Is this cheating?

[BluegrassRN]

I have a research article critique due in two separate classes. I get to choose the article. The assignments each have slightly different criteria, and the final product is two different forms (one is a template we fill out, one is a paper).

Is it wrong to do the same article? I honestly can't decide. On one hand, a lot of it is straight up duplication, though it will be presented in a different format, with assignment B requiring more depth than assignment A. On the other hand, I have done projects similar to those done in earlier, in different classes, and not felt bad about it at all. For example, in LPN school I did a project on the economics of breast feeding. It was pretty basic. Six years later, in my RN program, I did another project. The economics of breast feeding vs formula in the WIC program. I discussed my previous research and presentation with my instructor, and she didn't see anything wrong expanding upon my previous topic, particularly since it was an area of great interest to me.

In each class, I would be doing the work required of the assignment. I won't get the one assignment back before the other is due, so I won't be able to use the instructor feedback on assignment A to enhance and improve assignment B in any manner. Assignment B is for a larger grade, has more requirements, and is for an upper level class (a 300 level vs a 600 level).

Any thoughts? All comments are appreciated.

[shah]

I am glad the question of 'self-plagiarism' came up. Here is what I found on the web:

http://facpub.stjohns.edu/~roigm/plagiarism/Self%20plagiarism.html

[Wishinonastar, BSN]

The programs I have been in usually tell us if we can recycle work or not (undergrad, grad). I personally don't see the harm in it if this is for two different classes with two different emphasis. The article is like raw material that you are using in different ways, no different than an artist painting the same subject in different ways or a chef preparing chicken in different ways.

I will also add that as you progress in your education you will find that many things come around again in a different way. Thing builds upon thing until many things sound repetitive but the depth increases until you get to a level where you yourself are creating and no longer just interpreting. Repetition is part of the process.

Self plagiarism sounds like something that overzealous professors with nothing better to do dreamed up to tighten requirements. Your thoughts are your thoughts and I think you give yourself free license to use them as you see fit. Unless your work appears in print somewhere (magazine, book) where there are stakeholders who share the rights to your thoughts then who really thinks that this notion is valid or even reasonable? Bah.

[UVA Grad Nursing]

I've been a faculty member and assistant dean for 25+ years at several different universities. I've also chaired honor committee hearings at a former University.

I am 100% with llg on this. This is an academic policy issue that will depend on the rules of your particular university. I would recommend that you inform both faculty of your intentions, and get their permission to use the same article for both assignments. Be up front with your wishes, and make sure that both faculty approve of this. At a prior school, this question came up often. It was usually approved if the student (you) came forward well before the paper was due and offered to do a longer assignment for both faculty. For example, if you need to do a 10 page paper for both classes, offer to write a 12-15.

Students who did not get faculty approval in advance often were penalized for trying to take 'short-cuts'. Depending on the school, such penalties could range from written reprimand for the student file, a failing grade on the paper, a failing grade in the course, or expulsion from the University. Similar penalties occured when a student submitted a paper that she had written at a former school for a different class as well.

So I strongly recommend that students talk to both faculty ahead of time. Faculty appreciate honesty, and nurses should be of unquestionable integrity.

[Anoetos, BSN, RN]

I wrote that when I was a bit stressed out, Curious, I have to beg your pardon. Of course you should do everything you need to do to meet your instructor's expectations.

[educationguy]

I taught college composition for an accredited Midwest college for many years. During that time, I would welcome students to use a paper for assignments in different classes. As 1 poster commented, it is efficient ... not to mention smart! My only caution is that you may make minor modifications to fit the assignment for each class to which you would be submitting the same paper. Quite often, though, 1 paper will work for 2 different classes. And, yes, you can tell each instructor what you are doping, if you so desire. You are not doing anything wrong!

[BrookeeLou_RN]

Absolutely use the same ideas and research..just write each paper specific per it's requirements. I see this as a "Not reinventing the Wheel!" idea. It is not cheating, you are doing all the work yourself either way.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

Since the issue is clearly defined in our Student Handbook, and each assignment states that it must comply with the academic honesty section of the student handbook.....I don't think a lawyer would take a second look.

They get to create the criteria for grading....

Just because it is in your student hand book doesnt make it legal.....critical thinking, please!

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

Though the entire "self-plagiarism" concept continues to escape me. The poem example? If a person writes an "A" poem in his freshman year that meets all the requirements of all his instructors and poetry classes for all his years of college, **** yes he should continue to submit it. If the caliber of instruction is so poor at his school that his instructors can't teach anything new, and his old poem continues to meet any requirements set out by his professors or TAs, why shouldn't he submit the same poem?

It will get him through college, but it won't make him a poet. It makes him a one-trick pony.

Research and writing are like nursing skills, regardless of what some may think. It takes practice, and writing one poem or paper and submitting it over and over to get through college does not produce a poet or writer or researcher. It's the process that makes a writer and researcher and poet.

If a student turned in an old paper that was verbatim of what they had turned in before, and it did meet the requirements, it makes me wonder why they should have to do the same exact assignment twice in their college career to begin with, especially if the paper was of excellent quality. In my experience, that's rarely possible.

It makes me wonder why the student doesn't want to do the assignment of the second class.

Oh, here it is. I think I've found the answer:

Students who did not get faculty approval in advance often were penalized for trying to take 'short-cuts'.

Who decided it was unethical and shoddy scholarly practice to publish your own work again and again? That just screams of elitism and anal retentiveness.

The academic research publishing world decided.

The whole thing just seems silly to me, and a lot of hullabaloo over nothing. The fact that we ruin the lives of college kids over no tolerance plagiarism policies, many of which assume that it's intentional without evidence, bothers me more than anything else.

That's a little dramatic.

Anyway, all the responses here have shown that using previous papers for new papers is definitely intentional.

***************

As for the OP: I really don't think she is plagiarising, but, as others of said, I think she should get the ok from the professors for both classes. I, too, was faced with the situation you were facing, and posters like llg encouraged me to talk to my professor. I provided my prof with a copy of my previous paper and told her my plan on my new paper. She ok'd it.

If it's two totally different assignments on the same topic, there will most likely be overlap of information but I'm pretty sure the requirements of each assignment will need to be completed separately, except for the review of literature and citations. Having seen published scholarly articles by the same authors with some duplication on their reference lists, I don't think it will be a problem.

As for the quotes I responded to: These opinions of mine are coming from a liberal arts BA in school for a second degree in nursing, so I'm a little bit biased about the value of what most consider "fluff." The research, critique, and writing process that I did hundreds of times during my first college experience were like mental marathons for my brain.

I am 100% convinced that my liberal arts background has a direct bearing on my critical thinking skills in nursing school and will help me become a better nurse. I know my opinion runs counter to many students' and practicing nurses' opinions. However, please know that I'm not saying that without a liberal arts background or "fluff" courses, one will suck as a nurse. All I'm saying is that it does contribute directly to nursing-related skills. We aren't robots following orders to do tasks; we're supposed to be thinkers. Assignments that get us to think are practice.

And, for anyone who is currently going through school for their RN licenses, beware that going forward in one's education will require lots and lots of so-called "fluff" assignments. No one gets an master's without a thesis-type project, and no one gets their doctorate without a dissertation.

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

I am 100% convinced that my liberal arts background has a direct bearing on my critical thinking skills in nursing school and will help me become a better nurse. I know my opinion runs counter to many students' and practicing nurses' opinions. However, please know that I'm not saying that without a liberal arts background or "fluff" courses, one will suck as a nurse. All I'm saying is that it does contribute directly to nursing-related skills. We aren't robots following orders to do tasks; we're supposed to be thinkers. Assignments that get us to think are practice.

I have a BA in English Lit and just graduated from a 2nd degree nursing program and completely agree with you.

[BrookeeLou_RN]

All the papers one could write in one's lifetime does not make one a nurse anymore than it makes one an author. Nursing requires critical thinking skills based on knowledge of medicine, anatomy, physiology, psychiatry, nutrition, pharmacology and so on......................

Writing papers in academia's way to teach nurses on a Bachelor's and above level..you will find little of this requirement in Associate programs, Diploma or even LPN programs..because it is not needed to teach someone to become a nurse. It is society's "fluff" to provide a well-rounded education.

Totally acceptable, totally reasonable..but has nothing to do with being a better nurse. Experience does that.. reading and studying does that.

Trust me: in an ER in a code, no nurse will even think of any paper she ever wrote!

[shah]

All the papers one could write in one's lifetime does not make one a nurse anymore than it makes one an author. Nursing requires critical thinking skills based on knowledge of medicine, anatomy, physiology, psychiatry, nutrition, pharmacology and so on......................

Writing papers in academia's way to teach nurses on a Bachelor's and above level..you will find little of this requirement in Associate programs, Diploma or even LPN programs..because it is not needed to teach someone to become a nurse. It is society's "fluff" to provide a well-rounded education.

Totally acceptable, totally reasonable..but has nothing to do with being a better nurse. Experience does that.. reading and studying does that.

Trust me: in an ER in a code, no nurse will even think of any paper she ever wrote!

Believe me, you are running the code in the ER, they way you are running it, because someone took the time to perfect their 'fluff', so they could carry out painstaking research and 'write effectively' about their findings, so that the proper way of doing nursing and executing codes effectively could be conveyed to those nurses who have 'no fluff' in them.

[1gindragon2]

IMHO as long as it is cited properly, its not cheating. The whole self-plagarism thing is odd but apparently is valid @ most universities and colleges.