What does ethics have to do with writing?

Ethics is one of the most important topics in technical communication. When you can communicate clearly and effectively, and when it is your task to help others to understand an object, a process, or a procedure, it is your responsibility to do so in an ethical fashion.

Ethics refers to the choices we make that affect others for good or ill. Ethics can also be defined as a set of agreed-upon rules (sometimes explicit but often implied) put forth by a company or organization.

What does this mean for technical writers?

As technical communicators, we’re sometimes forced to make difficult ethical choices—from something as seemingly innocuous as “borrowing” another writer’s or researcher’s language or findings and not giving them proper credit (we call that plagiarism), to leaving out crucial findings in a study that shows the harmful effects a household cleaning product can have on small children. And while we’d like to think that we would make the right decision when faced with an ethical dilemma, it isn’t always that simple.

At some point, we may be asked to write or communicate something that isn’t exactly or completely true, or we may be asked to not say something that we know is true. What do we do in those situations? Should I write what my supervisor wants me to write even though I know it’s wrong? What if someone gets hurt because of something we’ve done or not done, and where do I draw the line?

Ultimately, we must think about our audience and ask whether we are truly acting in their best interest. Also, ask yourself if you’re willing to take responsibility, both publicly and privately, for what you have written or said. Will you stand behind your message?

As technical communicators, we should:

      • Distinguish between fact and opinion. This is especially important in today’s world.
      • Avoid language that attempts to evade responsibility. Specifically, avoid using passive voice, whenever possible because it can lead the reader to have a mistaken impression.
      • Avoid using language that misleads readers. Avoid abstract wording, euphemisms, or jargon, such as legal, technical, and/or bureaucratic language that might confuse the reader. It is important to first understand your audience and their level of knowledge on the subject you are writing about to gauge which level of vocabulary is most suited.
      • Use layout/design/visuals to help readers better understand the message. (rather than to mislead, deceive, or distract readers)
      • Act in our audience’s best interest.

As technical communicators, we should avoid:

      • Violating anyone’s rights. When you are writing and performing research, make sure you are citing the sources of your information and giving credit to all the necessary researchers. At no time is it acceptable to indicate that the writer is the source of someone else’s idea; all sources must be referenced accurately in the text and cited on a reference page. This rule also extends beyond writing, including images, movies, songs, software, patents, trademarks, and other items protected by law.
      • Falsifying data or state as truth something we know to be false. Facts are facts, and they must be represented as such.
      • Deliberately misrepresenting facts or information. Do not write something that could cause the reader to believe something that isn’t true. This can be done by lying, misrepresenting facts, or manipulating numbers to favor your opinion and objectives. Be cautious when using figures, charts, and tables, making sure they are not misleading. While this may seem obvious, when the pressure is on and there are deadlines to meet, taking shortcuts and stretching the truth are all-too common.
      • Assuming that what an “expert” has said is the truth. Experts can make mistakes too—and some of them lie!
      • Presenting stereotypes. Most stereotyping takes place subconsciously now since workplaces are careful to not openly discriminate. It is something we may not even be aware we are doing, so it is always a good idea to have a peer or coworker proofread your documents to make sure you have not made any assumptions or included anything that may be discriminatory.
        For more information, check out the article from the Purdue OWL on “        Stereotypes and Biased Languages.” For more information on avoiding stereotypes and using gender-inclusive language, see the Tech Whirl article “Gender-neutral Technical Writing.”

 

Watch the following video, “Appropriate Language in Technical Writing” from Tamara Powell, who explains, among other things, how language becomes an ethical concern if it is imprecise or disrespectful:

 

Exercises

  1. Sometimes the very words and phrasing technical communicators choose can result in unethical practices. Consider the following sentence:

    The prosecutor argued that the defendant, who was at the scene of the crime, who had a strong revenge motive, and who had access to the murder weapon, was guilty of homicide. 

    How might this sentence be considered unethical? If we look at it carefully, we see that the main point (or main clause) is simply: The prosecutor argued that the defendant… was guilty of homicide. Rather than starting the paragraph with that sentence, note how the writer has chosen instead to break it up by using a list of parenthetical points about the defendant (he was at the scene of the crime, he had a strong revenge motive, and he had access to the murder weapon), which in this case works to subordinate (or de-emphasize) the main point. By the time the reader reaches the sentence’s point, which is only that the prosecutor argued that the defendant was guilty of homicide, they have likely formed an impression of the defendant’s assumed guilt.

    We can make this sentence more ethically responsible by simply putting the main clause up front and then following it with the three supporting points:

    The prosecutor argued that the defendant was guilty of homicide. According to the prosecutor, the defendant was at the scene of the crime, had a strong revenge motive, and had access to the murder weapon.

    Even though it essentially says the same thing, the arrangement of information in this example creates a more ethical approach to the sentence: it allows readers to draw their own conclusions about the defendant’s alleged guilt. It also follows a logical and recognizable structure of stating the main point first and then following it with reasons, examples, and/or other forms of evidence.

 

Additional Resources

 

CHAPTER ATTRIBUTION INFORMATION
"Ethics and Technical Communication." Lumen Technical Writing. [License: CC BY-SA 4.0]
"Ethics in Technical Communication." Open Technical Communication. [License: CC BY 4.0]
Powell, Tamara. "Appropriate Language in Technical Writing." Video. YouTube.com.

 

License

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1.3 Ethics in Technical Communication Copyright © 2020 by Dio Morales is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.