About the Academic Ethics Collection (Part 1)…
Thus far in this ethics blog I have examined theories and influences that could explain student dishonesty, looked into current research about cheating deterrents, and consulted an academic librarian about her experiences with maintaining academic standards. Even having all of these to work from, I thought that perhaps it might be wise to develop my own professional development collection of sources that I could consult when honesty ethics issues came up in my career. In addition, I wanted to choose items that would complement workplace staff collections so that I could suggest their eventual funding to my library director. I hope you will find these sources interesting and enlightening as well!
For the next two blog posts, I will be featuring print and online materials that deal with academic honesty and are specifically written for librarians and educators. I chose these items based on their reviews, publisher, and author(s) (and you can find out more about these justifications below the cut). Let me know in the comments if you added any of them to your own collection or if you have items you would personally recommend on this subject.
Key Highlights:
Print Item #1
Lang, James. 2013. Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Cheating Lessons seeks to assist readers in understanding and addressing the problem of academic dishonesty at its core. Lang (2013) examines the deeper, underlying reasons behind why college students choose to cheat. By using his own research, established cognitive theories, and case studies, the author reveals ethical, psychological, and sociological motivators. Through his research, the author discovered that educational environments are often accidentally designed in such a way that encourages cheating. Through this understanding of planning flaws and hidden motivators, Lang provides a framework of intervention strategies that educators and librarians can use to take the incentive out of cheating.
Print Item #2
Lampert, Lynn D. 2008. Combating Student Plagiarism: An Academic Librarian's Guide. Oxford: Chandos Publishing Limited.
Combating Student Plagiarism provides a practical approach to academic dishonesty that is geared specifically toward academic librarians. Unlike the first resource that takes an extensive look at theory, this text is more of a manual that identifies common cheating situations within the academic library and provides step-by-step solutions specifically for librarians based on research articles.
Item #3 – Serials Item
Journal of Academic Ethics. Netherlands: Springer. Accessed Feb. 6, 2015. http://link.springer.com/journal/10805.
The Journal of Academic Ethics provides peer-reviewed articles about many ethical dilemmas facing scholars in academic environments. While the journal does not specifically cater to questions of academic honesty, over one hundred articles were found within the journal that addressed the concept of cheating and honesty policies. It is likely to prove invaluable to the librarian looking for professional development and guidance when dealing with difficult ethical situations.
Brief Reflections:
I was actually pleasantly surprised by the number of materials available on the subject of academic honesty. Many of them, (like Combating Student Plagiarism listed above,) provided a detailed list of best practices a librarian could use when dealing with honesty violations. While it is important to build a theory for your practices and consult mentors, I think it is just as important to keep up on ethics research and have a reference you can go to when conflicts do arise. As I have discovered throughout this process, academic honesty is a complicated issue! I want to be able to arm myself with as much knowledge as I can before starting my career. I think that it is also helpful to keep notes or a list of best practices that can be referred to from time to time. Thinking about ethics takes a conscious effort and I feel part of my duty as a future librarian is to ensure that my ethical stance does not conflict with delivering the best service I can to my patrons. I also feel that it is important to continue researching and reading. There are constantly new theories and research developments in the field of academic ethics. I hope I never stop learning!
Discussion Questions:
Which of these sources did you find to be the most useful? Do you have any go-to sources you use frequently when making ethical decisions? How did you develop your own list of best practices? Did you consult a colleague, a theory, or a particular source?
See the entire collection suggestions paper behind the cut!
SELECTED PRINT ITEM #1
ITEM CITATION:
Lang, James. 2013. Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS:
251 pp. MSRP: $26.95. ISBN: 978-0674724631
BRIEF DESCRIPTION:
Cheating Lessons seeks to assist readers in understanding and addressing the problem of academic dishonesty at its core. Lang (2013) examines the deeper, underlying reasons behind why college students choose to cheat. By using his own research, established cognitive theories, and case studies, the author reveals ethical, psychological, and sociological motivators. Through his research, the author discovered that educational environments are often accidentally designed in such a way that encourages cheating. Through this understanding of planning flaws and hidden motivators, Lang provides a framework of intervention strategies that educators and librarians can use to take the incentive out of cheating.
REVIEW EXCERPT:
“The overarching benefit of Lang’s book is that it calls on us to consider more deeply our own roles in the learning environment and to reflect on and commit to new courses of action that enable deeper learning, and as a byproduct, disable or at the very least deter cheating. Fortunately, a commitment to preventing academic dishonesty does not need to be all about policing students but instead involves offering authentic and deep learning opportunities. It is for this reason that I characterized this book at the outset as optimistic and constructive…” (Bens 2014).
REVIEW CITATION:
Bens, Susan. 2014. "Book Review: Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty." Canadian Journal of Higher Education 44: 176-178. Book Review Digest Plus (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost. Accessed Feb. 6, 2015.
FORMAT(S):
Hardcover, eBook (Kindle)
JUSTIFICATIONS:
1. This book has positive professional reviews (Bens 2014).
2. This book is produced by a major publisher, Harvard University Press. This publishing company has been around since 1913 and is well known within the academic community for publishing high-quality educational materials from many different disciplines (Harvard University Press 2015).
SELECTED PRINT ITEM #2
ITEM CITATION:
Lampert, Lynn D. 2008. Combating Student Plagiarism: An Academic Librarian's Guide. Oxford: Chandos Publishing Limited.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS:
206 pp. MSRP: $70.00. ISBN: 978-1843342823
BRIEF DESCRIPTION:
Combating Student Plagiarism provides a practical approach to academic dishonesty that is geared specifically toward academic librarians. Unlike the first resource that takes an extensive look at theory, this text is more of a manual that identifies common cheating situations within the academic library and provides step-by-step solutions specifically for librarians based on research articles.
REVIEW EXCERPT:
“Since librarians usually do not see the end product of students’ efforts, it may be difficult to convince them that they share some responsibility. Yet Lampert provides compelling arguments for librarian involvement… Particularly helpful is Lampert’s bibliography of discipline-based antiplagiarism efforts. This is invaluable for generalists and instruction coordinators who must teach all kinds of students” (Lear 2010).
REVIEW CITATION:
Lear, Bernadette A. 2010. "Book Review: Combating Student Plagiarism." Reference & User Services Quarterly 49: 299. Book Review Digest Plus (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost. Accessed Feb. 7, 2015.
FORMAT:
Hardcover, Paperback, eBook (PDF format)
JUSTIFICATIONS:
1. This book has positive professional reviews (Lear 2010).
2. The author is an expert in the field, having authored many publications about the librarian’s role in preserving academic honesty. Additionally, she has worked in academic outreach and information literacy instruction for over sixteen years (Lampert 2008).
3. This book’s publisher is actually a subsidiary of Elsevier. Elsevier is very well-known in the academic world for their databases (such as SCOPUS and ScienceDirect) and educational texts.
SELECTED SERIALS ITEM
ITEM CITATION:
Journal of Academic Ethics. Netherlands: Springer. Accessed Feb. 6, 2015. http://link.springer.com/journal/10805.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS:
12 volumes. 2003-2014. ISSN: 1570-1727 (Print) 1572-8544 (Online)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION:
The Journal of Academic Ethics provides peer-reviewed articles about many ethical dilemmas facing scholars in academic environments. While the journal does not specifically cater to questions of academic honesty, over one hundred articles were found within the journal that addressed the concept of cheating and honesty policies. It is likely to prove invaluable to the librarian looking for professional development and guidance when dealing with difficult ethical situations.
FORMAT:
Print journal, eJournal
JUSTIFICATIONS:
1. Articles within this journal go through an extensive peer review process.
2. This journal is published by a major publisher. Springer is known for publishing over 190,000 books and over 2,900 journals that cover a broad spectrum of academic disciplines (Springer n.d.).
3. This journal is indexed in most major databases including: SCOPUS, Google Scholar, EBSCO, Academic OneFile, ERIC, Ethicsweb, and ProQuest.
Post References:
Bens, Susan. 2014. "Book Review: Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty." Canadian Journal of Higher Education 44: 176-178. Book Review Digest Plus (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost. Accessed Feb. 6, 2015.
Harvard University Press. 2015. “About & Contact.” President and Fellows of Harvard College. Accessed Feb. 6, 2015. http://www.hup.harvard.edu/about/.
Journal of Academic Ethics. Netherlands: Springer. Accessed Feb. 6, 2015. http://link.springer.com/journal/10805.
Lampert, Lynn D. 2008. Combating Student Plagiarism: An Academic Librarian's Guide. Oxford: Chandos Publishing Limited.
Lang, James. 2013. Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Lear, Bernadette A. 2010. "Book Review: Combating Student Plagiarism." Reference & User Services Quarterly 49: 299. Book Review Digest Plus (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost. Accessed Feb. 7, 2015.
Springer, n.d. “About Us.” Springer Science+Business Media. Accessed Feb. 6, 2015. http://www.springer.com/gp/.
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