the senior member’s rundown along with the understudy who put in a ton of difficult work. It is unjustifiable likewise the experts who get a bogus fulfillment that the understudies have learned and furthermore uncalled for to the understudy since they cheat themselves out of learning freedom to learn and work on their insight into the course. That equivalent an understudy may find a new line of work opportunity dependent on their bogus Academic capabilities locking out meriting understudies who mastered something about the subject and are more equipped for the work.

Mental fortitude is one more excellence in Academic respectability. Gutsy understudies ought to gain from falling flat and try sincerely and perform better the following time. They ought to be sufficiently fearless to be the informant when they witness somebody cheating. They ought not to be terrified of the outcomes of fizzling. Understudies ought to be adequately fearless to oppose pressure from their friends to take the path of least resistance by cheating or not considering when it is required. It isn’t right and an absence of respectability to assume acknowledgment for something an understudy has not buckled down for. An understudy ought not to cheat on the off chance that they don’t anticipate being undermined and in the event that they anticipate reasonable evaluating from their educators.

Cheating subverts the upsides of instruction; it makes understudies indiscreet and lethargic and makes them; subordinate which influences their character and may prompt a disgraceful way of life. An understudy that doesn’t cheat may lose the motivator to work for their grades and select conning that may prompt age of Academic hoodlums. The individuals from the staff are dependent on the troublesome undertaking to implement Academic honesty. They ought to likewise make mindfulness about it and should lead by commendable conduct.

FAQ’s on Academic Integrity Essay

Question 1. What is academic integrity?

Answer: The significant thing about Academic integrity is that is what’s genuinely going on with learning. It gives a chance to an Academic foundation to meet up as a local area since it gives authenticity to the quests for all understudies.

Question 2. Why is academic integrity important?

Answer: Academic honesty is key to picking up, instructing and research at the University. Academic integrity permits understudies and staff the opportunity to assemble novel thoughts, information and innovative works while regarding and recognizing crafted by others.

Question 3. What is an example of academic integrity?

Answer: Academic Integrity is the fundamental center of learning. The more you fill in school likewise implies you become more personal. The more you learn, the more you find out with regards to things you never thought to consider. It esteems keeping away from things like cheating or literary theft.

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Essays on Ethics and Method

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In this collection of papers, Sidgwick develops his view of universal hedonism or Bentham‐like utilitarianism, according to which the only way to reconcile a desire for one's own good with the dictates of duty by reason is through a utilitarian approach to the subordination of individual psychological impulses to universal ends. His thesis provides him the opportunity to address numerous ethical issues. In some essays, he analyses the moral implications of the theory of evolution. In other pieces, Sidgwick offers his responses to particular criticisms of the views outlined in his work Methods of Ethics , in which he attempts to identify the various methods of ethics implicit in our common sense moral reasoning. A position that Sidgwick develops throughout the collection in opposition to John Stuart Mill is that although people pursue their own happiness, it does not follow that they ought to pursue the happiness of others. Another issue that concerns him is how to verify our beliefs. He maintains that the criteria of truth proposed by Descartes, the empiricists, and Herbert Spencer are useful, but not infallible. He offers two methods of verification for excluding error – the Intuitive Verification and the Discursive Verification. Additional topics that Sidgwick considers in these papers include: free will, positive morality and positive law, the is/ought distinction, egoism, sociology, common sense, unreasonable action, and psychology.

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• Click Sign in through your institution.
• Select your institution from the list provided, which will take you to your institution's website to sign in.
• When on the institution site, please use the credentials provided by your institution. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.
• Following successful sign in, you will be returned to Oxford Academic.

If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.

Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.

Society Members

Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:

Sign in through society site

Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:

• Click Sign in through society site.
• When on the society site, please use the credentials provided by that society. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.

If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.

Sign in using a personal account

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.

A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.

Viewing your signed in accounts

Click the account icon in the top right to:

• View your signed in personal account and access account management features.
• View the institutional accounts that are providing access.

Signed in but can't access content

Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.

For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.

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