Ethical Standards Worksheet

Section 1: Understanding Ethical Standards

1. Definition:
o Write a brief definition of ethical standards in your own words.
 It is a set of principles that ensures integrity and honesty in writing.
2. Importance:
o List three reasons why adhering to ethical standards is important.

1. Builds credibility and trust in your work.

2. Respecting the contributions of others by giving credit, as a result,
avoiding plagiarism and upholding the rights of original authors and
researchers.
3. Maintains academic integrity and protects your reputation.

Section 2: Identifying Ethical Principles

3. Ethical Principles:
o Match the following ethical principles with their descriptions:
 Integrity
 Respect
 Responsibility
 Fairness

Description Ethical Principle

Being honest and truthful in actions Integrity
Treating others with consideration Respect
Being accountable for one's actions Responsibility
Acting without bias or favouritism Fairness

4. Real-life Examples:
o Provide an example of how each ethical principle can be applied in an
academic setting.
 Integrity: The student does the research by themselves and honestly
represent all the data in front of their teacher in their paper. They can
withstand the pressure to lie or manipulate data to make their results
more handsome. Moreover, they give proper citations to provide credit
where it is due, thus maintaining academic honesty.
 Respect: A student should listen to diverse opinions being raised in a
class discussion, take part in a responsive and respectful dialogue
regarding the opinions, and not dismiss or despise the opinions of
others.
 Responsibility: A student puts his or her responsibilities into learning
by attending classes regularly, submitting assignments on time, and
seeking help if needed. If they miss a deadline, they contact the
instructor ahead of time to explain the situation and take responsibility
for their actions instead of giving excuses or blaming others.
  Fairness: A professor grades all the students' assignments using the
same set of criteria; he does not show partiality or bias. Another
example would be a student, being part of a group project, ensuring
that he is doing his due amount of work in the project and not taking
undue credit for the efforts put in by others so that the distribution
could purely be fair among the concerned group.

Section 3: Ethical Dilemmas

5. Case Study:
o Read the following scenario and answer the questions.
 Scenario: Alex is working on a group project. One of the group
members, Taylor, suggests using a piece of text from an online article
without citing it, arguing that it is common knowledge.
 Questions:
 What are the ethical issues involved in this scenario?
 Not properly citing the source leads to plagiarism of
work from other authors, which breaches the ethical
standards of a good project by discrediting the original
authors.
 What would be the ethical course of action for Alex?
 Alex should suggest the process of properly citing the
source so that their work doesn’t fall into the category
of ‘plagiarised works’.
6. Decision-Making Process:
o Describe a step-by-step process for making ethical decisions.

1. Identify the problem

2. Collect information
3. Evaluate alternatives
4. Make a decision
5. Take action and reflect

Section 4: Codes of Ethics

7. Research:
o Choose a professional field (e.g., medicine, education, engineering) and
research its code of ethics. Summarize three key points from the code.
 Field: Medicine
 Key Points:
1. Ensuring that testing is scrupulous and fully compliant with
stated clinical protocols
2. Verifying the scientific validity of the results
3. Choosing clinical trial participants in a way that is fair and free
of prejudice
8. Personal Code of Ethics:
o Write your own personal code of ethics. Include at least five principles that
you will commit to following.
 1. Integrity: To be honest in my work. It will build trust in my work in the
academic community.
2. Respect: Respect the authors of the sources I am citing. Avoids
plagiarism and also upholds the rights and credibility of the authors.
3. Responsibility: I will make my own decisions, striving to make only a
positive impact, address any problem that arises, and will consider the
impacts of my actions on the community.
4. Fairness: Avoiding partiality and bias in my work, striving for
objectivity.
5. Growth: For continuous personal and professional development,
remaining open to feedback and willing to adapt, learn from others,
and improve my skills and knowledge.

Section 5: Practicing Ethical Behaviour

9. Ethical Communication:
o Explain how you can practice ethical communication in your daily
interactions.
 Be honest and transparent. Share information truthfully and avoid
misleading statements.
 Avoid harmful and inappropriate language.
10. Role-Playing Activity:
o Pair up with a classmate and role-play a scenario where you must navigate an
ethical dilemma. Discuss the choices and outcomes.
 Scenario: While doing a group project, one of your classmates has
copied a rather significant part of the internet without properly citing it.
 Discussion:

Choice Outcome
Ignore the issue Academic dishonesty and
plagiarism
Revise the report Citing sources correctly and
acknowledging the mistake

Section 6: Reflection

11. Reflective Essay:

o Write a short essay reflecting on a time when you faced an ethical dilemma.
What did you learn from the experience?
 I remember one time in school, we were assigned a psychology group
project where we had to do extensive research on a psychological
disorder and present results. The deadline was 30 days away from the
day this was announced. I was in a group of four, all classmates, and
we sat together and discussed divided roles and tasks. As the deadline
approached, my group member in charge of collecting data admitted
that she had not done the experiment but had invented the results to
save time.
 Right from the start, I felt conflicted. I couldn't shake the thought of
how this would affect my classmate, who was already struggling with
her grades. I also knew it would be dishonest to present inaccurate
 data, which would be unfair to everyone who had genuinely put in
effort on this project. I was also worried about the potential impact this
could have on my grade and the overall integrity of our work.
 So, I approached her and spoke to her about this. I told her about my
concerns and they needed to be upfront about the mistake. Fortunately,
our teacher was impressed with our honesty when we told her exactly
what happened. She gave us a day to complete our experiment as a
second chance.
 This incident made me realize how honesty is very important and
taking responsibility is very rewarding. We learn to differentiate
between what is easy and what is right and make the right decisions.

Note-Taking and Note-Making in Research Worksheet

Section 1: Understanding Note-Taking and Note-Making

1. Definitions:
o Define note-taking and note-making in your own words.
 Note-taking: Jotting down information from a lecture, reading, or
presentation in an organized and clear form.
 Note-Making: Reorganising, summarizing, and synthesizing
information from different sources, showing the links between them,
and writing your understanding about the notes you took.
2. Importance:
o List three reasons why note-taking and note-making are important in research.

1. Organization of vast amounts of information makes it easier to track

sources, ideas, and arguments.
2. Increases understanding of the information.
3. Recognize patterns between different sources to develop unique
insights that are crucial to research.

Section 2: Note-Taking Techniques

3. Methods of Note-Taking:
o Briefly describe the following note-taking methods:
 Cornell Method:
 It is an ideal note-taking method. The page is divided into 3-4
different sections. One block at the top of the page, two
columns, and one block at the bottom of the page. The smaller
column on the left is for keywords and questions, at the bottom
of the page is the summary of the content on the page, and
actual notes go into the main note-taking column.
 Mind Mapping:
 Mind mapping aids in representing tasks, words, concepts, or
items linked to and arranged around a central concept. You can
be creative with mind mapping which will help in remembering
items and concepts better.
 Outline Method:
  This method is very effective where main ideas are written as
headings aligned to the left, and supporting details are indented
underneath them.
4. Choosing a Method:
o Which note-taking method do you think will work best for you? Explain why.
 Outline method. Writing the main topics and subtopics sequentially
helps me connect the topics to form a storyline of the concepts. This
helps me recall all the concepts in order and not miss out on anything.

Section 3: Practice Note-Taking

5. Listening and Taking Notes:

o Listen to a short lecture or watch a video on a topic of your choice. Take notes
using your chosen method. Attach your notes to this worksheet.
 Procrastination
1. Delaying or postponing tasks or decisions
2. Affects productivity
3. Can be productive or non-productive
 Types of procrastination
1. Active procrastination
1. Purposefully delaying tasks while meeting
deadlines
2. Works well under pressure
3. Teenagers actively procrastinate according to
research
2. Passive procrastination
1. Unintentionally delaying tasks due to lack of
motivation or indecision
2. Leads to stress and missed deadlines
 “If you’re going to procrastinate, procrastinate mindfully.”

Section 4: Note-Making Techniques

6. Summarizing Information:
o Read a short article or a section of a textbook. Summarize the main points in
your own words.
 Greenhouse gases, present in the Earth’s atmosphere acts like the
covering of a greenhouse, allowing the sun’s energy to enter but does
not let it escape. This heats the Earth.
 Human activities lead to high emissions of greenhouse gases which
leads to more heating of the earth.
 This is what global warming is and climate change is the resultant
consequence of it.
7. Synthesizing Information:
o Combine information from two different sources on the same topic. Write a
brief synthesis.
 Global warming and climate change is a serious issue with its
implications for social development.
 People can intentionally think about globally warming but choose not
to.
  Humans underestimate the occurrence of low-frequency events. They
don’t realize the magnitude of natural disasters produced by global
warming and climate change, such as hurricanes and major flooding,
because they occur less often.
 People tend to care about environmental problems at the global and
international levels than they do at the local and regional levels.

Section 5: Organizing Notes

5. Creating an Outline:
o Based on your notes, create an outline for a research paper on your chosen
topic. Include at least three main sections with two subsections each.
 I. Global Warming
A. Why it is a pressing issue
B. How temperature increases gradually
 II. Environmental numbness and psychological characteristics

A. Psychological barriers
B. Social barriers and geographical barriers
 III. Understanding climate change as a psychologically distant
situation
A. Psychological research for tackling climate change
B. Risk perception

Section 6: Reflecting on Note-Taking and Note-Making

9. Reflective Questions:
o Answer the following questions about your note-taking and note-making
process:
 What challenges did you face while taking notes?
 Points are sometimes not clear so I had to go back and read
again which took more time.
 How did you overcome these challenges?
 I had patience and read each sentence properly.
 How has note-making helped you understand and retain information
better?
 Easy to remember the core points and necessary details to
enhance my research paper.
10. Improvement Plan:
o Write a plan for improving your note-taking and note-making skills. Include
specific strategies and goals.
 Read material/listen to lectures keenly
 Don’t miss out on important details
 Don’t get distracted
 Stick to the point
 Organise information appropriately
 Don’t take down unnecessary information which overcrowds your
topic

Paraphrasing and Summarizing Worksheet

Section 1: Understanding Paraphrasing

1. Definition:
o Write a brief definition of paraphrasing in your own words.
 To rewrite something in your own words but with the same meaning
and more clarity.
2. Importance:
o Why is paraphrasing an important skill in academic writing?
 Shows you understand the topic well enough to write it in your own
words.
 Avoids plagiarism.
3. Steps to Paraphrase:
o List the steps involved in paraphrasing a text.

1. Read and understand your text.

2. Identify key ideas and note the essential points.
3. Rewrite in your own words using different language and structure.
4. Compare it with the original, ensure accuracy and avoid copying
phrasing.
5. Cite the source.

Section 2: Practice Paraphrasing

4. Paraphrasing Practice:
o Read the following original text and paraphrase it.
 Original: "Effective note-taking skills are essential for academic
success. They help students organize and retain information better."
 Paraphrase: Note-taking is one of the prime skills that a student must
have to become successful academically. This aids in organizing
information better and providing better retention.
5. Identifying Good Paraphrase:
o Explain why the following paraphrase is effective or not.
 Original: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
 Paraphrase: "A speedy brown fox leaps over a lethargic dog."
 Analysis: This paraphrase is effective as appropriate synonyms are
used, the sentence structure is changed slightly, and the meaning is still
intact.

Section 3: Understanding Summarizing

6. Definition:
o Write a brief definition of summarizing in your own words.
 Shortening the text, only highlighting the most important points.
 Condensing the main ideas of a text or information into a shorter
version.
7. Importance:
o Why is summarizing an important skill in academic writing?
 Helps you in conveying the essential points concisely, showing your
understanding of the material while omitting unnecessary detail.
 8. Steps to Summarize:
o List the steps involved in summarizing a text.

1. Read and understand the text carefully.

2. Identify the main ideas.
3. Eliminate unnecessary details.
4. Rewrite in your own words.
5. Review and revise your summary and verify if it is clear, concise, and
accurately represents the original text. Make sure your personal
opinions are not reflected in your summary.

Section 4: Practice Summarizing

9. Summarizing Practice:
o Read the following original text and write a summary.
 Original: "Academic integrity involves a commitment to honesty, trust,
fairness, respect, and responsibility in all academic endeavors.
Upholding academic integrity is crucial for maintaining the quality and
credibility of educational institutions."
 Summary: Academic integrity means being committed to ethical
principles like honesty and fairness and includes the maintenance of
educational standards.
10. Identifying Good Summary:
o Explain why the following summary is effective or not.
 Original: "The importance of exercise cannot be overstated. Regular
physical activity helps maintain a healthy weight, reduces the risk of
chronic diseases, and improves mental health."
 Summary: "Exercise is vital for maintaining overall health."
 Analysis: Not really effective as it lacks specificity. It does manage to
capture that exercising plays a big part in health, but it is an
oversimplification of the original text, from which are left out some of
the most important points, such as that exercise helps to maintain a
healthy weight, reduces the risk of chronic diseases, and improves
mental health.

Section 5: Combining Paraphrasing and Summarizing

11. Combining Skills:

o Read the following text and first paraphrase it, then summarize the paraphrase.
 Original: "Technological advancements have significantly impacted
the way we communicate. The rise of social media platforms has made
it easier to stay connected with others, but it has also introduced
challenges such as misinformation and decreased face-to-face
interactions."
 Paraphrase: Modern technology has transformed communications with
others. But the explosion of social media, though easy to communicate,
brought in problems like false information and a decline in person-to-
person contact.
 Summary: Technology has changed the communication so much that
today, though people are closer in staying connected with one another,
 some serious problems have also risen like misformation and the
decline of face-to-face communication.

Section 6: Reflection and Application

12. Reflective Questions:

o How have the exercises helped improve your paraphrasing and summarizing
skills?
 It has helped me improve my paraphrasing and summarising skills with
this extensive worksheet.
13. Application:
o Describe how you will apply these skills in your future academic work.
 I will apply these skills in my future academic work as it will improve
my accuracy in understanding texts, material, and information.
 It will also facilitate my path to become a better researcher.