What are the key ethical issues involved in conducting archival research? Based on examination of cases and interviews with leading archival researchers in composition, this article discusses several ethical questions and offers a heuristic to guide ethical decision making. Key to this process is recognizing the person-ness of archival materials.…

Discussions of intellectual property are often the focus of rhetoric and composition research, and the question of textual origins grounds these discussions. Through an examination of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia anyone can edit, this essay addresses disciplinary concerns about textual origins and intellectual property through a discussion…

Responding to cultural concerns about the ownership of writing and the nature of plagiarism, this article examines discourses about plagiarism by ESL students and argues for a plurality of approaches to understanding the ownership of language and textual appropriation. First, it uses speech act theory to explain the dynamics of plagiarism; second,…

The spaces in which public deliberation most often takes place are institutionally, technologically, and scientifically complex. In this article, we argue that in order to participate, citizens must be able to invent valued knowledge. This invention requires using complex information technologies to access, assemble, and analyze information in…

Claims that educational fair use is more permissive than most writing teachers and administrators realize. Presents four factors, suggested by the Copyright Act of 1976, which teachers and administrators should consider in order to make informed decisions about their practices. Lists 4 websites. (NH)

Sketches in the traditional contours of intellectual property in the digital age and its institutionalization. Surveys the forces, intellectual and technological, that are challenging that tradition. Shows how composition studies has been informed by models that do not participate in these challenges. Suggests how composition studies may move…

Argues that students' attitudes about authorship and intellectual property rights are evidence of cultural habits of mind. Overviews perceptions of literary products as public and/or private property. Explores conflicts in legal notions of textual ownership relating to copyrights and the idea/expression dichotomy in American Constitutional law.…

Using sample student analyses of online paper mill Web sites, student survey responses, and existing scholarship on plagiarism, authorship, and intellectual property, this article examines how the consumerist rhetoric of the online paper mills construes academic writing as a commodity for sale, and why such rhetoric appeals to students in…

"Guidelines for the Ethical Treatment of Students and Student Writing in Composition Studies" signals our increased awareness of the ethical obligations that attend our scholarship and research. Our adoption of research methods from other fields, particularly the social sciences, has heightened that concern. We must now consider the ethical…