<p>Do you know if Colleges use such services for plagiarism? My daughter submitted an Intel project and wrote many essays that she is reusing... Obviously since they don't identify sources, she could be falsely accused. Is it safe to reuse such essays?</p>
<p>I can’t answer your specific question, but I do know that plagiarism is a HUGE issue for colleges, and I’d bet that goes for admissions as well as current students. I wouldn’t risk it.</p>
<p>If she is re-working her own essays, I don’t see a problem. Both my kids have re-worked their own essays for different admission and scholarship applications.</p>
<p>If you have the additional word count or character space left over use modified citing at the end (1).</p>
<ol>
<li>Name of author, name of book, ■■■■■■ link to website or page #. </li>
</ol>
<p>It’s not proper citation format but I used it & got accepted. If there is an entry for additional info explain your abbreviated citing style there.</p>
<p>Many colleges use Turnitin. Also, it is my understanding that many would consider rewriting a paper as plagiarism…you have to site the first paper…I’m not sure where to send you for additional information.</p>
<p>Plagiarism is all about theft of someone else’s work. So you are always legally entitled to reuse your own work. There may be other bars, e.g., a college policy that will not allow you to submit the same work for 2+ classes. See <a href=“https://turnitin.com/static/helpCenter/self_plagiarism.php[/url]”>https://turnitin.com/static/helpCenter/self_plagiarism.php</a></p>
<p>I don’t see how re-working an Intel project essay for use as a college application essay could be problematic.</p>
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<p>My d’s college uses turnitin. </p>
<p>Fwiw, reusing your own work is called double submission. Whether or not posters here agree, it is considered a form of academic dishonesty and comes with consequences. Your student should always ask her prof’s permission to resubmit previous work and turn in the original work with the new work submitted for the grade.</p>
<p>^^ I agree that it’s dishonest to re-submit any work as if it were freshly written. When a college asks you to write an essay for admission, they want you to do just that – write an essay – not re-work something you’ve already done. That’s why essay prompts are often either specific to the college or idiosyncratic in some way. They want you to write the essay from scratch.</p>
<p>Wait . . . I did this too.</p>
<p>One of the Intel questions falls along the lines of “What do you want to do when you grow up”, and I used bits and pieces from my college essays for that. My answer never changed, the writing is mine, this is not a school assignment, what’s wrong?</p>
<p>Exactly what waitingforivy said. There was a question that asked why you were interested in a career in your field of interest. Obviously this question fits that of what many colleges ask. She didn’t even have to revise it and it fit perfectly… Is this safe to do?</p>
<p>I think if you have personally written an essay that fits the prompt, I see no reason not to reuse it. Indeed, you will probably find that you can use the same essay for several different colleges, and I see nothing wrong with that. Just be careful if it’s the “Why College X” essay that you make sure you change all the references to College Y.</p>
<p>The point of the college essay is for them to find out something about you, not to give you a writing assignment.</p>
<p>Hunt, I agree. I’m just worried her file would be falsely accused of plagiarizing her own work/“recycling” and she gets thrown out before evaluation. And also, if its not a “Why College X” essay but rather a more generic topic that requires absolutely no change, would it be fine to just use the same essay without making a single edit?</p>
<p>I personally would have no qualms about reusing an essay in this way, as long as the student wrote it. I suppose I might have some qualms if the essay might already be in the turnitin database for some reason, and it couldn’t be easily identified as having been written by the same student. But I don’t think for one second that one college would care about a student using the same essay for another college. Those who do care create weird prompts.</p>
<p>She is applying to around 20 schools so I have no ideas which schools have turnitin admissions or not. Also that essay about interests should be in the database since Intel decided to use Turnitin this year… What do you suggest that she do… she can’t necessarily change her reasons for pursuing a major.</p>
<p>and it was Turnitin Admissions at that for Intel…</p>
<p>'Also that essay about interests should be in the database since Intel decided to use Turnitin this year"</p>
<p>AND THE ORIGINAL WAS WRITTEN BY HER! That can be determined in a nanosecond. Someone can’t “plagiarize” themselves. Relax.</p>
<p>From what i know, the sources are unmarked so there would be no way colleges would know that she was using her own work again…</p>
<p>But you think it’s fine even if it’s already in the database and she doesn’t have to change a single word for a new essay prompt?</p>
<p>I think if it came up (and it probably won’t), the colleges will think, “This must be the same kid.” I don’t believe that any of them would care that she reused her own essay.</p>
<p>“From what i know, the sources are unmarked”
How would Turnitin work if the sources cant be traced to the original author? If it will make her feel better she can both tweak a few words AND sight her original Intel essay.</p>
<p>I agree with Hunt.
Relax mom, and tell your DD to relax as well. Good luck!</p>
<p>It’s not illegal if it’s her own work, and since when did it become unethical to be practical?</p>
<p>Did you look at the turnitin.com website? The link I cited above is all I found on quick search, but you may find more by poking around. If not and you still desire technical assurance, ask them! For ethical assurance, you could post the question to MITChris (I think that’s his name) or other admission officer who is generous with his/her time here on CC.</p>
<p>Ironically, I think the idea that every writing must be original only encourages deception and artifice, but you’ve already figured that out for yourself…</p>
<p>When a college expects original work, it gives an original prompt. U Chicago’s uncommon essay prompts are legendary, but plenty of other schools go beyond “Why us?” in creating unique short answer and essay prompts. </p>
<p>When a college gives a generic prompt, however, it expects you will submit the same “why I want to be a doctor” or “House is the person who has influenced me the most” essay to all colleges to which you apply, just as you have submitted the same Common App essay to all. Requiring a HS senior to rewrite the same college application essay multiple times, each in a fresh, non-self-plagiaristic way, is not only ridiculously time-consuming and challenging from a creative standpoint, but also affirmatively injects a high risk of fabrication as the writer strains to distinguish each piece. </p>
<p>You hit on that very point when you mused, how many ways is there to explain your intended major?</p>
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