Plagerizing yourself?

cnmbfa · May 13, 2012

Yes, you can use it if you cite yourself, just as you would any other source.

libran1984, ASN, RN · May 13, 2012

When I was accepted into Nursing school they spelled out in very precise ways all that was considered plagiarism, one of which included using a past paper of your own from another class when having been asked to create an original work for your current class. However, prior to nursing school I took some classes that allowed me to do just what your asking.

Essentially it boils down to this. You need to ask your instructor if they deem it acceptable.

bmendi · May 13, 2012

My school breaks it down like this-- "If a student turns in a paper for two classes without gaining consent from both instructors, it is considered an act of dishonesty and, therefore, an act of cheating (i.e. receiving double credit for a single assisgment)". Cover yourself and ask to be on the safe side.

Juniper248 · May 13, 2012

Great! Thank you so much for your answers. :specs:

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · May 13, 2012

I don't think you can resubmit an entire paper for use in another class, but you could probably use it as a source as long as you cited it and if your instructor/school was OK with it.

I had to cite myself since I used information from a previous research paper that I wrote. It was weird to see (Meriwhen, 2012) in print.

RLtinker, LPN · May 13, 2012

As a general rule, you cannot use the same paper twice for two different classes. At my school, it is grounds for being kicked out of school.

runforfun · May 13, 2012

I agree that you may not be able to use the original paper, especially considering your paper is online so using your own words, i.e. submitting the same paper would automatically cause a plagiarism checker to go nuts. You could, however, possibly use passages from the old paper, or re-word parts of the paper, or even the whole thing. I recycled a paper I wrote in high school when doing my undergrad degree, and found that my writing style had evolved, and a slight difference in topics actually produced pretty different papers. The framework, however, was already there. With the framework and most of the ideas I needed already in place, the paper was much easier to write. The two papers, again, ended up being much different. It was almost like the first paper I had written was a rough draft. If you have written the paper recently, you may not do as much editing, and this may not be the case. Either way, I would say it probably wouldn't look good if your prof or teacher realized you used the exact same paper that you had previously turned in for another class. At the very least, re-work it!

Double-Helix, BSN, RN · May 13, 2012

It wouldn't be considered plagiarism, but it would be considered cheating. If you are given an assignment and you use a past paper and turn it in without specifically stating to the instructor that you originally completed the assignment for a previous course, then you're cheating.

But if you like the topic and you already have the research citations, writing another similar paper on the same topic would be acceptable. I'd just be careful not to refer to the original paper, or you'll end up using the same sentences/ideas.

mpihl · May 13, 2012

In our class this is not acceptable unless you have permission from the past instructor and the current instructor.

wooh, BSN, RN · May 13, 2012

Never used the same paper twice, but it was nice to already have some sources to get started on the research. There was a great quote I found that I ended up using in 3 or 4 papers (it was a nice general start to a variety of topics.)

SHGR, MSN, RN, CNS · May 13, 2012

Surely, your writing skills and knowledge base will be better and broader now than at any time in the past. However, research is research...if you already did it, you know some of what is out there.