COM 142
WEEK 2 STUDENT NOTES
By Lyncan Moagi
QUESTION 1: What is literature review?
Literature review as an act of engaging critically with published works is significant to
the research process from the start. It gives the researcher an inspiring experience
(Watson 2015). Researchers are able to formulate good research questions, to
evaluate the feasibility of their researches, and to confirm the availability of
information sources through literature review. It contributes to the evaluation of the
academic publications’ relevance to research that is to be undertaken. Literature
review is used to know the research topics that have been studied (Denny and
Tewksbury 2013) in order to identify the gaps.
Literature review provides the framework upon which the researchers can underpin
their studies. Boote and Beile (2005), concur that literature review provides the
foundation for subsequent research. Literature review is important to the realization
of theoretical hypothesis and research methods that could be used by other
researchers as a framework.
Through literature review, the researcher would know the strengths and weaknesses
of the research methods used in related previous researches. Knopf (2006) asserts
that literature review gives a summary and evaluation of the related previous studies.
Therefore, an evaluation of previous researches would help the researchers to carry
out subsequent researches with cautious minds.
Reviewing literature involves summarizing and synthesizing information. It involves
critical reading of sources that is guided by questions on the reason for reading the
sources, the claims that are being made in the sources, how the claims are being
supported, and how data was collected and analysed. It is important to show how the
literature is relevant to the research that is to be undertaken. Findings from previous
studies should be evaluated and be integrated into the findings of the new studies.
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Literature can be searched manually or electronically using online databases and
scholarly web search engines. Direction to additional relevant works is given by
published works through citations and reference lists. Information can be found in
academic works, such as, research abstracts, journal articles, and dissertations.
They contain academic claims.
Question 2: What are research ethics?
Research ethics are rules and regulations that govern the behaviours and roles of
the researcher and subjects in the research process. They are codes of conduct that
control the researcher. They call for the researcher’s responsibility for the protection
of subjects from harm, and respect for human rights. The history of research ethics
date back to the Nuremberg Code (1947) which its aim was to protect human
subjects from exploitation and abuse by researchers (Fouka and Mantzorou 2011).
The contemporary research ethics are a build – up on the Nuremberg Code (1947).
Research ethics are meant to safeguard the wellbeing of research stakeholders.
Participation in research can be mentally or physically harmful to both the researcher
and the participants hence ethics should be considered in order to ensure
harmlessness and safety. If research recommendations of a research that
overlooked ethics were to be implemented and they endanger the health and safety
of the community that would results in the damage of the dignity of the researcher.
Ethical considerations are inclusive of soliciting for the participants’ informed
consent. Armiger (1997) cited in Fouka and Mantzorou (2011) refers to informed
consent as a conscious act of agreeing to participate in a research. The researcher
is required to acquire informed consent from the subjects who are legally competent
and aware of their right to voluntary participation and anonymity. The subjects have
the right to be briefed and understand the goal of the research, possibilities of harm
to their health and safety, and how the results are going to be used. They have the
liberty to withdraw from the research activities at any time.
In the event of infringement of the research ethics, the respect for research is
compromised (Castellano 2004). All research stakeholders are obliged to adhere to
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the ethics. Adherence to research ethics is significant to non – violations of the
research participants’ human rights, health and safety. Ethical considerations are
significant to the trustworthiness of the research results.
Question 3: What is Plagiarism?
Definitions of plagiarism revolve around academic cheating. Plagiarism refers to
academic dishonesty act of using copyrighted ideas or works without citing the
sources of information (Pimple (2002, p. 195). As an act of academic dishonesty,
writers who are perpetrators of plagiarism are bound to be punished as per the rules.
Maurer et al. (2006) and Plooy (2009) define plagiarism as the act of stealing
someone’s intellectual belongings. All in all, plagiarism refers to using legally
protected information without citing the source.
Plagiarism can be avoided by citing the sources of information. In – text citations and
the reference list in which the full details of each source are provided should be used
to acknowledge sources.
Paraphrasing which should be accompanied by citing is another way of avoiding
plagiarism. However, paraphrasing may not be the best preventative measure in
avoiding plagiarism as most students lack paraphrasing skills (American
Psychological Association 2010 quoted in Kettel and DeFauw 2018). This has also
been restated by Jackson (2006) that previous studies concluded that most students
lack paraphrasing skills. Students need to be taught different paraphrasing strategies
for them to be able to paraphrase effectively.
Educational technologies such as plagiarism detection soft wares, Turnitin,
Plagscan, and Save Assign should be used by students to detect plagiarism prior to
submission of their school works. Unfortunately, they are mostly used minimally by
students upon submission and maximally by assessors during marking.
Plagiarism should be avoided as it infringes the intellectual property and copyright
laws. Dawson and Overfield (2006) state that failure to avoid plagiarism may not only
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contribute to academic failure, or disqualification, but also results in the end of career
– related goals. The punishments vary from one jurisdiction to another or one
education provider to another and they range from receiving a zero mark,
dispossession of the academic qualification, or imprisonment. Plagiarism practices
by scholars endanger their dignity in academia. Plagiarism should be avoided.
REFERENCES
Boote, D. N. and Beile, P. 2005. Scholars before Researchers: On the Centrality of
the Dissertation Literature Review in Research Preparation. Educational
Researcher 34 (6), pp. 3 -15.
Castellano, M. B. 2004. Ethics of Aboriginal Research. International Journal of
Indigenous Health 1 (1), pp. 98 – 114.
Dawson, M. M. and Overfield, J. A. 2006. Plagiarism: Do Students Know What it is?
Bioscience Education 8 (1), pp. 1 – 15.
Denney, A. S. and Tewksbury, R. 2013. How to Write a Literature Review. Journal of
Criminal Justice Education 24 (2), pp. 218 – 234.
Fouka, G. and Mantzorou, M. 2011. What are the Major Ethical Issues in Conducting
Research? Is there a Conflict between the Research Ethics and the Nature of
Nursing? Health Science Journal 5 (1), pp. 3 – 14.
Jackson, P. A. 2006. Plagiarism Instruction Online: Assessing Undergraduate
Students’ Ability to Avoid Plagiarism. College & Research Libraries 67 (5), pp.
418 – 428.
Kettel, R. P. and DeFauw, D. L. 2018. Paraphrase Without Plagiarism: Use RRLC
(Read, Reread, List, Compose). The Reading Teacher 72 (2), pp. 245 – 255.
Knopf, J. W. 2006. Doing a Literature Review. PS: Political Science & Politics 39 (1),
pp. 127 – 132.
Maurer, H., Kappe, F. and Zaka, B. 2006. Plagiarism – A Survey. Journal of
Universal Computer Science 12 (8), pp. 1050 – 1084.
Pimple, K. D. 2002. Six Domains of Research Ethics. Science and Engineering
Ethics 8 (2), pp. 191 – 205.
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Plooy, G. M. 2001. Communication Research. 2nd Ed. Juta & Co. Ltd.
Watson, R. T. 2015. Beyond being Systematic in Literature Reviews in IS. Journal of
Information Technology 30 (2), pp. 185 – 187.
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