possible ethics question

[ElizK]

I have to write an essay for my psychology class. I have one that I wrote last semester for English. With a little tweaking it will be fine for this assignment. Do you see a problem with that? It will be turned in online, so it may show up as a match through the plagerism filter, but with my name as the original author. Thoughts?

 

[MickeySP]

As long as you are the absolute author I see no problem. You cannot plagarize yourself. Just nice that 1 paper hits 2 assignments.

 

[kirbsam]

no issue at all. tweak away

 

[PatsGirl]

Lucky you, go for it FWIW, I submitted several papers twice to different professors for different courses without any issues, tweaking them to fit a bit better and show that I'd progressed a bit in my essay/paper writing.

 

[mermaidlady]

I have been in school the last couple of years and learned you can plagiarize yourself. If this is the same university you will get caught on the software. You can use parts of the other paper but you have to cite it. We had to use APA form to write our papers and the professors were pretty strict about citing your old papers.

 

[SeaSpray]

You CAN plagiarize yourself. It's called self-plagiarism.

My DSs learned about this in high school. It was a BIG no-no. They're in college now and it's still not allowed.

 

[LilyWDW]

IF the professor found out about it at my school the paper would be returned with a grade of 0. You may or may not get a chance to turn in an original paper.

This sort of thing is not allowed in my department.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I have to write an essay for my psychology class. I have one that I wrote last semester for English. With a little tweaking it will be fine for this assignment. Do you see a problem with that? It will be turned in online, so it may show up as a match through the plagerism filter, but with my name as the original author. Thoughts?

That would be in the wrong more than likely and if you are busted you will face plagarism penalties. Even though you wrote it, it is as others said self-plagarism.

 

[klacey1]

I agree with the other posters who said it's a no-no. Most professors will NOT be okay with it. If you didn't have to submit it online, you'd probably get away with it, but if your prof found out regardless, you'd more likely than not have to redo it/get a 0.

 

[KandD]

At my school you are not allowed to do this....however most professors do not use turnitin so it is quite easy to get away with. I personally see no problem with it.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

Well, the first person you're cheating in this is yourself. You, or someone else, is presumably paying large amounts of money so that you can get feedback on your research and writing and improve. Wasting that by submitting the same paper over and over again is a lousy idea.

Beyond that, yes, as other people have stated, it's against the rules and could get you in big trouble.

 

[crashbb]

That would definitely not be okay at my school. Did you prof provide rules at the beginning of the semester? Or does your school handbook have a section on plagiarism or assignments? Ours specifically states that assignments cannot be handed in for more than one assignment (unless cleared by the professor).

If I were marking this and discovered the double submission, you'd fail (and possibly face other action, depending on the rules provided).

 

[KristaTX]

I was able to do that once, but that was around 18 years ago. The topic/paper was appropriate for a higher-level literature class I was taking, but also for a basic English II course I was in at the same time.

Things may be different now. Self-plagiarism, seriously? I believe you all, but it sounds ridiculous in this particular situation. This shows efficiency on the student's part, and shows an ability to connect what is being learned in one course to what is being learned in another course.

I can see it being a problem in high school or possibly a basic English class, where the goal is to learn how to write. But the main goal of a psychology class isn't necessarily to teach you how to write. Just like I can see the reasons for "showing your work" in some math classes (especially where basics are being learned or where cheating may be quite possible), but not in later classes where students are given the freedom to solve problems as their minds work best.

It probably depends on the professor. Just explain your idea and see what he/she says is acceptable for this class.

 

[BCDisneyFanatic]

Well, the first person you're cheating in this is yourself. You, or someone else, is presumably paying large amounts of money so that you can get feedback on your research and writing and improve. Wasting that by submitting the same paper over and over again is a lousy idea.

Beyond that, yes, as other people have stated, it's against the rules and could get you in big trouble.

 

[LuvCuteBoys]

I was able to do that once, but that was around 18 years ago. The topic/paper was appropriate for a higher-level literature class I was taking, but also for a basic English II course I was in at the same time.

Things may be different now. Self-plagiarism, seriously? I believe you all, but it sounds ridiculous in this particular situation. This shows efficiency on the student's part, and shows an ability to connect what is being learned in one course to what is being learned in another course.

I can see it being a problem in high school or possibly a basic English class, where the goal is to learn how to write. But the main goal of a psychology class isn't necessarily to teach you how to write. Just like I can see the reasons for "showing your work" in some math classes (especially where basics are being learned or where cheating may be quite possible), but not in later classes where students are given the freedom to solve problems as their minds work best.

It probably depends on the professor. Just explain your idea and see what he/she says is acceptable for this class.

I agree with all of this, especially the part about asking your professor

 

[autumnpalm]

You might want to look into your school's academic and plagiarism policies. At my university, this is absolutely not allowed and the paper would be returned with a 0 and the student would have to meet with the academic standards committee with a possible 0 in the entire course.

I would assume this is standard practice at all major colleges or universities but like some PPs suggested, you should probably speak with your professor directly.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

Ask your professor....they are the only one that can okay this.

 

[MushyMushy]

I've never heard of any professors who would be okay with this. Big no-no where I come from.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

I've never heard of any professors who would be okay with this. Big no-no where I come from.

I had some professors who were okay with it as long as I did not turn in the EXACT same paper. It had to be changed or expanded on to an extent so they could see where I was improving.

 

[RitaE]

Interesting - I used my papers over and over all through school and then Grad school and no Professor ever caused a fuss over it. In High School our Senior English teacher used the syllabus from the local State University Freshman English comp class and she flat out told us to keep our papers to re-use in college.

But that was so long ago we didn't have the plagerism software. Professor definitely knew students would re-work and re-submit papers though. It wasn't a huge secret or no-no.

I guess just check with the Professor.