Does this constitute plagiarism in academia? Is it possible to plagiarize yourself?

[Kingpin]

Is it plagiarism to recycle 3 paragraphs from YOUR PREVIOUS PAPERS if you are using them to illustrate a point?

Suppose you are writing a 5 page paper that asks you to analyze a film about 20th century labor unions.

2 years ago you wrote a paper having to do with 20th century labor unions and how the radical/revolutionary ones actually helped reforms come about more quickly with the more moderate unions.

You take 3 paragraphs from the old paper to explain how those theories/concepts are present in the film.

Keep in mind, this is from YOUR OWN PAPER that YOU WROTE.

[Magón]

No, it's your own work in the first place. Doesn't matter when it was written. I sometimes use old stuff, or revise old stuff, for papers in my classes now, and never get in trouble for it, even if I say I'm using information from a previous paper I wrote a year or even month ago.

[Fulanito de Tal]

YOU CAN DEFINITELY PLAGIARIZE YOURSELF!!

To do so, you would have to copy and paste a published work. So if its' not published, it's not legally plagiarizing. If you paraphrase and cite yourself, it's not plagiarism. If what you are copying is unpublished, then you would have to check with your school/institution on their rules regarding your situation.

[Niccolò Rossi]

Fulaninto de Tal is right I think. At least that how it works where I go. Bizarre, but meh.

Nic.

[Aeval]

Fulanito de Tal is absolutely right. If this is for uni and the first text has already been awarded a mark then you can still self-plagiarise without having published the previous text unless you reference it - this is one of the most common things people get busted for. Obviously different places have different rules but I think our ones are pretty standard:


Double submission (or self plagiarism) is resubmitting previously assessed work on one or more occasions (without proper acknowledgement). This may take the form of copying either the whole assignment or part of it. Normally credit will already have been given for this work.

...

Both plagiarism and collusion are strictly forbidden. Any form of unfair means is treated as a serious academic offence and action may be taken under the Discipline Regulations. Where unfair means is found to have been used, the University may impose penalties ranging from awarding a grade of zero for the assignment through to expulsion from the University in extremely serious cases.

[TC]

Yes, in an academic context its plagerism to reuse material that you have previously used either for assessed work or coursework, or that you've published. If the paper two years ago was for a class, or it was published, than its a form of plagerism - if its just been sitting on your hard drive unused - than its not. Somehow I doubt thats the case though!

[Kingpin]

So it's possible that I will get a zero? A program similar to turnitin has flagged 3 paragraphs as being from another paper submitted previously. When one clicks on the source, MY PAPER and MY RESEARCH are listed as the source. The full text of both being availavle for investigation. According to a search of the documents related to academic dishonesty and plagiarism at my institution "self plagiarism" isn't mentioned. If it lowers my grade I'm dropping the course.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Academia is a joke.

[Fulanito de Tal]

So it's possible that I will get a zero? A program similar to turnitin has flagged 3 paragraphs as being from another paper submitted previously. When one clicks on the source, MY PAPER and MY RESEARCH are listed as the source. The full text of both being availavle for investigation. According to a search of the documents related to academic dishonesty and plagiarism at my institution "self plagiarism" isn't mentioned. If it lowers my grade I'm dropping the course.


Email the professor for some guidance.

[Dimentio]

Is it plagiarism to recycle 3 paragraphs from YOUR PREVIOUS PAPERS if you are using them to illustrate a point?

Suppose you are writing a 5 page paper that asks you to analyze a film about 20th century labor unions.

2 years ago you wrote a paper having to do with 20th century labor unions and how the radical/revolutionary ones actually helped reforms come about more quickly with the more moderate unions.

You take 3 paragraphs from the old paper to explain how those theories/concepts are present in the film.

Keep in mind, this is from YOUR OWN PAPER that YOU WROTE.

Actually, yes.

You could get pricked for plagiarism if taking things from your old works without showing the source.

[Obs]

Academia is a joke.
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[TC]

So it's possible that I will get a zero? A program similar to turnitin has flagged 3 paragraphs as being from another paper submitted previously. When one clicks on the source, MY PAPER and MY RESEARCH are listed as the source. The full text of both being availavle for investigation. According to a search of the documents related to academic dishonesty and plagiarism at my institution "self plagiarism" isn't mentioned. If it lowers my grade I'm dropping the course.

Well depending on your school or universities policies, its possible you could get expelled. :p

What will actually happen is hard to know, but its apparently too late now. I would not email your professor - either he or she will notice or wont, will care or wont, but if you basically make them make some kindof decision about it it is likely to be one you wont like.

Also, it is pretty obvious that this sort of thing is generally not allowed in schools and universities. It is a way of getting double credit for work - you could theoretically submit a paper for multiple courses without doing any additional work and just reaping the benefits while your classmates worked on new papers each course.

[black magick hustla]

Academia is a joke.

not if you like beeing taught by 60s burnout social democratic counterrevolutionaries and their chubby for adorno/gramsci

[black magick hustla]

but im getting my phd in theoretical physics so who gives a fuck

[Robocommie]

You can quote yourself, academics do it all the time, but cite your sources all the same. I actually had a professor comment just last month about how weird it feels to cite himself when he's expanding on a previous work. But it's important to get into that habit because it's useful to track down prior work.

[¿Que?]

I did this recently, but I may have done it legit. The paper I submitted was intended to be a springboard for my Thesis, and both the professor of the class and my chair knew that. So when I submitted my thesis proposal to my chair, I used a paragraph from the previous paper. I will have to talk to her about that, because having read the comments on this thread, it doesn't seem like that is kosher.