Review Questions
1. Where did ethics originate? How are ethics used in public speaking?
2. What is plagiarism? What is the difference between global and patchwork plagiarism?
3. What is the difference between paraphrasing and directly quoting a source?
4. What free speech rights are granted to a speaker?
5. Why is raising social awareness an ethical concern when preparing a speech?
6. What are some ways to use language ethically in presentations?
7. How is listening used in the public speaking setting? What are some guidelines for being an ethical listener?
Activities
1. Think about your ethical standards. Create a list of sources from which your ethical behaviors have originated. Who or what has influenced your ethics?
2. Review the NCA Credo of Ethics at: www.natcom.org/uploadedFiles/...Policy_Platfor m/PDF-PolicyPlatform-NCA_Credo_for_Ethical_Communication.pdf. How do you interpret this credo? How can you use the principles in your public speaking?
3. Split into groups of three to five students. As a group, develop 5 example situations of unethical behavior in public speaking. Once you are finished, switch situations with a different group. Decide how you can make changes to create ethical public speaking behavior.
4. Think about the following scenarios involving an ethical dilemma. How would you react? a) You attend a political debate on campus. The candidate’s speech contains many ideas that you don’t agree with. How can you be an ethical listener during the speech? b) You are preparing to give a speech on a topic and realize that you have lost the citation information for one of your important sources. You can’t seem to find this source again. What would you do to ethically prepare for the speech? c) When practicing your speech on influential sports figures, you realize that you refer to the audience, your co-ed classmates, quite often as “you guys.” Is this ethical language use? What changes would you make?
5. When preparing for your next speech, create an ethics journal. Write down the various ethical dilemmas as you encounter them. How did you decide what to do in these situations? What was the outcome?
Glossary
Direct Quote
A direct quote is any sentence that conveys the primary source’s idea word-for-word.
Diversity
Diversity is an appreciation for differences among individuals and groups.
Ethical Feedback
Ethical feedback is descriptive and explanatory feedback for a speaker. Ethical feedback can be positive praise or constructive criticism.
Ethical Listener
A listener who actively interprets shared material and analyzes the speech content and speaker’s effectiveness.
Ethical Communication
Ethical communication is an exchange of responsible and trustworthy messages determined by our moral principles.
Ethical Standards
Rules of acceptable conduct, that when followed, promote values such as trust, good behavior, fairness and/or kindness.
Ethics
Ethics is the process of determining what is good or bad, right or wrong in a moral dilemma.
Global Plagiarism
Global plagiarism is plagiarism that occurs when a speaker uses an entire work that is not his/her own. Hate Language Hate language is the use of words or phrases that isolate a particular person or group in a derogatory manner.
Incremental Plagiarism
Incremental plagiarism is plagiarism that occurs when most of the speech is the speaker’s original work, but quotes or other information have been used without being cited.
Listening
Listening is the process of interpreting, or making sense of, sounds.
Morality
Morality is the process of discerning between right and wrong.
Paraphrase
A paraphrase is any sentence that shares learned information in the speaker’s own words.
Patchwork Plagiarism
Patchwork plagiarism is plagiarism that occurs when one patches together bits and pieces from one or more sources and represents the end result as his or her own.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is when one passes off another’s work as his/her own or neglects to cite a source for his/her information.
Social Awareness
Social awareness is the recognition of important issues that affect societies.
“We” Language
“We” Language includes the use of pronouns and phrases that unite the speaker to the audience.