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11: Ethical and Legal Use of Information

  • Page ID
    90192
    • Walter D. Butler; Aloha Sargent; and Kelsey Smith
    • Pasadena City College, Cabrillo College, and West Hills Community College

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    • 11.1: Contributing to the Conversation
      This page emphasizes the significance of college assignments in contributing to the scholarly conversation. It highlights how students engage with existing resources, such as books and research articles, while adding their own insights. By doing so, they review and connect information, enriching the collective knowledge on a given topic.
    • 11.2: Why We Cite Sources
      This page highlights the significance of ethical academic research, focusing on the practice of citing sources to enhance arguments and credibility. It underlines the unethical nature of plagiarism, stressing that proper citations respect original authors and showcase the researcher's understanding of existing scholarship. Additionally, a supplementary video provides further insights on the topic.
    • 11.3: Plagiarism and Academic Integrity
      This page covers plagiarism, highlighting the need for proper citation to maintain academic integrity. It discusses intellectual property and copyright, which protect creative works and grant exclusive rights to creators. The fair use doctrine permits limited use of copyrighted material in educational settings, evaluated through a four-factor test. Additionally, Creative Commons licenses are presented as a way to facilitate the sharing and use of creative works while honoring creators' rights.
    • 11.4: Conclusion
      This page underscores the importance of student contributions to academic discourse, advocating for the integration of their perspectives into established knowledge. It stresses the ethical and legal obligations of citing previous research to support their arguments, and introduces a forthcoming section focused on practical citation methods.


    This page titled 11: Ethical and Legal Use of Information is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Walter D. Butler; Aloha Sargent; and Kelsey Smith via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.