Ethics and Public Speaking

I. Ethics are central to public speaking
    A. Deals with issues of right and wrong in human affairs
   B. Moral or immoral, fair or unfair, just or unjust, honest or dishonest
       i. Speechmaking is a form of power
II. Guidelines for ethical behavior in public speaking
   A. Goals are ethically sound
    B. Speakers should be fully prepared for each speech
      i. Unprepared speakers waste the collective time of listeners
       ii. Give audience erroneous information of faulty advice that can lead to consequences
    C. Public Speakers should be honest in what they say
       i. No outright lies
       ii. Juggling statistics, quoting out of context, painting tentative findings as firm conclusions, citing unusual cases as typical examples
   D. Avoid name-calling
       i. No stereotypes
       ii. Real life – Name-calling silences opposing voices
         a) Public speakers have an ethical obligation to help preserve the right to speak ideas on issues of public consequence
III. Plagiarism
    A. Presenting another person's language or ideas as your own
    B. 3 Types of Plagiarism
       i. Global plagiarism is taking an entire speech from a single source
      ii. Patchwork plagiarism is when a speaker patches a speech together by copying verbatim from 2 or 3 sources
      iii. Incremental plagiarism is failing to give credit to parts
          a) Quoting someone verbatim without attributing the words to that person
         b) Paraphrasing an author without citing the author
    C. Internet sources need to be identified
IV. Listeners have ethical obligations
    A. Courteous and attentive during the speech
    B. Avoid prejudging the speaker
    C. Listeners should maintain the free and open expression of ideas