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Using previous own work for class?
Faricazy
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Reposting from SE
Several people told me I could just cite myself. Is that really okay for three paragraphs?
My school's academic dishonesty page doesn't say anything about double submissions.
why that's retardedguys, academic question
i'm writing a paper right now
one of the things we have to address is basically identical to a research note the professor assigned us a number of weeks ago
"Who were the authors of the Laws of Manu and the Kama Sutra? When were they compiled? Who composed them? Who would have been the readers of these texts?"
The research note was on Laws of Manu and addressed all those questions, among others. It wouldn't be plagerism if i copy my own information, would it?
a lot of professors will fail you for turning in work you have already submitted for other classes, let alone the same class
it's the same goddamn question
i'm not going to magically come up with different information, since the very point of a research note is to get the fucking information
whaaaat
edit: to be clear this is only one minor part of the current paper. the stuff about the kama sutra and a bunch of other questions and analysis will be all new
Several people told me I could just cite myself. Is that really okay for three paragraphs?
My school's academic dishonesty page doesn't say anything about double submissions.
Faricazy on
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unfortunately college sometimes decides to be completely bonkers
However if you talk to the professor about it beforehand and he gives you the OK then it is fine. I don't recommend trying to do it without first talking with the professor though.
for some reason this semester i find i can only actually get work done under a very looming deadline
anyway, thanks, i'll cite and if he has a problem with it i'm pretty sure i'll be in the clear as far as my college's policy goes
edit: i mean i can sort of understand such a policy applying to analysis and whatnot, but factual papers? pssh.
and yes this is what we thought was the term paper until he let us know last week that we'll have another paper to do after this one
he is a cunt
If not, I don't see why you couldn't.
I've always been annoyed at research papers for lame subjects.
"I didn't get you 12 sources because I already knew this shit, you should be happy I wrote this from memory".
That has only flown once for me. It was a good day.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
You could quote yourself of course, but you might be better just using the same sources and sticking something new together. Improve on it! Etc.
Minimal requirements are stupid, I agree - but they're put in because all of us college students try to wiggle our way out of doing it
That, and if you look at a book that probably has information on the subject in question, but don't open it, you can still use it as a source. Hell, I do.
My school's policy is that if you hand in the same work for grading twice, it's plagiarism and you get fucked. If you quote the entire thing I'm pretty sure you'll get screwed because you yourself might technically be an "outside source". It's retarded that he's assigning something that so closely resembles something he already assigned, but shit happens. You probably should've just used your old bibliography and rewritten the assignment.
And i don't know how to change this, it's barebones factual information. This guy wrote it, this guy edited it, this book mentioned this fact, this evidence points to this time period. It's not an analysis.
You are misrepresenting the work. You are presenting something you wrote for another class as if it had been written for this one. That is dishonest. If you are assigned to write a paper and you do not write a paper, you have not done the assignment, anything you turn in that you didn't write for that assignment qualifies as plagiarism because you are deliberately misrepresenting it.
In fact this research note i am referring to I got a 90 on without citing anything whatsoever.
Submitting substantial portions of the same paper to two classes without consulting the second instructor.
Anyway, I changed some wording of the longer sentences and added two citations and a quotation.
All this trouble for two goddamn paragraphs.
And honestly, why not just try to find a fresh angle or take on the assignment so you get something new out of it...
Please remember, this is for a college class, to be turned in for a grade from a professor that you have already identified:
Your goal needs to be, "What course of action will get me the best grade and carry minimal repercussion, preferably none?" As opposed to "can I convince this teacher that my work is not plagiarism?". He probably won't listen.
3clipse: The key to any successful marriage is a good mid-game transition.
As for the class, if it's factual information, you would simply reuse the information and the same citations. This is common -- authors who regularly write on subjects typically end up coming back to historical or factual things that simply can't or don't change, so they'll just lift the factual element out of a previous work and use the same citations. For those citing themselves, or discussing a recurring subject, they will often state "As I wrote about earlier, blah blah blah" and then either cite themselves (if published) or include the same footnotes/citations as the previous work.
If it is analysis or non-factual writing, it is unlikely that the thematic elements of the paper are so identical as to allow you to simply copy/paste in 2 paragraphs without some tone or style elements changing. I wouldn't suggest simply "changing words" but rather just rewriting it, if that's the case. Read the stuff you wrote previously, get the ideas, go to the bathroom or make a snack, and then come back, read the last few paragraphs of the new paper, and then rewrite those paragraphs.
As an example, there are only so many ways to write about, say, historical military acts. If Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford Theatre, you can't exactly expand upon the details surrounding it without losing the historical basis for the event. However, if your previous paper was about elements of Orientalism by Edward Said, even if your feelings on the work are identical but entirely your own, you should re-read your original words but re-write without copying verbatim. You will introduce subtle changes naturally that will read better with the larger, newer work anyway.
Finally, it sounds like this is old work that you are using to supplement a new work that is about a larger subject overall, but shares a similar theme. While you shouldn't simply copy your work, it's also entirely understandable that you will come across similar themes and subjects both in this class and future classes. Professors understand that if you've written papers on [subject] before, you have some prior knowledge -- and they expect a certain level of insight. Referencing your old papers for ideas and refreshers is what you SHOULD be doing, as it will remind you of the research you did then as well as the frame of mind you were in when you wrote the paper (your "voice"). Don't copy/paste, but don't think of your past work as "taboo," it's YOUR work after all.
By all means, cite the work properly and use it again, if you don't think it will affect your grade. Improper use of your own work constitutes plagiarism (or whatever phrase you choose to define it) and I would punish a student of mine who did so.
Feel free to PM me if you wish to debate the subject.
Edit: punctuation error.
3clipse: The key to any successful marriage is a good mid-game transition.
Referring to the author or the paper will usually cost you points at the college level. "I" and "this paper" and shit are inappropriate.
Also, "self-plagiarism" might possibly be the most bullshit term I've heard ever.
No really, the definition of plagiarism posted earlier is accurate. Plagiarism, in a nutshell, is representing someone else's ideas as your own. You can't plagiarize yourself.
I believe the musicians you are thinking of were probably sued under some sort of copyright infringement, not plagiarism. Plagiarism is an academic honesty issue, not a legal one.
On academic honesty, you're probably best served re writing what you discussed in the earlier assignment. My guess was the previous assignment was designed to get you to think about that aspect of this larger one. You won't get sanctioned by the school for hitting copy and paste, but your professor will notice that you're taking a shortcut and it will be reflected in your grade
I know. Wild idea.
This of course depends a little on the field; "we" and "the authors determined/described/etc that blah blah" are perfectly fine for most scientific papers
More to this point - if it's just facts, rewrite it a bit and reuse the citations you used, and you're done... I've done similar things before, especially in writing science papers on something I worked on in undergrad - there's only so many different ways you can write the identical introductory paragraph to four different papers on the same (or similar) topics, so eventually they'll look similar regardless. I wouldn't cite your previous essay, since that (to me) looks weird - and especially if it's just factual information and you're not trying to quote an amazing insight you had in your previous paper, there's no reason to cite yourself as a second-hand source of original work... but direct copying is a no-no pretty much everywhere (though I do agree that it's somewhat silly to redo busywork)
I work in academic publishing; it's entirely related to the type of subject matter. If you're presenting your idea, you use "I" or "My." If a paper does not have a proper abstract, it is common for an introductory paragraph or section to substitute as such, in which case referring to the work you're writing is also common. Again, it depends on the subject matter. There is no "rule" against it, although I will agree that many freshmen utilize lazy writing (in which case using first person as well as "this paper" is used incorrectly). The OP didn't specify if this paper was historical research or historical analysis, but believe me, if you're tasked with writing a paper and it includes "Analyze [subject] and discuss any strengths or shortcomings you find," you better believe the paper is going to include "I." Otherwise, you're stating as fact what is your opinion -- which will usually cost you points at the college level.
I personally still prefer to write stuff like that in a more passive tone, i.e. "the above data suggest that"... or "for these reasons, it is likely that"... but I can agree that it's at least partly a personal style thing and partly a very field-specific thing
Of course -- if you have data, the data is doing the proving after all. And if you're presenting someone's work to prove a point, their work is what's supporting your argument. My rhetoric professors told us much of the same thing, as in "Don't use I or me or my just because it sounds good; understand what's really going on in your document. At the same time, don't avoid using yourself just because we said that -- if the work calls for its use, use it." I think that just comes down to understanding writing and the process, at the end of the day.
"1. Cheating: Copying or attempting to copy from an academic test or examination of another student; using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, notes, study aids or other devices for an academic test, examination or exercise; engaging or attempting to engage the assistance of another individual in misrepresenting the academic performance of a student; or communicating information in an unauthorized manner to another person for an academic test, examination or exercise.
2. Fabrication or Falsification: Falsifying or fabricating any information or citation in any academic exercise, work, speech, test or examination. Falsification is the alteration of information, while fabrication is the invention or counterfeiting of information.
3. Plagiarism: Presenting the work of another as one's own (i.e., without proper acknowledgment of the source) and submitting examinations, theses, reports, speeches, drawings, laboratory notes or other academic work in whole or in part as one's own when such work has been prepared by another person or copied from another person.
4. Abuse of Academic Materials: Destroying, defacing, stealing, or making inaccessible library or other academic resource material.
5. Complicity in Academic Dishonesty: Helping or attempting to help another student to commit an act of academic dishonesty.
6. Falsifying Grade Reports: Changing or destroying grades, scores or markings on an examination or in an instructor's records.
7. Misrepresentation to Avoid Academic Work: Misrepresentation by fabricating an otherwise justifiable excuse such as illness, injury, accident, etc., in order to avoid or delay timely submission of academic work or to avoid or delay the taking of a test or examination.
8. Other: Academic units and members of the faculty may prescribe and give students prior notice of additional standards of conduct for academic honesty in a particular course, and violation of any such standard of conduct shall constitute misconduct under this Code of Conduct and the University Disciplinary Procedures."
http://stuafs.unl.edu/ja/code/three.shtml
However, it does qualify that with
"Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, the following"
so it could highly depend on the professor's personal policy.
But now I'm curious! I'm going to email the University's Writing Assistance Center, and I'll let you know if I learn anything interesting (and I know your deadline has passed, but this might be useful information anyway).