Lesson 5: Ethical Standards in Writing Literature Review - 0
Lesson 5: Ethical Standards in Writing Literature Review - 0
Lesson 5: Ethical Standards in Writing Literature Review - 0
Unit 4: Writing Review of Related Literature
Lesson 5: Ethical Standards in Writing
Literature Review
Contents
Engage 1
Introduction 1
Objective 2
Explore 2
Extend 11
Activity 11
Evaluate 11
Wrap Up 13
Bibliography 14
Unit 4.5: Ethical Standards in Writing Literature Review
Engage
Introduction
Fig. 1. Ethics
In writing the literature review, a researcher must read several literature sources,
summarize its contents, and compile essential information. In doing this, researchers must
follow ethical standards which tell the “right” and “wrong” practices in doing research.
Following these ethical standards is important in order to avoid serious issues such as those
concerned with intellectual property. What, then, are the ethical standards that you should
follow in writing the literature review? How can you avoid ethical issues that might affect
your research?
This lesson will focus on enumerating some of the common ethical standards that must be
observed in writing a literature review. At the end of this lesson, you are expected to have a
better understanding of how to properly write the literature review while following
necessary ethical standards.
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Unit 4.5: Ethical Standards in Writing Literature Review
Objective
In this lesson, you should be able to apply ethical standards in writing a literature review.
DepEd Competency
Follow ethical standards in writing related literature. ( CS_RS12-If-j-5)
Explore
15 minutes
Find a partner for this activity. As a pair, discuss the things, which you think, must be
avoided when doing a literature review. Using two to three sentences, write your answers in
the space provided below. Discuss your answers with your partner using the guide
questions.
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Unit 4.5: Ethical Standards in Writing Literature Review
Guide Questions
1. Which practices to avoid did you and your partner agree on?
2. As a pair, what do you think is the most important practice that should be avoided in
writing a literature review?
3. What do you think would be the consequence if a researcher committed these practices,
which you think must be avoided?
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Unit 4.5: Ethical Standards in Writing Literature Review
general research ethics that tackles the “dos” and “don’ts” in conducting a research project.
This section enumerates the different ethical standards that must be observed when doing
a literature review.
It is important to set and follow a set of ethical standards while summarizing ideas from
related references, and consolidating data from previous research studies. These standards
allow the researchers to reflect on the right things to do, and help them avoid wrong
actions. Table 1 provides a list of the usual “dos” and “don'ts” when writing a literature
review.
Table 1. Dos and don’ts when writing a literature review
Do’s Don'ts
Review the data presented and extract Avoid directly copying the content of the
essential information. literature source.
Summarize the essential information from Avoid directly using the tables and figures
each source using your own words. presented in the literature source.
Paraphrase the contents of the source Avoid redirecting the main idea of the
while retaining the main thoughts of the literature and including your own
content. perspective on the topic.
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Unit 4.5: Ethical Standards in Writing Literature Review
Defining Plagiarism
One of the most common yet serious errors when writing a literature review, or a research
paper in general, is plagiarism. Plagiarism refers to the “act of copying or using works from
another person and presenting it as your own.” Plagiarism can occur in the process of
writing the literature review when the researcher does not give proper attribution (i.e.,
citation) to the original owners of the ideas being synthesized.
In the Philippines, the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines or Republic Act No. 8293
protects the intellectual works and property of people, such as books and inventions
through registered copyrights. This law covers issues regarding plagiarism.
Common Types of Plagiarism
Direct plagiarism - This type of plagiarism is committed when the content is directly
copied from the source without revision and proper attribution.
Fig. 2. Example of direct plagiarism
Inadequate paraphrasing - This occurs when the act of paraphrasing is done by simply
replacing selected words in the sentences with synonyms or other interchangeable words.
This is still considered plagiarism because paraphrasing is the process of restating the main
ideas of the content using your own words and according to your own understanding.
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Unit 4.5: Ethical Standards in Writing Literature Review
Fig. 3. Example of inadequate paraphrasing
Self-plagiarism - This type of plagiarism occurs when the researcher lifts the contents of
his/her previous work, and places them in the current work without proper attribution.
This is also known as the recycling of contents.
Fig. 4. Example of self-plagiarism
Incomplete citations - This type of plagiarism is committed by the researcher when they
provide incomplete citations in the following forms:
● Incomplete citation details (e.g., incomplete names of multiple authors)
● Giving false information (e.g., wrong title of the work)
● Fabricating citation details (e.g., putting a non-existent detail)
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Unit 4.5: Ethical Standards in Writing Literature Review
Fig. 5. Example of an incomplete citation
Review
Plagiarism comes in various forms. Each type has a corresponding
severity. The most problematic form of plagiarism is direct plagiarism,
which is mostly done intentionally by the author. Other forms of
plagiarism are less severe but their consequences may be the same.
Avoiding Plagiarism
Summarize properly
To summarize is to extract essential information from the reference material and to
restate them in brief, concise terms. A good summary provides and is limited to the main
points of the source material. A researcher must know how to write a proper summary by
identifying and highlighting main ideas, and filtering out less relevant details.
In summarizing a literature source, one must focus on making a generalization of the
paper. This can be done by reviewing the main sections of the paper and noting the main
ideas per section that support the research problem. Essential ideas are mostly found in
main sections such as the background of the study, methodology, results, and the
conclusion.
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Unit 4.5: Ethical Standards in Writing Literature Review
Fig. 6. Summarizing a source
Paraphrase contents
Paraphrasing refers to the process of expressing the essential ideas of the source using
your own words and based on your own understanding. Common mistakes in
paraphrasing include simply replacing the words in the passage using synonymous words or
merely rearranging the words in each sentence. As discussed above, inadequate
paraphrasing constitutes plagiarism.
Essential steps to correct paraphrasing is reading the entire paper and understanding
the flow of its content. Similar to creating a summary, essential information must be
highlighted and noted. It is important to fully understand the content of the source so that
the main ideas can be expressed in your own words. Moreover, one should avoid taking
shortcuts wherein paraphrased content is only based on specific segments of the source
like the abstract or conclusion sections.
Fig. 7. Example of paraphrased content
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Unit 4.5: Ethical Standards in Writing Literature Review
Add in-text citations and list of references
In-text citations are attributions to owners of the literature source located within the body
of the paper. There are two main kinds of in-text citations: parenthetical or narrative
citations. Regardless of its kind, in-text citations are the means in attributing ideas to their
owners, thus, avoiding plagiarism. Since a literature review constitutes a synthesis of ideas
coming from multiple sources, providing in-text citations organizes the ideas based on their
corresponding sources.
On the other hand, a reference list (also bibliography) refers to the list of all the sources
used or cited in the body of the research paper. The sources cited as in-text citations must
be listed in the reference list. The bibliography contains all the necessary publication details
about each source. Providing a reference list with complete bibliographic information is key
in providing proper attribution to the sources. Moreover, it allows readers to explore the
same sources for their own research topics.
Overall, the inclusion of in-text citations and a bibliography is important in providing proper
attribution to the owners of the reference materials. Remember that the act of
non-attribution constitutes plagiarism. Proper citation also allows readers to easily validate
the cited content in the research paper.
Avoid self-plagiarism
Self-plagiarism, as discussed above, refers to the act of recycling your own work without
adding proper attribution or explanation that the content was first presented in your
previous works. This can also occur among seasoned researchers, who often have several
papers on the same topic, thus, the tendency to use the contents of previous works when
doing their current study.
You can avoid self-plagiarism by putting in-text citations after the borrowed phrase,
sentence, or passage, even if the source is your previous work. For example, if Juan Santos is
writing a paper on herbal medicine in 2020, and he is using the information or findings he
got from his paper previously published in 2009, then this 2009 paper must still be cited
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Unit 4.5: Ethical Standards in Writing Literature Review
properly. This work must also be included in the reference list. Doing this informs the
readers that the idea is not new, and that it has already been established by the author.
Avoid false and fabricated citations
A false citation refers to incorrect reference information. This can occur by providing
incorrect author names, titles, or publication dates. A false citation is often unintentional but
may still be avoided. On the other hand, a fabricated citation refers to non-existent
sources that were still used as citations for particular ideas or passages in the paper. Using
fabricated citations is intentional and more severe than false citations. Fabricated citations
can complicate the validity and overall coherence of the paper. Both false and fabricated
citations can be avoided by gathering the complete bibliographic information of a source
and ensuring that these details are appropriately placed in the paper.
emember
R
Academic credibility is crucial in the field of research. Committing
plagiarism can severely damage the academic credibility of the
author, which could influence the validity and overall reception of
his/her scholarly work.
Extend
Activity
Form a pair for this activity. As student-researchers, discuss the possible consequences of
not following ethical standards in writing a research paper. Present your answers using the
figure below as a guide.
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Unit 4.5: Ethical Standards in Writing Literature Review
Evaluate
1. Adding in-text citations
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Unit 4.5: Ethical Standards in Writing Literature Review
2. Providing complete and accurate reference entries
3. Paraphrasing contents properly
2. Fabricating citations
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Unit 4.5: Ethical Standards in Writing Literature Review
3. Committing direct plagiarism
Wrap Up
___________________________________________________________________________________________
● Ethical standards guide the researcher in knowing the right and wrong ways in
constructing the synthesis of literature sources.
● Plagiarism refers to the “act of copying or using works from another person and
presenting it as your own.”
● Common types of plagiarism include direct plagiarism, inadequate paraphrasing,
self-plagiarism, and incomplete citations.
Fig. 8. Ethical standards in writing literature review
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Unit 4.5: Ethical Standards in Writing Literature Review
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Bibliography
Cargill, Margaret, and Patrick O'Connor. W
riting Scientific Research Articles. Oxford:
Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
Creswell, John W. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches.
3rd ed. California: SAGE Publications Ltd., 2009.
Hart, Chris. Doing a Literature Review. London: SAGE Publications Ltd., 1998.
O’Leary, Zina. The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: SAGE Publications Ltd., 2004.
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