Thien Christian Nguyen

Prep #8

Preparing to Participate: Chapter 3

Ethics and Ethical Communication
1. Describe the difference between ethics and ethical communication.
Ethics are set of standards that offer guidance about the choices we make and explain why we
behave as we do. For example, we all know that lying is ethically wrong (even though there are
always some exceptions).
Ethical communication results when we apply ethical standards to the messages we produce and
consume.
2. Think of an example of something that may be legal, but not ethical. Is it possible for something to be
ethical, but not legal?
Example of something that may be legal, but not ethical.
o Promoting high-calorie/low-nutrient foods with inadequate information about the risks.
o Producing products that you know will break before their time.
Example of something ethical, but not legal.
o Providing rock-bottom prices only to distributors in underserved areas.
o Collaborating with other medical clinics to guarantee low prices in low-income countries
(conclusion)
Ethical Standards
3. List and explain the four standards that can be used to make ethical communication decisions.
Four ethical standards include:
o (1) A Political Perspective: Helps us to understand ethical practices based on a value
system. Even with one particular political system and culture, people do not always agree
on which view should prevail when competing values comes into conflict.
For example: In 20011, Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical weekly newspaper,
featured a cartoon of Muhammad, whose depiction is forbidden in some
interpretation of Islam. This publication was extremely offensive to the Arab
world, who reacted violently by fire-bombing the office and mass shooting in
2015, which led to the death of 12 people.
o (2) A Dialogical Perspective: Says that interaction between should promote the
development of self, personality, and knowledge. That is, each participant in a
communication event should make decisions based on his or her ability to improve
mutual understanding and dialog between participants.
For example: This perspective tries to explain that Muhammad cartoon was the
example of media outlets should print anything in order to communicate a point
of view. People may dont agree with a word of the cartoon, but people must
respect their right to say it.
o (3) A Human Perspective: Says that we have a responsibility both to ourselves and to
others to be open, gentle, compassionate and critically reflective in our choices;.
For example: The French newspaper had every right to publish these cartoon of
Islam but the human perspective requires us to consider the consequences of our
message and to weigh the costs and benefits of exercising our right to free
speech.
o (4) A Situational Perspective: Takes into account the context of the communication event.
Some guidelines include the role of the communicator for the audience, what is
reasonable or appropriate for the audience, what the audiences goals and values are.

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Thien Christian Nguyen

Prep #8

For example: Charlie Hebdo, if followed this perspective, would consider

whether their target audiences opinion of the satirical depiction of Muhammed
or anything related to the Arab world.

4. Think back to an ethical communication dilemma you have faced. How did you decide what was right
or wrong in your situation? Did you consider any of the standards or guidelines discussed in the chapter?
Did any of these standards help you make your decision?
For example, choosing the topic for the informative speech poses an ethical communication
dilemma to me. My topic is about Syrian diaspora, which deeply connects to the political
situation in Syria (and Middle East) and its connection with the Western world.
Based on a situational perspective, I strongly believe that using this topic is the right thing to do
since my role as the communicator is the informer, not someone who persuades the audience
what is right or wrong; moreover, as college students at TCU who aim to be the ethical leader and
global citizen, I think it is important for my audiences goals and values to understand the causes
and its impact on world politics.
Ethical Credo
5. Describe the premise of the National Communication Association Credo for Ethical Communication.
The premise of the credo is to guide of communication behaviors, to help you understand the
relationship between ethics and ethical communication. The credo is based on the First
Amendment, respect for others, access to information, democratic decision making, and
responsibility for our behavior.
6. Which of the ethical standards mentioned earlier do these premises relate to? What is a speech topic
that might violate the NCA credo? Do you think that some speech topics should be banned from being
presented in the classroom?
We promote communication climates of caring and mutual understand that respect the unique
needs and characteristics of individual communicators a dialogical perspective.
We accept responsibility for the short- and long-term consequences for our own communication
and expect the same of other a human perspective
We condemn communication that degrades individuals and humanity [] through the
expression of intolerance and hatred. a political perspective.
A speech topic that might violate the NCA credo
o Fabrication of the public figures personal life since it degrades an individual through
distortion,
Becoming Ethical Producers of Information
7. Define plagiarism. Explain the difference between intentional and unintentional plagiarism.
Plagiarism occurs when you present someone elses words or ideas as if they were your own.
o Intentional plagiarism can occur on a global effect (taking entire passages or speeches) or
on a partial level (using key words and phrases within your own speech)
If you knowingly piece together several excerpts from various sources and pass
them off as your own, it is still considered the intentional plagiarism.
o Unintentional plagiarism occurs when you neglect to take careful notes or fail to cite your
source. It also happen if you think paraphrasing someones idea without giving them
credit is OK, or providing a reference page without providing an oral citation is OK.
More subtle form is collaboration on a speech topic; therefore, it raises the
question of whose ideas belong to whom.

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Thien Christian Nguyen

Prep #8

8. Plagiarism is a problem on college campuses. Do you know of anyone who has plagiarized a paper or
speech? Why, do you suppose, they chose to plagiarize? What were the short term consequences of their
action? What could be long term consequences of their action?
I know someone who plagiarized a paper in the past. In my opinion, they chose to plagiarize
because of the amount of work she had at that particular time. Moreover, the amount required for
that particular is too huge for her to spend time working on her original ideas.
The short-term consequence was that the professor took some immediate action on her paper. The
long-term consequence was that she had to go through the disciplinary process regarding
academic misconduct inside her business program, which eventually led to her permanent
expulsion from the program.
Media Interaction: Chapter 3
1. What is plagiarism?
According to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, plagiarize" means:
o to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
o to use (another's production) without crediting the source
o to commit literary theft
o to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source
2. What tips does this site offer to help you avoid plagiarism?
During the process of planning your speech, you should plan what sources you are going to use
and how to cite them correctly.
During the process of developing your speech, make sure you cite the sources (orally and in the
reference page) when in doubt, make it clear to the audience of the author of the source, and more
importantly, analyze and evaluate your sources to determine how credible they are.
3. How is plagiarism detected?
Plagiarism is detected through automatic checker using my instructors and universities.
4. What did you find about citing sources?
There are several citation styles, for different fields of study. For example, Chicago and MLA for
Humanities; ACS and NLM for Science; APA for Social Sciences; and legal style
Citing sources also include having a bibliography, which is a list of all the sources you have used
in the researching your work.
Footnotes are notes placed at the bottom of a page. They cite references or comment on a
designated part of the text above it.

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