Is it Possible to Plaiarise Yourself?

[Nowhere Man]

Here's the situation, last year I took an English class in college and failed it. I failed due to too many abscences and not based on my work wich was ok. It was enough to get a C. I admit, English is my worst subject, I do very well in History, Philosophy, Geography and other social sciences. I'm also bad with math and average with other Sciences like Biology. My major is History and really just need two Englishes to for my degree, the rest is mainly History courses.

Now that i've given you that background, let me tell you the rest. I'm re taking the English class, which is the same exact class and has the same exact assignments. Our first formal assignment is due soon and I have decided to re-submit the work I did last year. I intend to correct the mistakes from last year and change it around a bit so it's not exactly the same, but close. I came to the realization that because my school has this thing called "safe asign" it checks for past work to see if there's plkagerism going on. I went to the English department to ask about this and they said that I can't do this because it's plagerism. I didn't agree with this assesment and basically argued with them over this, but never really resolved the issue.

Can you plagiarise yourself? I don't see it that way. I'm not stealing anyones work, i'm re-submitting work. Do I as a student not have the right to re-submit a piece a work that I feel was mediocre in the past and therefore wish to take an oprotunity take that orinal idea and make it better? By all of the rules I could find, there's no rule against this. According to their own definition, this is not plagiarism, so is it. I could see if I used the same paper for two seperate classes, but that's not the case. Sounds like a load of shit to me.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I had a professor that said it was indeed against the rules to re-use work, and that if you did quote from a prior paper of yours, you had to cite it like any other source.

You may need to check with your professor beforehand, because most of them these days submit everything they get to TurnItIn.com, and it could well turn up a "hit" on your old paper, and even show the percentage of content you "lifted."

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Don't do it. Some professors consider it just as bad as cheating. In this age of electronic verification it's just not worth the risk of being caught out as a cheater. You're supposed to do the relevant work for that class, not take work you did previously and polish it up. It should be new, original work.

You might not think it's fair (I'm kind of on the fence about it) but them's the breaks.

 

[Kestra]

I suppose they are viewing it as two separate classes even though it's the same course being retaken?

I know my college insists on submitting electronic copies of all papers to turnitin.com or whatever it's called, and we can get in trouble for "double-dipping" and using the same material across classes. I'm not sure how I feel about this honestly. I've put in the work and if I'm given very similar assignments, it seems a bit stupid to have to go out of my way to write a similar yet different paper.

I'd say you can keep trying to argue it but ultimately if that's the rule, you don't really want to screw up your academic career over it.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I think it makes sense that you should have to do new, original work, since it puts that student at an unfair advantage (they are not having to work as hard as everyone else generating new material). That could then spill into other assignments done for that class, tests taken, and so on, if that time and effort is given over to something else. Plus (pardon my bluntness) doing so is the lazy way out and does not demonstrate one's commitment to taking the class seriously and as a priority.

 

[Kestra]

I understand what you're saying about advantages but that sort of thing can happen easily without plagiarism. If I've taken a similar class (or the identical class) before, I'm going to have an advantage. I've already studied the material the first time around. Or maybe it's a class for a field I've worked in previously, or maybe I'm around people who know the subject well and I've had more exposure to it. All these things can give you an advantage.

I actually am in a situation like that right now where I'm taking abnormal psychology but I've taken this class before at a previous college. I'm not doing anything wrong. I simply remember a lot of the material from before which probably makes it easier for me come exam time.

It may be lazy, but I do get frustrated with having very similar assignments across classes. Half the time it seems like the instructor doesn't even particularly care about the papers but assigns them as part of a university requirement. If I have to write new, original content I'd like to have new, original assignments. The purpose of this work isn't to keep you busy but to have you learn something new, so it's stupid if you have similar assignments in the first place.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

In the case of retaking a class, there are still ways to stretch yourself. I know that personally, when that happened to me, in some cases I tried to push myself beyond what others were doing. OR--helping tutor other students. That actually happened to me more than once, when I moved to another state during my education; almost inevitably I ended up tutoring someone, if not more than one person, either at the teacher's request or informally if others were having difficulty. That's just me, anyway.

 

[Kestra]

Oh, I'm very active in my classes and do take the material seriously. And I'm always willing to help other students. But none of that is really relevant to the notion of having an advantage. Or are you suggesting that all students must put in identical amounts of effort and time spent, and if something is easier for you, you should create work?

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I'm not thinking in terms of creating useless work, but in taking the fullest advantage of the chance to push yourself.

 

[auntiehill]

If the professor wants to see new work, you hand in new work. The professor runs the class and makes the decisions. End of discussion.

Besides, I would assume that the point in taking the class again would be to push yourself and achieve more, and hence learn more, than you did that last time.

Oh, and, no offense, but you might want to brush up on your spelling, while you're at it.

 

[Nowhere Man]

Don't do it. Some professors consider it just as bad as cheating. In this age of electronic verification it's just not worth the risk of being caught out as a cheater. You're supposed to do the relevant work for that class, not take work you did previously and polish it up. It should be new, original work.

You might not think it's fair (I'm kind of on the fence about it) but them's the breaks.

I not only don't think it's fair, I think it's bullshit. The idea is still an original one, I just had it a year ago. I failed the class, so I should be able to take a valid thought and re-work it. I know my mistakes, i'm still putting in the work. It's really not cheating. In my History class I have taken three semesters in a row with the same professor because I like his style, is that cheating because I know what to look for in tests or I know what to write in papers. I think I should be given a second chance to do my first work. I asked them, how can I steal from myself, but they couldn't give me a straight answer. They just dance around it because they want me to submit all new work. Why should I, the work has been done? The work is relavent to the class. Maybe I should pick my battles, but shit like this getts under my skin so much. They are happy to take my money though, but then come up with such bullshit rules.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Don't do it. Some professors consider it just as bad as cheating. In this age of electronic verification it's just not worth the risk of being caught out as a cheater. You're supposed to do the relevant work for that class, not take work you did previously and polish it up. It should be new, original work.

You might not think it's fair (I'm kind of on the fence about it) but them's the breaks.

I not only don't think it's fair, I think it's bullshit. The idea is still an original one, I just had it a year ago. I failed the class, so I should be able to take a valid thought and re-work it. I know my mistakes, i'm still putting in the work. It's really not cheating. In my History class I have taken three semesters in a row with the same professor because I like his style, is that cheating because I know what to look for in tests or I know what to write in papers. I think I should be given a second chance to do my first work. I asked them, how can I steal from myself, but they couldn't give me a straight answer. They just dance around it because they want me to submit all new work. Why should I, the work has been done? The work is relavent to the class. Maybe I should pick my battles, but shit like this getts under my skin so much. They are happy to take my money though, but then come up with such bullshit rules.

Well, you can complain all you want but you still have to do new work if you don't want to fail again.

 

[auntiehill]

As Robert said, life is not fair. Besides, if you didn't do well in the class the first time, you clearly need more practice and you will get that from writing NEW papers, rather than "polishing" old ones. With any luck, you may actually learn MORE this way, which, frankly, is the goal of the entire exercise, isn't it?

Do what your professor asks. Get a better grade. Move on.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Here's the situation, last year I took an English class in college and failed it. I failed due to too many abscences and not based on my work wich was ok. It was enough to get a C. I admit, English is my worst subject, I do very well in History, Philosophy, Geography and other social sciences. I'm also bad with math and average with other Sciences like Biology. My major is History and really just need two Englishes to for my degree, the rest is mainly History courses.

Here is something that might cheer you up, i just spent 15 min's trying to find out what Plaiarise means via Google and a myriad of online dictionary's.....So compared to me your already Einstein.

 

[Nowhere Man]

If the professor wants to see new work, you hand in new work. The professor runs the class and makes the decisions. End of discussion.

Besides, I would assume that the point in taking the class again would be to push yourself and achieve more, and hence learn more, than you did that last time.

Oh, and, no offense, but you might want to brush up on your spelling, while you're at it.

I'm afraid to talk to the professor because it's embarassing that I failed the class and I want to make an honest effort, but I take issues with some of this school's policies. I love the school, but some of their policiues are just crap. Normally I would take offense to someone calling me out on the interneyt about spelling, but i'm more angry at the school and also, I don't think I've ever seen you say any negative things towards me in the past, so i'll just pretend I didn't see that. I know you were just joking, mostly.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

If the professor wants to see new work, you hand in new work. The professor runs the class and makes the decisions. End of discussion.

Besides, I would assume that the point in taking the class again would be to push yourself and achieve more, and hence learn more, than you did that last time.

Oh, and, no offense, but you might want to brush up on your spelling, while you're at it.

I'm afraid to talk to the professor because it's embarassing that I failed the class and I want to make an honest effort, but I take issues with some of this school's policies. I love the school, but some of their policiues are just crap. Normally I would take offense to someone calling me out on the interneyt about spelling, but i'm more angry at the school and also, I don't think I've ever seen you say any negative things towards me in the past, so i'll just pretend I didn't see that. I know you were just joking, mostly.

Life's full of policies that suck, get used to it. You aren't going to take on the entire school and get them to change it, so suck it up and deal, dude. Write a new paper.

 

[archeryguy1701]

You need to do a new paper. Teachers don't care how your ability to write or develop ideas was a year ago. They want to see you do it now. All you're doing by turning the old paper back in is proving that you can read the teacher's red marker and make her noticed corrections. Which, in turn, will likely give you a better grade than you deserve because you're no longer just turning in your own work. You're turning in your work with the teacher's improvements. And, to be honest, if you really want credit for the paper, you shouldn't have missed the class the first time.

If the professor wants to see new work, you hand in new work. The professor runs the class and makes the decisions. End of discussion.

^This. As my teachers are so fond of pointing out on a regular basis, the classroom is a dictatorship, not a democracy. You can hate the rules all you want, but at the end of the day, you need to play their game if you want the grade.

(....) but I take issues with some of this school's policies. I love the school, but some of their policiues are just crap.

You're not going to war against one school's "bad" policy. This rule is almost universal. You would be hard-pressed to find very many teachers who are ok with you turning in old work at any school, whether it be at the high school, college, or any other level.

 

[Danoz]

You asked, they gave you a straight answer. It's definitely not plagerism in a tangible or legal sense-- but they have every right to include that as part of school policy. Reference your papers as you build your outlines if you want, but rewrite the papers-- best way to go.

 

[Nowhere Man]

You asked, they gave you a straight answer. It's definitely not plagerism in a tangible or legal sense-- but they have every right to include that as part of school policy. Reference your papers as you build your outlines if you want, but rewrite the papers-- best way to go.

So from a legal stance, I can fight it if necessary? By definition, it's not really plagiarism.

 

[Shatnertage]

1. It's lazy
2. If it was such a brilliant idea the first time around, you probably wouldn't have failed the class.
3. You've probably wasted more time discussing this than you would have taken on the assignment.

Write a new paper. Just $.02 from someone who's grading papers tonight. Take it for what it's worth.