Imagine that you were working on a group project. One of the group members stated that you could save a lot of time if you would just cut and paste statements from research articles instead of writing your own text. How would you respond? Include a discussion of copyright laws and how you could model the ethical acquisition of materials. using this

Question

There are other actions that are considered unethical but not technically illegal. Plagiarism, or taking credit for someone else’s work, usually by copying it word for word or by failing to give them proper credit, is not actually illegal. However, plagiarism is considered highly unethical, and most schools and workplaces have policies against it. Someone who commits plagiarism may be given a failing grade for a class, expelled from school, or fired from a job even though they may not go to jail.
Not only is plagiarism a form of theft because you are taking someone else’s work, but it is also misleading to others who may not be able to assess your abilities accurately. If someone plagiarized throughout college, they may have received a degree that they did not truly earn, and their employer may be misled and consequently unsatisfied with their work. It’s best to do your own work and give credit where credit is due! Many cases of plagiarism are unintentional and can be avoided with proper knowledge of how to research, write, and cite sources.

Other unethical acts include lying or cheating to get ahead, whether it’s in work or school. Taking advantage of other people, misusing school or company resources, and trying to “game the system” in whatever way are all unethical actions that should be avoided. Remember that you want to demonstrate consistent integrity and an ethical reputation, both of which can get you far in life.
Copyright Laws

Ethics and laws overlap in the area of copyrights. All you need to do is a quick online search for the term “copyright cases,” and you’ll see that thousands of cases are filed each year in the United States due to disputes over music, images, film, and other forms of art. These cases involve the legal but unethical use of art, unethical as well as illegal use, and every situation in between. What’s this all about?

Pretend you are creating a presentation on your favorite band. You want to include a few pictures of the band and maybe some images of their album covers. You are planning on just copying pictures you find online and pasting them into your presentation. However, your teacher reminds your class that you need to make sure to observe copyright laws for the images used. What does that mean?

Copyright refers to the legal rights given to the creators of music, film, images, and literature. In plain terms, it means that when Taylor Swift writes a song and gets it copyrighted, no one else can copy her song and claim it as their own. If someone illegally downloads Taylor Swift’s songs, they are committing piracy by breaking the copyright law, also known as copyright infringement.
Currently, US copyright law says that copyrights apply for the entire time the creator is alive plus 70 years after their death. Then, the content becomes public domain, or free for anyone to use and reproduce.
Fair Use

However, just like with other areas of technology, copyright laws have gray areas and can become tricky. One gray area is the concept of fair use. It allows you to use a resource (book, music, image, etc.) for the purpose of education, journalism, research, or commentary, but you must use that resource sparingly, and your use must not interfere with or create competition for the creator.

For example, a news reporter can quote or summarize an article under fair use guidelines as long as the reporter gives proper credit to the original author. A teacher can photocopy a small number of pages from a book for use in the classroom. A comedian can make a parody of a movie or song and include it in their show without needing permission. However, you cannot make and sell t-shirts with images from The Mandalorian on it because that would violate Disney’s Star Wars copyright and exclusive right to sell Mandalorian merchandise. In other words, it would be creating competition because you would be profiting from the use of that work.
Citing Sources

So, how exactly do we avoid situations of copyright infringement and plagiarism? Does it mean that we should never quote other people while writing a paper or never include images in our presentations? Not at all! We just have to do it in the right way.
Bibliography

A bibliography is a page at the end of a paper that shows all of the sources that you’ve used in your paper, including journal articles, websites, and books. If you’re using Microsoft Word to write your paper, there is a References tab that can do the citations for you automatically. Simply click on Insert Citation and Add New Source. You can type in the details such as author, date, and URL, and Word will correctly format the source for you according to whatever style you’ve chosen. (APA, MLA, and Chicago are some standard styles.)

Let’s say you’re writing a paper on the Syrian refugee crisis, and you want to discuss some research from an article on Syrian refugees’ mental health. You can paraphrase ideas from the article, but you must cite the source to avoid accidentally claiming the ideas as your own. Your citation might look like this:

Are mental health systems responsive to the mental health needs of Syrian refugees?, European Journal of Public Health, Volume 28, Issue suppl_1, May 2018,

In order to avoid committing copyright infringement when you use images in your papers, presentations, or other graphics, you need to search for images that are non-copyrighted or that are licensed for non-commercial use. (We’ll talk more about licenses in a bit.)

Many of the images on the internet are protected by copyright. So, where are you supposed to get your pictures from? Creative Commons is a good option. It is an organization that provides content users can edit, copy, and distribute, depending on the type of license. Some images are free to edit while others are only free to use in their original form. To find Creative images, go to Openverse and do a search. You can then copy and paste any of those images into your paper, along with the proper citation.

Now that you know how to search for images and cite your sources properly, you are well on your way to becoming an ethical digital citizen! Read on to learn more about ethics in the areas of privacy, security, and software.

Answer 1

I appreciate your enthusiasm for finding ways to save time on our group project, but I must respectfully disagree with the suggestion to cut and paste statements from research articles. While it might seem like a shortcut, this approach raises significant ethical and legal issues that we need to consider.

First and foremost, we must be aware of the concept of plagiarism, which involves taking credit for someone else’s work. Even though plagiarism is not illegal, it is considered highly unethical in both academic and professional settings. Plagiarism misleads others about our own abilities and can have serious repercussions, such as failing grades or disciplinary action. By cutting and pasting text from research articles, we would not just be violating the trust placed in us as students; we would also be undermining our own learning and growth.

Additionally, copyright laws play a crucial role in regulating the use of written work, images, and other creative content. Copyright gives creators exclusive rights to their inventions and prohibits others from reproducing or distributing their work without permission. This means that taking text from an article without proper attribution could infringe on the author’s copyright, which is not only unethical but could also lead to legal consequences.

An important aspect of copyright law is the concept of fair use, which allows for limited use of copyrighted material for purposes such as education, commentary, and research. However, this does have boundaries. To ensure that we stay within these guidelines, we must properly attribute any material we reference, meaning that if we quote or paraphrase another author’s work, we need to provide appropriate citations. This not only honors the original author’s contributions but also strengthens our own arguments by showing the research that supports our points.

To model ethical acquisition of materials, we could focus on developing our own interpretations and summarizations of the research we read. When we incorporate ideas from authors, we should paraphrase the concepts in our words and give credit to the original sources through citations. Additionally, we can utilize resources like Creative Commons for images or texts that permit use under specific conditions, ensuring that we respect copyright while enriching our project.

In conclusion, while it may take more time to produce our own text, the integrity of our work is worth the effort. By adhering to ethical standards and copyright laws, we not only respect the original creators of the material but also enhance our own learning experience. Let's aim to do our own work while properly acknowledging the sources we draw from to create a project that reflects our collective efforts and understanding!