1. Research
Search engines that I was to compare and contrast, Google and Complete Planet, are both well-known, and respected, although Google, of course, is more popular and recognized all around the world. For me it is also more common to search with its help, but in this research I saw rather clearly that when we talk about the scientific research, Complete Planet can be even more useful, than Google.
The search results that I analyzed in this exercise were dedicated to one of the topical issues in critical care nursing. There were several phrases that I typed in the search bar, such as “treatment of antibiotic-resistant patients”, “antibiotic resistance treatment”, “critical care antibiotic resistance”. The way of results representation was considerably different in two cases and the results themselves weren’t the same. It was also convenient to search in the Complete Planet system because of its form of advanced search. Below I want to describe the differences I spotted and what kind of results I liked more.
The way of results representation in Google consists of a list of links for the most relevant results from the standpoint of the search engine’s algorithm. We don’t really know why Google chose the results, and to find some relevant information in my particular field I have to think of some specifying words, or go to the advanced search, making the necessary specifications in that section. In Complete planet I liked the way of narrowing down the scope of search much more, because it is convenient for me to choose relevant databases from the very beginning not to get distracted on some unnecessary search results. I also liked the way relevance is displayed in this search engine – at the bottom of each search there are little colored squares, and the more squares there are, the better it is for the search relevance.
Thus, I want to draw a conclusion – I think that in order to achieve the best results, it is necessary to use both search engines, as their results complement one another. It is really convenient to use the advanced search in Complete Planet, but it is also necessary to take into consideration the results that Google shows. It is a good idea to take into account the peculiarities of both systems and to use them wisely.
2. Evaluating Emails
I think that learning how to organize your emails in the correct way from the ethical point of view is very important today. Email has already become one of the most important ways of correspondence due to the high speed of receiving in any part of the world, convenience of reading and responding at any time due to the modern technologies and overall simplicity of using. The rapid spread of this means of communication initially led to a wave of grammatically and ethically incorrect letters sent in this way. At first people didn’t know exactly how they should write these letters, as the rules used for traditional correspondence often couldn’t be realized on the web. But fortunately, there were developed specific standards of communication via emails, both in the personal and business environment. Still, many people choose not to bother with such rules, but I don’t belong to such kind of people. I want to be professional in everything I do in future and even today. That is the reason why I learned how to format and organize my emails in such a way that people could understand me easily and see what I want to tell them. It was interesting to analyze the emails sent to me during this week, because usually I don’t like to judge others, especially if email etiquettes, in this case for instance, is not so important to them. But for me it was useful and interesting.
So, a week ago I received a letter from my friend who lives in Japan. We were friends in the early childhood, but the he moved to live there. I see how the country peculiarities are influencing his style of email writing. He is always polite, concise and knows how to communicate his thoughts to me successfully. Although most of the time we speak in social networks, it is sometimes necessary to send emails with some important information. In such cases he always describes briefly why he is writing, even if we already know it – he says that in this way it will be easy for me to sort my emails later. He always starts with some courteous greeting and ends with thank you! It is really pleasant to receive such emails. He fills out all the necessary fields and doesn’t use any distracting elements in the letters. You will never find any unnecessary backgrounds in his letters, the fonts he uses are always pleasant to read. I have no negative comments on his emails to me. They totally correspond to what I read for this exercise.
My other friend, Jane, sent me about 4 emails this week. I think that she just loves sending emails, which is why most of my emails are from her. She likes it so much that, unfortunately, she spoils her emails with too much color, too many mistakes and too fancy fonts. At first I didn’t pay much attention to her style of writing, but then it started to irritate me. It is really difficult to understand what she writes about when some bright birds are sitting in the background and their color pattern reflects the one of the font. So, I often recommend her to check her emails before sending and to stop decorating them in such a way that makes them too hard to read (Kallos, n.d.). But she always smiles to me and says that I understand nothing in email writing. Now I can show her the netiquette rules that I used for this exercise to prove my point.
There also were a couple of letters from my parents. They usually don’t bother with some specific greetings, or other similar things. They just tell me concisely what to do, and due to this, it is sometimes difficult to understand what they are getting at, especially when some time passes from the time of the email sending. For instance, when I found the letter sent 4 days ago for this exercise, it took me about 10 minutes to figure out what they wanted from me in this email. Only after I spoke with them, I remembered why the letter was sent.
Then, I looked at my sent emails. It was pleasant for me to analyze my writing, as most of the netiquette rules were observed by me. By the reaction of my friends I know that they enjoy receiving emails from me, and I consider it to be one of my strengths. I know how to formulate my thoughts in the right way, and I am sure that it will help in my future career.
3. Reading about Ethics and Plagiarism
There are different ethical approaches described in the article by Beth Dixon (2003), and when considering them, I spotted certain differences between the possible ways of plagiarism treatment. It is their common feature that in each of them you can find an answer to the issue of self-plagiarism implications. In the virtue ethics proposed by Aristotle, dishonesty belongs to vice, which is why students have to choose, whether to live their lives following high moral standards, or to be dishonest. In the ethical relativism theory plagiarism can be justified, as it is thought of as a variant of culture that is worth practicing in its social context. Still, Dr. Dixon (2003) says that theory isn’t worth consideration, as it is not a normative theory in fact.
According to the theory of utilitarianism, plagiarism is justified if it can be called moral to cheat in certain situations. In this case, self-plagiarism has the same implications as plagiarizing works of the other authors. In the ethics of care, self-plagiarism is considered to be immoral, as in here only plagiarism from book with a view of helping oneself is recognized and justified (Laura Gurak, 2010). In the Kantian ethics there is nothing particularly said about self plagiarism, as mostly it is dedicated to the problems of stealing works from other people, which are especially emphasized. Plagiarizing works of others in this case is completely immoral and is equal to stealing other kinds of people’s property (Dixon, 2003).
Ethically, there are both differences and similarities between self-plagiarism and plagiarizing the works of others (Bailey, 2011). It is similar in the fact that it is a kind of dishonesty with all the relative implications. At the same time, two kinds of plagiarism represent different types of dishonesty – in relation to oneself and to other people. The theories presented by Dixon (2003) show more attention to the dishonesty to other people, although in the virtue ethics, for instance, it is clearly shown that there is no actual difference between these types of plagiarism.
4. Copyright
1) Why bother registering a copyright?
2) How involved is the process to register?
The registration procedure is not too complicated and is clearly explained in the Copyright Basics (2008) document provided at the official website of the US Copyright Office. In order to do it, first of all, it is necessary to submit the application form, then a nonrefundable filing fee and a deposit that is nonreturnable, which is a copy of the registered work. There are different ways of submission of the required documents, and it is not too difficult to find out what you need to send to the Copyright Office.
3) Was there anything that surprised you about the process?
What surprised me about the process is its relative simplicity and that there are differences as to the period of time, in which registration was completed. I am pleased to know that the Government made this process rather easy and acceptable to everyone interested.
4) Are there specific works you’ve already created that might be wise to register?
So far, I haven’t created such works that could be of interest to general public, which is why I don’t think it is necessary to register copyright for them.
5) If not, what types of works do you foresee creating that would make registration worth it?
I think that in future I have plenty of opportunities to create works that will be worth copyright registration. I believe that it can be some type of gadget that would help nurses and doctors to assist stroke patients.
References
Bailey, J. (2011). Self-Plagiarism: Ethical Shortcut or Moral Scourge? Retrieved from http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2011/09/07/self-plagiarism-ethical-shortcut-or-moral-scourge/
Dixon, B. (2003). Ethics and Plagiarism: a simplified review. Retrieved from http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/holly.hellerross/ethics_and_plagiarism.htm
Goldsmith, J. (2010). COMPLETE PLANET: A New, Specialized Search Engine That Searches The Invisible Web. Retrieved from http://www.detools.ca/?p=4893
Kallos, J. (n.d.). 101 Email Etiquette Tips. Retrieved from http://101emailetiquettetips.com/
Laura Gurak, J. M. & Lannon, J.M. (2012). Strategies For Technical Communication in the Workplace. New York: Pearson Education.
US Copyright Office. (2008). Copyright Basics. Retrieved from http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf
