Problem: Imagine that you are a supervisor in a small organization in your field of study. One of your employees has submitted a report for your review. You noticed immediately that the report includes problematic and possibly unreliable research information, as well as paraphrases and quotes from sources that are not cited. Having seen this problem before with other employees, you decide to write a brief company manual that educates your team on the importance of ethical writing and that motivates them to apply this skill to being not only effective writers but also ethical team members who represent the organization well.
Directions:
Be sure your manual shows your support for your teammates and explains the following to your current and future employees:
- Why research is valuable
- How to locate relevant and reliable research information
- How to paraphrase and integrate sources
- How to cite sources appropriately using APA style.
- What plagiarism is and at least two strategies for avoiding it
- How professional integrity and ethical writing behavior are essential and valuable for both the employee and employer.
Your goal in this manual is to establish guidelines for ethical writing and to share specific examples of sources and citations. You will want to pick a topic relevant to your field of study that you can use as an example, and find 2 sources, one a peer reviewed journal article and one a relevant, reliable online source, and demonstrate the application of the above skills to these particular sources in a particular writing situation.