COIT20249 Assessment: Ethical Considerations Regarding Ghostwriting

This essay addresses the ethical concerns related to ghostwriting in academic assignments, particularly within the context of the COIT20249 portfolio assessment. It explores the author's response to discovering friends using ghostwriters, detailing a strategy that involves direct conversation, highlighting the negative impacts on learning and fairness, and emphasizing the violation of professional ethics codes such as the ACS Code of Ethics. The essay argues that ghostwriting undermines the purpose of assignments, disadvantages other students, and negatively affects future career prospects by fostering dependence on others' work. Ultimately, the author concludes that reporting the practice to the lecturer is a necessary step to uphold academic integrity and professional standards. Desklib offers a variety of resources including past papers and solved assignments to support students in their academic endeavors.

Running head: ETHICAL ISSUES IN GHOST WRITING 1
Responding to Ethical Issues Related to Ghost Writing Assignments.
Name
Institutional Affiliation

ETHICAL ISSUES IN GHOST WRITING 2
Responding to ethical issues related to ghostwriting assignments.
Once I find out that my friends are using ghostwriters to complete their assignments I
would have to do something about it. First, I would approach my friends who are using
ghostwriters and discuss the issue with them. I would ask them to tell me the reasons why they
use these ghostwriters and how it benefits them. Once they have let me know their reasons for
using this method I would let them know my side. I would let them know that it will not benefit
them using the ghostwriters as assignments are supposed to help us gauge our understanding of
what we are being taught. Therefore, if the assignment is done by someone else, the lecturer will
not know what areas they have difficulty in therefore will not be able to help them and this will
be a waste and be negative to their career (Zheng & Cheng, 2015). Also, I would let them know
that this would not be fair to the other people in class as they are using their own effort to do the
assignment while the person using ghostwriters just pays for the assignment. Then, I would let
them know that this would negatively affect their future career as they will be used to others
doing their work for them, therefore, they will not be able to do their part when they get
employed and will tend to take credit of work done by others (Singh & Remenyi, 2016). Once I
have let them know the reasons why I am against ghostwriting, I would ask them if they will stop
the practice. If they accept to stop the habit it will be but if they do not see reason and stop this
practice, I would take further steps I would report them to the lecturer.
I would do this because of a variety of reasons, first because this is ethically wrong to use
fraudulent means to complete assignments. I would do this because it is my duty and it is not fair
to the other students for this to go on. The lecturer would know what steps to take to remedy the
situation so that the incidences of ghostwriting would reduce. Also according to the ACS Code
of Ethics of which we are supposed to follow in our career, it is wrong. It expects individuals to

ETHICAL ISSUES IN GHOST WRITING 3
be honest while showing the level of skill, knowledge, products, and services while carrying out
their duties and using ghostwriters goes against this. Also, the code requires people to have the
professionalism and therefore have integrity while carrying out their duties which is why it is not
right to use ghostwriters (McDermid, 2015). Finally, with the ACS code of professional conduct,
individuals in this career are expected to be honest and always give credit to those who do the
work and with ghostwriting they will be taking the credit of those who wrote the assignment. All
in all, by using this method the students will be going against various rules meant to guide their
career (Australian Computer Society, 2014).

ETHICAL ISSUES IN GHOST WRITING 4
References
Australian Computer Society (2014). ACS Code of Professional Conduct. [online] Available at:
https://www.acs.org.au/content/dam/acs/acs-documents/ACS%20Code-of-Professional-
Conduct_v2.1.pdf [Accessed 31 May 2018].
McDermid, D. (2015). Ethics in ICT: an Australian perspective. Pearson Higher Education AU.
Singh, S., & Remenyi, D. (2016). Plagiarism and ghostwriting: The rise in academic
misconduct. South African Journal of Science, 112(5-6), 1-7.
Zheng, S., & Cheng, J. (2015). Academic ghostwriting and international students. Young
Scholars in Writing, 12, 124-133.