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Week #1:
Use IU electronic resources to get info re plagiarism: How is it defined? What happens to plagiarists? Zero in on one recent case of alleged plagiarism and be able to describe it briefly to the class. (You may include novelists, clergy, and business executives as well as historians.)
Find and print out (in part, if it's too long) one article relevant to either your specific case or to plagiarism in general from each of the following four different types of electronic resources:
a) an Internet search engine (e.g., Goggle or Google Scholar)
b) a major newspaper available on-line (e.g., New York Times, Los Angeles, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe)
c) a magazine available on-line (e.g., New Republic, Nation, New York Review of Books, London Review of Books)
d) a scientific/academic journal available on-line (e.g., Nature, Science, Chronicle of Higher Education, Times Literary Supplement)Some of the above tasks are best accomplished through the IU Library. If you are off-campus you will need a password. Here is a very useful page on the Library website that is not linked to their home page! It's called the "Find Information page" and reference librarians use it all the time:
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/index.php?pageId=16
This assignment does not ask you to consult books on the topic. Hence, the IUCAT boxat the top of the page is not relevant. However, the nearby ASK A LIBRARIAN box is very useful when you run into a dead end. They reply quickly.
At the top of the page is a SEARCH box. This is useful when you know the name of the electronic publication or database you're looking for. However, at the beginning of a search involving current events, I often go to the column with the heading TOP RECOMMENDED RESOURCES. For this project Lexis-Nexis Academic is particularly useful.
Click on LEXIS-NEXIS. This resource covers both legal materials (Lexis) and news (Nexis). You can do either an Easy or a Power Search on key words. You will get to choose whether you want newspapers or magazines.
d) To find academic journals you can either use the Search box at the top of the page if you have a name in mind or look at the bottom of the column and click on the link called FIND ONLINE FULL-TEXT JOURNALS to find a list of academic journals. Since Nature and Science are such common terms I will tell you that they are listed with the place of publication included. So you would need to look for Nature (London) and Science (Washington, D.C.).
In the middle of the column you could also click on RESOURCES BY SUBJECT and then look under "N" for NEWS AND CURRENT EVENTS for a variety of possibly useful links.
Week #2:
Read Penslar, Chapter 16. Prepare to discuss the questions and cases.
Read: Comments for Faculty, pp. 1-12 in Bebeau
Study: Comments for Students, pp. 13-22 in Bebeau
Make detailed notes on the student essay found in Penslar Chapter #17. I suggest you form your opinions before reading the Instructional Notes at the back of the book. You needn't agree with all of them! (I don't!)
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Read these short discussions of plagiarism: (a) the IU policy re plagiarism (search on the IUB home page);
(b) the short essay on plagiarism by Richard Posner at http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/archives/2005/04/plagiarismposne.html;
(c) an op-ed column by Eugene Volokh posted at http://www.mail-archive.com/volokh@lists.powerblogs.com/msg08078.html
(d) a New Yorker article by Malcolm Gladwell at http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/041122fa_fact?041122fa_fact .
Check on the credentials of each author. Do you agree with them? How would their positions apply to student term papers, ghost writers, sermons, and works of popular history?
Week #3:
Read Penslar, Chapters 4 and 6. Prepare to present and discuss the case to which you have been assigned. The approach Bebeau lays out (description of the episode followed by analysis using her checklist) may be helpful but each case is different! You need not explicitly answer all of the questions in the book, but they may suggest relevant factors to consider.
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Prepare an oral report on an actual case of data fabrication. To find a case and information about it, you might begin by conducting some of the four types of searches that you were asked to do for the plagiarism assignment. If books have been written about your case, you may want to read some reviews of those books. (For this assignment you won't have time to read the books themselves.) Amazon.com often posts short reviews. You can also find the location of reviews by using our library's electronic resources. Go to the FIND INFORMATION page to RESOURCES A to Z and look under "B" for BOOK REVIEWS.)
Structure of your report: Since we're interested in preventing dishonesty as well as recognizing it, it may be helpful to explain the features of the situation that made the alleged misconduct more likely to happen. Could it have been prevented? How was the alleged misconduct detected? Did the community respond appropriately? (Did the punishment fit the crime?) These are just suggestions. Don't try to fit your report into a straightjacket! Follow the story where it goes!
Time your report ahead of time. No more than 7 minutes. I may cut you off if you run over. (It's good practice to be able to limit your remarks.)
Week #4
Read Penslar, Chapters 1 and 2. Prepare to summarize the similarities and differences between the various ethical approaches.
Read Macrina, Chapters 1 and 2. Think about the Discussion Questiona at the end of each chapter.****
Week #5
First essay due on February 5, 2008. Instructions.
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Read about the notorious Tuskegee Study by consulting the following web sources and be prepared to discuss them:For a short overview of the study and contemporary reaction to it see:
http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/jul/tuskegee/index.htmlThe ethical problems with this study are pretty clear. Here is one summary of them:
http://showme.missouri.edu/~socbrent/tuskegee.htmWhat is more difficult is to understand why the experiment was ever done in the first
place. The following posters give us a feel for how much syphilis was feared:
http://radio.cbc.ca/programs/ideas/Aids/aidspix1.htmlHere is a report written by the researchers themselves. Note who the first
author is!
http://www.dc.peachnet.edu/~shale/humanities/composition/assignments/experiment/rivers.htmlFinally, here is an attempt by one of the participants to defend what
was done:
http://www.emorylies.com/Olansky.htm
Week #6Read about Stanley Milgram's famous experiment at the following web sites and be prepared to discuss them: Stanley Milgram's own account of his controversial research:http://home.swbell.net/revscat/perilsOfObedience.html Two discussions of Milgram's research:http://www.puaf.umd.edu/IPPP/Winter-Spring00/authority_and_excuses.htm http://www.is.wayne.edu/mnissani/PAGEPUB/milgram.htmPrepare to discuss the scientific and ethical aspects of the Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Zimbardo and his colleagues by using the following web sites: An overview can be found at:
http://www.geocities.com/futileattempt_1999/zimbardo.html A brief account of how the experiment ended appears at: http://www2.stanford.edu/dept/news/relaged/970108prisonexp.html A full account of the experiment using 40 slides and video clips is available at: http://www.prisonexp.org/
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Read Macrina, Chapter 5.
Week #7
You will be assigned specific cases to discuss drawn from Penslar, Macrina, and/or Bebeau.
Week 8:Prepare to discuss the special ethical problems that come up when anthropologists, folklorists, and oral historians do field work. What difficulties might they face when interacting with an IRB? a) Here are some links to learn more about these topics. How might one gain informed consent if dealing with nonliterate people? http://www.aaanet.org/committees/ethics/bp5.htmWhat issues are raised by the notion of cultural relativism? Scroll down to the relevant section. http://www.aaanet.org/committees/ethics/ethrpt.htmb) Now consider the example of Judith Neulander's study of so-called Crypto Jews living in the Southwest. Imagine how Neulander could or should have described her project to an IRB. For a general introduction see a recent article, "New Mexico's little known 'Crypto-Jews'" by Matt Crenson in The Washington Times (12/18/2006) An Atlantic Monthly article which spells out Judith Neulander's perspective as well as earlier studies by Raphael Patai is in the December, 2002 issue: "Mistaken Identity," by Barbara Ferry and Debbie Nathan.
Neulander reviews a 2005 book by Stanley Hordes in Shofar Vol 25/2, 179-81 (2007). ************ Here is commentary on IRBs from a noted historian of the Middle East, Juan Cole. (I don't have the reference.) Also check out: A letter in Academe. Cary Nelson, "The Brave New World of Research Surveillance" in Qualitative Inquiry (2004) The AAUP has a recent committee report out on Human Subjects and Academic Freedom (2006) Week 9: No class on March 4th. (Prepare essay.)
Write an essay discussing the pros and cons of IRB regulations. Should they be amended? If so, how?
Do they give enough protection in all situations? Are they unnecessarily complex? Do they needlessly inhibit valuable research? Around three pages should be about right I should think. As usual, provide references.March 6th: Essay Assignment Due Slides introducing the History of Ideas about the Ethics of Animal Experimentation
Enjoy Spring Break! Assignment #10 (Week of Mar 17th):Read Macrina Chapter 6. Prepare to summarize the cases you have been assigned
and discuss the ethical issues they present*******
Read carefully the Pro and Con articles concerning the Ethics of Animal
Research published in the February, 1997 issue of Scientific American:THE BENEFITS AND ETHICS OF ANIMAL RESEARCH
ANIMAL RESEARCH IS WASTEFUL AND MISLEADING
ANIMAL RESEARCH IS VITAL TO MEDICINE
Assignment #11 (Week of Mar 24th):
Read Penslar Chapter 9 plus the Instructional Notes for that material at the back of the book.
Prepare to discuss all of the questions about the two cases.*****
No class but submit to me by 9:30 am Thursday at the latest your choice of topic for an oral presentation
the following week on some topic related to the ethics of animal research.Assignment #12 (Week of April 1st):
Individual essays will be read aloud.
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Start thinking seriously about your end-of-the-semester term paper. Here are some old, rough notes on ideas for a research paper. Other suggestions will be made in class. An obvious choice is a topic from your textbooks that has not been covered in class. Another useful overview is a government
booklet available on the web:
"Introduction to the Responsible Conduct of Research," by Nicholas Steneck at http://ori.dhhs.gov/publications/ori_intro_text.shtmlBy April 7th (Monday) at the latest submit by email a short paragraph describing your topic and at least one good reference.
Assignment #13 - 14:
We will have readings re a number of controversial research areas where the subject matter itself raises ethical, religious or political concerns. Possible examples: stem cell research, genetic engineering, intelligent design theory and global warming. Suggestions welcome!
Assignment #15 (Week of April 22nd)
Oral presentations based on your research paper.
Research Paper due: Noon, Tuesday, April 29th