Week 4: Assignment -Ethics in Technical Writing*
Week 4: Ethics in Technical Writing
The traits of it, the importance of audience consideration, and how to go about writing a document—drink it in, because you’ve covered it!
But there’s more. Yep, it’s time to touch on the importance of avoiding plagiarism! As we’ve all had various writing classes in the past, it’s safe to assume that we’ve also had instructors go over what plagiarism is and why it’s bad in general terms (after all, stealing someone else’s hard work is clearly wrong, right?)
However, there are additional laws and ethics to consider when creating technical documents. Sometimes, not mentioning information can be as dangerous as not citing it! The same dangers can also come from using images that aren’t yours, or “trimming” or “cooking” data to make it more advantageous to the points raised in your document.
Throughout this week’s materials, the idea of stealing information and ethics have gone hand-in-hand. After all, it’s illegal to steal another’s work through plagiarism. However, there may be cases where a writer might do something unethical that isn’t exactly illegal.
This week’s Concept Worksheet is all about this idea, so put your thinking cap on, and imagine just such a situation!
Assignment Instructions
Now that you’ve read about ethics in Technical Writing, it’s time to put those concepts to use!
In this week’s readings, we’ve looked at why technical writing should strive to be factually accurate and avoid illegally using other entities’ materials. Consider this, however: Might there be a situation where an aspect of a technical communication (be it speech, email, manual, etc.) could be unethical but not result in anything illegal?
Think of such a situation, and write 2-3 paragraphs (each being at least 3 sentences each) describing the situation, and discussing why or why not that unethical behavior should still be avoided in technical work. Your document should:
Be 12 pt, Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins, double spaced.
Be 2-3 paragraphs long (with a minimum of 3 sentences per paragraph).
GE Concept Worksheet Rubric_ENG310
GE Concept Worksheet Rubric_ENG310
Criteria
Ratings
Pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome
Content (70%)
Assignment meets required length and setup expectations as outlined in the assignment description.
24.5 to >17.5 pts
Exemplary (70%)
Meets all guidelines with no errors.
17.5 to >0.0 pts
Acceptable (50%)
Meets some of the guidelines; contains errors.
0 pts
No Submission
24.5 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome
Grammar and Structure (30%)
Spelling, punctuation, and grammar are correct. Both sentence and paragraph structures conform to current conventions.
10.5 to >7.0 pts
Exemplary (30%)
Meets all guidelines with no errors.
7 to >0.0 pts
Acceptable (20%)
Meets some of the guidelines; contains errors.
0 pts
No Submission
10.5 pts
Total Points: 35
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