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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. 

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.

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

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:

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.

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 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.

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

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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.

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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 check your understanding of 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) A useful summary includes tips on how to avoid accidental plagiarism, includes a useful list of what does (and does not) need to be cited, and suggests 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.
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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).

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. 

Ethical Papers

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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Writing a research paper on ethics is not an easy task, especially if you do not possess excellent writing skills and do not like to contemplate controversial questions. But an ethics course is obligatory in all higher education institutions, and students have to look for a way out and be creative. When you find an […]

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Published: Aug 23, 2018

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Introduction, definition of terms, ethics and integrity in academic setting.

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academic essay on ethics

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Handbook of Academic Integrity pp 1–12 Cite as

Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Academic Research and Education

  • Nader Ghotbi   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6735-8627 2  
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  • First Online: 20 July 2023

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Artificial intelligence (AI) includes an array of rapidly advancing technologies with astonishing abilities that may outperform human brain in certain functions, related to the huge size of the memory, speed, and multilayer processing of data in AI systems. There are concerns over the potential for unethical uses of AI by various entities, including the academic community itself, some of whom are engaged in AI research and development. It has therefore been emphasized that AI research and development should be specifically directed at its potential benefits and avoid areas of possible misuse or abuse. However, sometimes, the possible applications of a basic research project are not apparent until far too late in the outcomes of the project. Also, a beneficial AI tool may later be misused in a different capacity. This chapter first provides a concise review of the main ethical issues of AI research and development as related to academic integrity and then discusses some better-known applications of AI with possible misuse in academic tasks, such as in generating texts for submission as one’s own work and the use of AI in proctoring online examinations. There are further concerns over the intrusion of AI into the privacy of students and over AI bias and discrimination especially against minorities. Other ethical issues may occur when new AI applications are developed. The purpose of the chapter is to engage the readers in a dynamic discussion and debate over the research and development of powerful systems that can have a major influence on their academic career.

  • Academic integrity
  • Academic research
  • Academic writing
  • Artificial intelligence (AI)
  • AI discrimination
  • AI exam proctoring
  • AI benefits
  • Intellectual copyright
  • Students’ privacy
  • Unethical AI

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Abd-Elaal, E. S., Gamage, S. H, & Mills, J. E. (2019). Artificial intelligence is a tool for cheating academic integrity. In: AAEE 2019. Proceedings of the 30th Annual Conference for the Australasian Association for Engineering Education. Educators Becoming Agents of Change: Innovate, Integrate, Motivate . Engineers Australia. https://aaee.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/AAEE2019_Annual_Conference_paper_180.pdf

All Tech Is Human. (2022, June 27). AI and human rights, building a tech future aligned with the public interest. https://alltechishuman.org/ai-human-rights-report . Accessed 22 July 2022.

Binstein, J. (2015). How to cheat with proctortrack, examity, and the rest . Jake Binstein. https://jakebinstein.com/blog/on-knuckle-scanners-and-cheating-how-to-bypass-proctortrack/ . Accessed 19 July 2022.

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Acknowledgments

This work has received support from “Emotional AI in Cities: Cross Cultural Lessons from UK and Japan on Designing for an Ethical Life” funded by JST-UKRI Joint Call on Artificial Intelligence and Society (2019).

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Academic Integrity vs. Academic Dishonesty

Published on March 10, 2022 by Tegan George and Jack Caulfield. Revised on April 13, 2023.

Academic integrity  is the value of being honest, ethical, and thorough in your academic work. It allows readers to trust that you aren’t misrepresenting your findings or taking credit for the work of others.

Academic dishonesty (or academic misconduct) refers to actions that undermine academic integrity. It typically refers to some form of plagiarism , ranging from serious offenses like purchasing a pre-written essay to milder ones like accidental citation errors. Most of which are easy to detect with a plagiarism checker .

These concepts are also essential in the world of professional academic research and publishing. In this context, accusations of misconduct can have serious legal and reputational consequences.

Table of contents

Types of academic dishonesty, why does academic integrity matter, examples of academic dishonesty, frequently asked questions about plagiarism.

While plagiarism is the main offense you’ll hear about, academic dishonesty comes in many forms that vary extensively in severity, from faking an illness to buying an essay.

Types of academic dishonesty

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Most students are clear that academic integrity is important, but dishonesty is still common.

There are various reasons you might be tempted to resort to academic dishonesty: pressure to achieve, time management struggles, or difficulty with a course. But academic dishonesty hurts you, your peers, and the learning process. It’s:

  • Unfair to the plagiarized author
  • Unfair to other students who did not cheat
  • Damaging to your own learning
  • Harmful if published research contains misleading information
  • Dangerous if you don’t properly learn the fundamentals in some contexts (e.g., lab work)

The consequences depend on the severity of the offense and your institution’s policies. They can range from a warning for a first offense to a failing grade in a course to expulsion from your university.

  • Faking illness to skip a class
  • Asking for a classmate’s notes from a special review session held by your professor that you did not attend
  • Crowdsourcing or collaborating with others on a homework assignment
  • Citing a source you didn’t actually read in a paper
  • Cheating on a pop quiz
  • Peeking at your notes on a take-home exam that was supposed to be closed-book
  • Resubmitting a paper that you had already submitted for a different course (self-plagiarism)
  • Forging a doctor’s note to get an extension on an assignment
  • Fabricating experimental results or data to prove your hypothesis in a lab environment
  • Buying a pre-written essay online or answers to a test
  • Falsifying a family emergency to get out of taking a final exam
  • Taking a test for a friend

Academic integrity means being honest, ethical, and thorough in your academic work. To maintain academic integrity, you should avoid misleading your readers about any part of your research and refrain from offenses like plagiarism and contract cheating, which are examples of academic misconduct.

Academic dishonesty refers to deceitful or misleading behavior in an academic setting. Academic dishonesty can occur intentionally or unintentionally, and varies in severity.

It can encompass paying for a pre-written essay, cheating on an exam, or committing plagiarism . It can also include helping others cheat, copying a friend’s homework answers, or even pretending to be sick to miss an exam.

Academic dishonesty doesn’t just occur in a classroom setting, but also in research and other academic-adjacent fields.

Consequences of academic dishonesty depend on the severity of the offense and your institution’s policy. They can range from a warning for a first offense to a failing grade in a course to expulsion from your university.

For those in certain fields, such as nursing, engineering, or lab sciences, not learning fundamentals properly can directly impact the health and safety of others. For those working in academia or research, academic dishonesty impacts your professional reputation, leading others to doubt your future work.

Academic dishonesty can be intentional or unintentional, ranging from something as simple as claiming to have read something you didn’t to copying your neighbor’s answers on an exam.

You can commit academic dishonesty with the best of intentions, such as helping a friend cheat on a paper. Severe academic dishonesty can include buying a pre-written essay or the answers to a multiple-choice test, or falsifying a medical emergency to avoid taking a final exam.

The consequences of plagiarism vary depending on the type of plagiarism and the context in which it occurs. For example, submitting a whole paper by someone else will have the most severe consequences, while accidental citation errors are considered less serious.

If you’re a student, then you might fail the course, be suspended or expelled, or be obligated to attend a workshop on plagiarism. It depends on whether it’s your first offense or you’ve done it before.

As an academic or professional, plagiarizing seriously damages your reputation. You might also lose your research funding or your job, and you could even face legal consequences for copyright infringement.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

George, T. & Caulfield, J. (2023, April 13). Academic Integrity vs. Academic Dishonesty. Scribbr. Retrieved February 22, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/plagiarism/academic-dishonesty/

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  • 12 February 2024

China conducts first nationwide review of retractions and research misconduct

  • Smriti Mallapaty

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Technicians wearing full PPE work in a lab

The reputation of Chinese science has been "adversely affected" by the number of retractions in recent years, according to a government notice. Credit: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg/Getty

Chinese universities are days away from the deadline to complete a nationwide audit of retracted research papers and probe of research misconduct. By 15 February, universities must submit to the government a comprehensive list of all academic articles retracted from English- and Chinese-language journals in the past three years. They need to clarify why the papers were retracted and investigate cases involving misconduct, according to a 20 November notice from the Ministry of Education’s Department of Science, Technology and Informatization.

The government launched the nationwide self-review in response to Hindawi, a London-based subsidiary of the publisher Wiley, retracting a large number of papers by Chinese authors. These retractions, along with those from other publishers, “have adversely affected our country’s academic reputation and academic environment”, the notice states.

A Nature analysis shows that last year, Hindawi issued more than 9,600 retractions, of which the vast majority — about 8,200 — had a co-author in China. Nearly 14,000 retraction notices, of which some three-quarters involved a Chinese co-author, were issued by all publishers in 2023.

This is “the first time we’ve seen such a national operation on retraction investigations”, says Xiaotian Chen, a library and information scientist at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, who has studied retractions and research misconduct in China. Previous investigations have largely been carried out on a case-by-case basis — but this time, all institutions have to conduct their investigations simultaneously, says Chen.

Tight deadline

The ministry’s notice set off a chain of alerts, cascading to individual university departments. Bulletins posted on university websites required researchers to submit their retractions by a range of dates, mostly in January — leaving time for universities to collate and present the data.

Although the alerts included lists of retractions that the ministry or the universities were aware of, they also called for unlisted retractions to be added.

academic essay on ethics

More than 10,000 research papers were retracted in 2023 — a new record

According to Nature ’s analysis, which includes only English-language journals, more than 17,000 retraction notices for papers published by Chinese co-authors have been issued since 1 January 2021, which is the start of the period of review specified in the notice. The analysis, an update of one conducted in December , used the Retraction Watch database, augmented with retraction notices collated from the Dimensions database, and involved assistance from Guillaume Cabanac, a computer scientist at the University of Toulouse in France. It is unclear whether the official lists contain the same number of retracted papers.

Regardless, the timing to submit the information will be tight, says Shu Fei, a bibliometrics scientist at Hangzhou Dianzi University in China. The ministry gave universities less than three months to complete their self-review — and this was cut shorter by the academic winter break, which typically starts in mid-January and concludes after the Chinese New Year, which fell this year on 10 February.

“The timing is not good,” he says. Shu expects that universities are most likely to submit only a preliminary report of their researchers’ retracted papers included on the official lists.

But Wang Fei, who studies research-integrity policy at Dalian University of Technology in China, says that because the ministry has set a deadline, universities will work hard to submit their findings on time.

Researchers with retracted papers will have to explain whether the retraction was owing to misconduct, such as image manipulation, or an honest mistake, such as authors identifying errors in their own work, says Chen: “In other words, they may have to defend themselves.” Universities then must investigate and penalize misconduct. If a researcher fails to declare their retracted paper and it is later uncovered, they will be punished, according to the ministry notice. The cost of not reporting is high, says Chen. “This is a very serious measure.”

It is not known what form punishment might take, but in 2021, China’s National Health Commission posted the results of its investigations into a batch of retracted papers. Punishments included salary cuts, withdrawal of bonuses, demotions and timed suspensions from applying for research grants and rewards.

The notice states explicitly that the first corresponding author of a paper is responsible for submitting the response. This requirement will largely address the problem of researchers shirking responsibility for collaborative work, says Li Tang, a science- and innovation-policy researcher at Fudan University in Shanghai, China. The notice also emphasizes due process, says Tang. Researchers alleged to have committed misconduct have a right to appeal during the investigation.

The notice is a good approach for addressing misconduct, says Wang. Previous efforts by the Chinese government have stopped at issuing new research-integrity guidelines that were poorly implemented, she says. And when government bodies did launch self-investigations of published literature, they were narrower in scope and lacked clear objectives. This time, the target is clear — retractions — and the scope is broad, involving the entire university research community, she says.

“Cultivating research integrity takes time, but China is on the right track,” says Tang.

It is not clear what the ministry will do with the flurry of submissions. Wang says that, because the retraction notices are already freely available, publicizing the collated lists and underlying reasons for retraction could be useful. She hopes that a similar review will be conducted every year “to put more pressure” on authors and universities to monitor research integrity.

What happens next will reveal how seriously the ministry regards research misconduct, says Shu. He suggests that, if the ministry does not take further action after the Chinese New Year, the notice could be an attempt to respond to the reputational damage caused by the mass retractions last year.

The ministry did not respond to Nature ’s questions about the misconduct investigation.

Chen says that, regardless of what the ministry does with the information, the reporting process itself will help to curb misconduct because it is “embarrassing to the people in the report”.

But it might primarily affect researchers publishing in English-language journals. Retraction notices in Chinese-language journals are rare.

Nature 626 , 700-701 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00397-x

Data analysis by Richard Van Noorden.

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Essay on Ethics for Students and Children

500+ words essay on ethics.

Essay on Ethics – Ethics refers to the concepts of right and wrong conduct. Furthermore, ethics is basically a branch of philosophy dealing with the issue of morality. Moreover, ethics consist of the rules of behavior. It certainly defines how a person should behave in specific situations. The origin of ethics is old and it started from the Stone Age . Most noteworthy, over the centuries many religions and philosophers have made contributions to ethics.

Branches of Ethics

First of all, comes the descriptive branch of ethics. Descriptive ethics involve what people actually believe to be right or wrong. On the basis of this, the law decides whether certain human actions are acceptable or not. Most noteworthy, the moral principles of society keep changing from time to time. Therefore, descriptive ethics are also known as comparative ethics. This is because; it compares the ethics of past and present as well as ethics of one society and another.

Normative ethics is another important branch of ethics. Moreover, Normative ethics deals with certain norms or set of considerations. Furthermore, these norms or set of considerations dictate how one should act. Therefore, normative ethics sets out the rightness or wrongness of actions or behaviours. Another name for normative ethics is prescriptive ethics. This is because; it has principles which determine whether an action is right or wrong.

Meta-ethics consists of the origin of the ethical concepts themselves. Meta-ethics is not concerned whether an action is good or evil. Rather, meta-ethics questions what morality itself is. Therefore, meta-ethics questions the very essence of goodness or rightness. Most noteworthy, it is a highly abstract way of analyzing ethics.

Applied ethics involves philosophical examination or certain private and public life issues. Furthermore, this examination of issues takes place from a moral standpoint. Moreover, this branch of ethics is very essential for professionals. Also, these professionals belong to different walks of life and include doctors , teachers , administrators, rulers.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Applications of Ethics

Bioethicists deal with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, and philosophy. Furthermore, Bioethics refers to the study of controversial ethics brought about by advances in biology and medicine .

Ethics also have a significant application in business. Moreover, business ethics examines ethical principles in relation to a business environment.

Military ethics involve the questions regarding the application of ethos of the soldier. Furthermore, military ethics involves the laws of war. Moreover, it also includes the question of justification of initiating military force.

Public sector ethics deals with a set of principles that guide public officials in their service. Furthermore, the public sector involves the morality of decision making. Most noteworthy, it consists of the question of what best serves the public’s interests.

In conclusion, ethics is certainly one of the most important requirements of humanity. Furthermore, without ethics, the world would have been an evil and chaotic place. Also, the advancement of humanity is not possible without ethics. There must be widespread awareness of ethics among the youth of society.

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Essays on Ethics and Feminism

Essays on Ethics and Feminism

Essays on Ethics and Feminism

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The book brings together a selection of the author’s shorter writings from the years 1989–2014. This work can lay claim to a broad thematic unity based on its affiliation to the realist or rationalist traditions in moral philosophy. Some of the essays seek to clarify the relation of feminism to these traditions and to current anti-rationalist tendencies: especially important here are the status and prospects of normativity, autonomy, purposive action, and other conceptual resources for critical thinking which were called into question over (roughly) the last third of the twentieth century — not least by feminist writers heedful of ‘Continental’ European developments. All are concerned with fundamental ethical questions — including, but not restricted to, questions of feminist ethics — such as the nature of value and the good life; moral requirements and their associated epistemology; character-formation and the ideological critique of the processes by which this is effected. The essays deploy ideas drawn both from Platonic-Aristotelian and from Kantian ethics, as well as from the later philosophy of Wittgenstein. However, they also attempt to respond to the destabilizing impact of Nietzschean and postmodernist thought.

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  1. How to Write an Ethics Essay: Guide & Paper Examples

    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.

  2. Essays on Ethics and Culture

    Cite Permissions Share Abstract These essays discuss various ontological and epistemological questions in moral philosophy, drawing on ideas from Platonic-Aristotelian ethics, the later Wittgenstein, and Iris Murdoch, though without seeking to weave these into any unified system.

  3. Integrity: What it is and Why it is Important

    This article will focus on the integrity of government and governance, but the concept obviously has become more important in all sectors of society, including the academic community. Research integrity and academic integrity have become important topics (Bretag, Citation 2016; Macfarlane, Zhang, & Pun, Citation 2014; Steneck et al., Citation ...

  4. PDF The Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity

    The Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity, Third Edition, from the International Center for Academic Integrity is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. ISBN: 978-0-9914906-7-7 (pbk) International Center for Academic Integrity [ICAI]. (2021). The Fundamental Values of Academic ...

  5. Ethics

    ethics philosophy Cite External Websites Also known as: moral philosophy Written by Peter Singer Peter Singer is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at the University Center for Human Values, Princeton University. A specialist in applied ethics, he approaches ethical issues from a secular, preference-utilitarian... Peter Singer Fact-checked by

  6. Research Guides: Write and Cite: Academic Integrity

    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.

  7. Academic Ethics and Academic Integrity

    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.

  8. Ethical Considerations in Research

    Revised on June 22, 2023. 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 ...

  9. Essays In Ethical Theory

    Each essay is self-contained, and topics covered include the objectivity and rationality of moral thinking, the issue between the ethical realists and their opponents, the place in our moral thought of appeals to common convictions, and how to tell whether a feature of a situation is morally relevant. ... 11 The Structure of Ethics and Morals ...

  10. Academic Integrity and Ethics

    Introduction Some Causes of Academic Misconduct Violations and Sanctions Ethical Issues in Research Data Gathering, Storage, Retention Publication Practices: Authorship Supervision of Research Personnel Ethics in Scholarship Issues of Attribution Plagiarism Ethics in Teaching Being a Responsible Teacher Teaching Responsible Conduct

  11. Ethical Papers Writing Guide with Examples and Topic Ideas

    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.

  12. PDF Academic Writing and Research Ethics

    the journal. Some papers were even rejected before they even entered the review stage." • Based on the actual situation, select several journals for submission. • Read the author's guide, including topic selection, article type, length, reference format, etc. • Learn how to submit papers through publications or journal websites.

  13. Academic Ethics And Academic Integrity Essay

    Academic ethics are the moral codes or the shared standards of an academic enterprise and the core of its success (Occidental College, 2016). Basically, academic ethics require each student, to be honest, responsible, fair, respectful, give credit where it is due, turn in their original work, and etc. (Michigan State University, n.d.).

  14. The Importance of Ethics and Integrity in Academic Work

    Introduction. This essay will aim to demonstrate an understanding of the importance of ethics and integrity in academic work. It will propose to firstly define, in its simplest form, ethics and integrity and basic morals, supported by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Code (NMC, 2018), further developing how these can be applied to academic work.

  15. Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Academic Research and Education

    Nevertheless, many questions arise regarding the academic integrity and ethics of using AI tools for writing research reports or preparing a draft of research papers even if it is further edited by the human author and does not include the critical parts of an academic manuscript such as the discussion section (Fyfe, 2022).

  16. Academic Integrity vs. Academic Dishonesty

    Academic integrity is the value of being honest, ethical, and thorough in your academic work. It allows readers to trust that you aren't misrepresenting your findings or taking credit for the work of others. Academic dishonesty (or academic misconduct) refers to actions that undermine academic integrity.

  17. Essays on Ethics and Method

    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.

  18. Ethics Essay

    Ethics Essay is usually given to classes 7, 8, 9, and 10. Ethics are basic standards or ideals that regulate the actions of a person or a community. This is not a responsibility to bear, but a wise and successful guide to existence and progress.

  19. Academic Integrity Essay

    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.

  20. Ethics And Integrity In Academic Work

    Download. The direction of this essay is to explain the ethics and integrity in academic work and how it can affect pre-registration student nurses in their studies to becoming a registered nurse. The essay will include information on plagiarism and how it affects academic work in the future, and what impact it could have on patient care.

  21. China conducts first nationwide review of retractions and ...

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