Brief overview of academic integrity and ethical use of information

1. Academic
Integrity
Ethical Use of Information
The original slideshow was developed by LV Rogers Secondary School, Nelson, BC
09/2008. It has been modified by Dr LC Gibson-Langford April 11 2015.

2. Right or wrong?
A person in your PDHPE class fails to close his
locker properly.
You help yourself to his scientific calculator
because you can’t afford one and he was
stupid enough not to lock his locker.

3. Right or wrong?
You find a pair of sweats in the weight room.
Someone took yours last week, so you take
this pair.
Now you’re even.

4. Right or wrong?
You get an essay back from your teacher, and
you’ve scored a good mark. Someone in the
class has yet to do his essay and asks you for
yours.
You let him have it because you don’t want to
look like a geek, and anyway, you’re not the one
who is cheating.

5. Right or wrong?
You are researching a project on World War I.
You get lots of information from the online
encyclopedia and the Internet. You cut and
paste it into a great essay, complete with
images. You want to impress your teacher
about how much you know and how well you
have researched. You do not say from where
you got your information.

6. Stealing is wrong…
when you take an object,
an idea or someone’s work
without acknowledgement and
submit it as your own
Image from Colby’s Cove

8. Plagiarism is Theft
Plagiarism is using the ideas of others and
representing them as your own. Taking the
words/images/digital products, etc. of another
person and pretending they are your own is
intellectual theft.
It is wrong.
There are ways of presenting research or projects
that will allow you to avoid committing plagiarism.

9. Why do people plagiarise?
• Not knowing any better
• Pressure/ competition
• Lack of confidence
• Work perceived as too hard
• Lack of consequences
• Boredom/ lack of interest/ laziness
• Arrogance

10. Avoiding Plagiarism in Written Work
Taking notes and keeping track of your sources will
help you avoid plagiarism.
Three ways to use different sources for your
research/ project to help you create your perspective
from the information you use:
Summarise
Paraphrase
Use direct quotes

11. Why Summarise?
A summary is a brief review of information you feel is
valuable to your work but in your own words.
This means you read the author’s perspective and
write your summary – your perspective - of what the
author was conveying.
Even though it is your words, YOU STILL NEED TO
CITE YOUR SOURCE!

12. Why Paraphrase?
Translates the source’s perspective into your own
interpretation.
Helps you understand the material.
Records the author’s reasoning and details.
This is time consuming so be sure the information
you paraphrase is relevant.
YOU STILL NEED TO CITE THIS AS A SOURCE!

13. Why Direct Quotations?
Records the source’s exact words.
Use only when the author’s wording makes a
point extraordinarily vivid, concise or
imaginative, or is the exact emphasis you
want.

14. Note-taking
Make separate notes of each piece of
information you will use to guide your task eg.
facts, images, film clip, or even the quotation
you might want to use in your project. These will
become your REFERENCES.
Be sure to use a note-making method that best
suits your style.
Be ORGANIZED in how you keep your notes.

15. Document Everything
Be sure to identify the source of the
information, no matter its format.
Just write down as much information as you will
need to help others find the source.
Where applicable, include the author/s name,
book title, website, magazine, article title, page
number, you tube clip, database, etc. to identify
the source of the information.

16. Creating a Reference List
Familiarize yourself with digital tools that will
help you develop citation skills.
Look for those sites that will help you use TKS
recommended APA style.
Try these recommended sites
RefMe Son of Citation Machine

17. Tip
The less reference information you
can find on a website, the less reliable its
other information tends to be.

18. Where to Get Help
There are different referencing styles for each
type of source whether online or print, eg.
magazines, newspaper articles, films & film
clips, personal conversations, images, books,
animations, databases.
Your teacher librarians can assist you in
preparing your reference list no matter what
sources you use.

19. Acknowledgement
Thank you to jyasinchuk@sd8.bc.ca for the use of the original
slide share which has been edited and re-developed.