Is it legit to re-use a research paper?

[Invincible Summer]

I've got a 15-20 page research paper for one of my sociology classes due soon, and I am really stressing out about it because I'm having a hard time with the topic.

I'm seriously considering submitting a paper I wrote in a previous sociology class, but at a different college. At my current uni, I have to submit my papers into Turnitin (a program that checks for "originality" and stuff), but at the previous one I went to, I'm pretty sure my papers were never submitted, unless my profs somehow scanned them all and uploaded them themselves.

Basically, I don't think my old paper would be in the Turnitin database.

It is against the uni academic honesty policies to re-submit an old paper (which is totally bogus), but if my chances of getting caught are very slim, then I may take the chance. I'm seriously stressed out... I know this is a pretty weak thing to do, but I feel that I'd be arguing a similar point in my current paper anyway so...

Yeah... what do you guys think?

[Coinneach]

Very very risky - if you don't get caught, then the benefit is just that you don't have to do a difficult assignment, while if you do get caught you risk failing your class or being chucked out. I'd recommend going down a middle road, using a lot of the research and conclusions you did in the previous paper, but stopping short of just copy-pasta.

[MarxSchmarx]

If this becomes enough of an issue, I would raise the point of why are you retaking this class? If you failed the previous class, then you need to rewrite the paper.

It seems your perspective hasn't changed, so you should have gotten credit for your original class. At this stage it may be a mute point, but I would seriously talk to your guidance counselor or whatever you have there and insist to not have to retake the same class if you passed it already.

[KC]

Why don't you just reword the old paper? It'll take you like 20 minutes. Problem solved.

[9]

I actually remember something insane from an "intro to psychology" elective class I took when I was a senior in high school. Basically, it was supposed to be sort of college prep, and the teacher told us that we could not copy anything we'd written in the past without references or else it was equivalent to plagiarism. I specifically remember that because I remember thinking how completely absurd it was, particularly because plagiarism is considered such a serious offense. I never ended up going to college (maybe some day...:closedeyes:) to actually test it out, so that's really the extent of my knowledge on the subject. But I'd say it's enough to warrant being extremely cautious if you decide to go through with it.

[Invincible Summer]

If this becomes enough of an issue, I would raise the point of why are you retaking this class? If you failed the previous class, then you need to rewrite the paper.

It seems your perspective hasn't changed, so you should have gotten credit for your original class. At this stage it may be a mute point, but I would seriously talk to your guidance counselor or whatever you have there and insist to not have to retake the same class if you passed it already.
Maybe I wasn't too clear. I'm not retaking the same class - it's a different class but covering similar themes.



Why don't you just reword the old paper? It'll take you like 20 minutes. Problem solved.
Yeah I can try that, but I'm not sure how good the plagiarism program is at detecting that.



God, this thread makes me seem like a skeevy fucker, but I'm usually really good about writing papers and stuff. I'm just totally burned out this term. I hope none of you judge me poorly :lol:

I may just end up writing a new paper. Although I'm really close to just submitting an old paper, I don't know if I can take the risk... I'm already failing a class as it is.

[Ringo90]

I'd say Keep the old paper as back up, with some re-defining and re-wording.
Try to write a new paper if you can, its the best choice. You will have a backup plan if you fail to write a new paper to fix this dilemma, of course these last ones never included the possibility of both, mostly because the misread your entire conversation. Other than those who actually thought of things they were mostly lazy, or cheaters evidently. If you choose to go down the cheating road, make sure you re-word it for sure. Also, it's generally a good idea to make your demeanor look perfectly right, seeing as how if you look suspicious they will look into the whole thing. If you really wanna succeed at this though, make sure you have multiple plans for this paper, no matter how low they get. Just make sure to keep priorities straight, now be sure to say how things went.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Yeah I can try that, but I'm not sure how good the plagiarism program is at detecting that.

The plagarism program only detects strong similarities in papers...ie, exact wording in passages.

Re-word and revise it a bit and I think you should be golden.

[Mindtoaster]

Iwe [I]could not copy anything we'd written in the past without references or else it was equivalent to plagiarism.

How the fuck does one plagiarize off of their own work?

God damn :thumbdown:

[Invincible Summer]

How the fuck does one plagiarize off of their own work?

God damn :thumbdown:

Yeah it's fucked.

[Hiero]

Turnit in will pick up the bibliography as exact, so maybe remove some references and add new ones.