Intellectual property

Intellectual Property Statement of Ethics Project

ENG 501

Professor Bock

WHAT’S A STATEMENT OF ETHICS?

A statement of ethics clearly identifies a person’s or company’s beliefs about core concepts of

the person’s life or a company’s business and defines key terms related to those concepts. This

statement guides the ways people or companies function and leads to the development of specific

lists of practices, which may be called a Code of Conduct or Best Practices that enable people to

enact or uphold those beliefs.

THE ASSIGNMENT

This assignment asks you to write a personal statement of ethics regarding intellectual property.

Your statement needs to do the following:

 Define intellectual property o What types of things count as intellectual property? o What makes something someone’s intellectual property?

 Define plagiarism o What actions or uses cause plagiarism? o What factors make an action plagiarism?

 Identify at least 3 ethical, responsible uses of intellectual property and articulate why they are ethical. For each use, be sure to address the following:

o When can each use be incorporated? o How can each be used appropriately? o Why is each use appropriate? o What tools are available to ensure that each use is done correctly?

 Identify at least 2 unethical or irresponsible uses of intellectual property and articulate why these uses are unethical. For each, be sure to address the following:

o Why is each use inappropriate? o How can each instance be avoided?

 List 4 statements of best practices that clearly state, using action verbs, how to ethically handle intellectual property.

o What will you do specifically to ethically use intellectual property? o What will you do to avoid unethical uses of intellectual property?

FORMAT

 No title page is required.

 Your paper should be 1-2 pages in length and should be single spaced.

 Your paper should contain five correctly formatted sections: o Definition of Intellectual Property o Definition of Plagiarism o Ethical, Responsible Uses o Unethical, Irresponsible Uses o Best Practices

 Content within each section should be in either paragraph or bullet format. You may use indentation, bold or italic font, or font color to make particular concepts, terms or

sections easier to identify.

Your Statement of Ethics should have a header and headings in APA style (see pages 62‐63, 230) in the APA Publication Manual (6th Edition). Your paper title should be centered.

RUBRIC

Content and Purpose

Poor 0-20 Weak 21-23 Good 24-26 Superior 27-30

Sections are missing All five sections are

present but not

completed

All five sections are

completed but may

lack depth or certain

sub-points

All five sections are

addressed completely

and concisely

Organization

Poor 0-5 Weak 6-7 Good 8 Superior 9-10

Paragraphing/bullets

are missing or word

salad

Some answers are

difficult to

understand or follow

Paragraphing/bullets

are recognizable and

clear

Paragraphs/bullets

enhance the reader’s

understanding of the

answers

Format

Poor 0-5 Weak 6-7 Good 8 Superior 9-10

Paper is not 1-2 pages

in length

Lacks a running head

or headings; paper is

1-2 pages in length

Contains a running

head and headings;

paper is 1-2 pages in

length

Effective use of

running head and

headings; paper is 1-2

pages in length