Ethics Standards for Term Papers & Projects

Contacting Outside Organizations
Rights of Information Creators
Academic Integrity
Bibliographic Style
Non-Sexist Language
Obtaining Ethics Approval for Research

Contacting Outside Organizations

Students are reminded that they should speak to the professor in their course before approaching any outside body, either personally or by letter, for information in connection with any course in the School. This is to ensure that our colleagues are not troubled for information which might be available from other sources. Students are also reminded that when they are using libraries and other organizations in the area as case studies for their projects, they must make appointments for their visits in advance. All organizations which have been used as case studies must receive final reports of the student's case study or project as a matter of professional courtesy and good ethical practice.

Rights of Information Creators

The School of Information Management recognizes that the ownership and dissemination rights of any information product rest with the creator of the product. The term "information product," as used here, includes verbal (classroom lectures, public lectures, interviews, workshops), written (term project reports, papers, printed lectures), and visual (transparencies, photographs, slides, films, videotape) presentations. In order to ensure that rights of information creators are properly observed, the following guidelines have been adopted:

Rights of Information Creator - Verbal Presentations

If the School wishes to maintain a record of verbal presentations for future research use, the following procedures will be observed:

1. The speaker will be notified in writing that the School wishes to record (sound record, videotape) the verbal presentation. This notification will include a statement outlining who will be allowed to use the recording, for what purpose, and where the recording will be kept.
2. The speaker will be offered the option of preparing a written copy of the presentation if she/he prefers not to be recorded.
3. The speaker will be offered the option of auditing/viewing the recording and will retain the right to edit the recording, or
4. If the School chooses to prepare a typescript from the recording, permission will be obtained from the speaker. A copy of the typescript will be supplied to the speaker for review and editing.
5. Researchers using recordings or typescripts will be informed that permission of the speaker/information creator is required if the researcher wishes to cite or quote the recording of a publication.

Rights of Information Creator - Written/Visual Presentations

1. Unless there is a course requirement to the contrary, student papers and visual products should not be duplicated without written permission of the student.
2. Where the instructor requires the retention of original copies or duplicates of student papers and visual products, this requirement should be so stated in the Course Outline.
3. Student papers and visual products should not be discussed or disseminated beyond the course concerned, without permission of the student, except for purposes of evaluation of the student within the Faculty.

Approved by School Council
April 16, 1980

Academic Integrity

Dalhousie University respects the values of academic integrity: honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. Any text or paraphrase taken from a published work must be attributed using consistently applied citation rules.  Faculty members and professional librarians are very happy to assist you with this aspect of your learning. In addition, please  review  Dalhousie's policy on "intellectual  honesty" at  http://www.registrar.dal.ca/calendar/ug/UREG.htm#12  

Proper research involves a knowledge of the literature. Adequately cited and footnoted, this is part of scholarship; inadequately cited and footnoted, it amounts to plagiarism. Mentioning the author and including reference in the bibliography is not enough. Direct quotes and paraphrases must be duly footnoted.

Plagiarism may be defined as the presentation by an author of the work of another author, in such a way as to give the reader reason to think that the other author's work is one's own. A student who is in any doubt as to what constitutes plagiarism is urged to discuss the matter with the instructor concerned before completing an assignment.

While plagiarism may occur in many ways, the most common instances are:

1. The verbatim use of part of a book or article, without using quotation marks to separate the author's words from the student's and without a page reference to the original source.
2. The paraphrasing of an author's words without noting that this is a paraphrase or essentially taken from the author. Simply mentioning the author's name during the discussion is not sufficient to make it clear that you are in fact paraphrasing the author.
3. The use of an author's illustrative material.

To avoid accidentally incorporating an author's work into your writing, be very careful when you take notes. If they are verbatim, be sure to include quotation marks in your notes, in case you decide to use the comment in your paper. Always take the page references when you take notes; you can then check back easily to see if it was a direct quote. And even if not a direct quote, you should still give credit when using someone else's ideas. If you have any doubt about the procedure, give a footnote with a page reference.

Bibliographic Style

All term papers must adhere to a bibliographic style as outlined in a recognized style manual. In some instances the instructor will specify the style manual to be used. In other instances it is the responsibility of the student to decide which style manual best suits the subject matter at hand, and to prepare all bibliographical citations, footnotes, etc. accordingly.

The following style manuals are suggested for use. They are available in the Reference section of the Killam library.

1. American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington: American Psychological Assocation. (BF 76.7 P83 2010 Ref.)
   
2. Gibaldi, J., & Achert, W. S. (2009). MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th ed.). New York: Modern Language Association of America. (LB 2369 T8 2007 Ref.)
   
3. Turabian, K. L. (2007). A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers (7th ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. (LB 2369 T8 1996 Ref)

Non-Sexist Language

The following guides on the use of unbiased language in documents, publications, and presentations are recommended.

1. Eichler, M., & Lapointe, J. (1985). On the Treatment of the Sexes in Research. Ottawa: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. (HQ 1154 E34 1985)
   
2. Katz, Wendy R. (1981). Her and His: Language of Equal Value. Halifax, N.S.: Status of Women Committee of the Nova Scotia Confederation of University Faculty Associations. (P 120 S48 K37)
   
3. Miller, C., & Swift, K. (1988). The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing (2nd ed.). New York: Harper & Row. (PN 218 M5 1988)
   
4. Schwartz, M. (1995). Guidelines for Bias-Free Writing. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. (PE 1460 S474 1995 Ref.)

Guidelines excerpted from Her and His: Language of Equal Value have been placed in the "Research" Information File in the Working Collection. These guidelines are followed by the School, and should be used by students in all written reports, projects, etc.