Ethical Writing

As chemical engineers, we need to be sure to make ethical decisions in the workplace. Another form of ethics often overlooked, however, is being ethical in our writing.

Simply put - being ethical in writing implies not making up data, not making up sources, not taking credit for what's not yours, and citing your sources accurately. Some guidelines outlined by Finkelstein in his book "Technical Writing for Scientists and Engineers" (271) are:

• Be accurate in your work
• Be honest in your work
• Honor your obligations
• Don't substitute speculation for fact
• Don't hide truth with ambiguity
• Don't use the ideas of others without giving proper credit
• Don't violate copyright laws
• Don't lie with statistics
• Don't inject personal bias into your reports

This goes for more than just writing reports. When you're writing a résumé it is just as important to follow these guidelines and be honest about your previous work, schooling, and experiences. Misleading information in a technical report can lead to incorrect conclusions; misleading information in a résumé can lead to you being in a position where you don't belong!

Trying to be honest and following the above guidelines may or may not help you to be ethical in your writing. The main way to judge whether you are making an ethical or non-ethical decision, as always, is to determine whether you have good or bad intentions.

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