Using the same paper for two classes?

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>I respectfully disagree. I guess the CommonApp may be a special case, since subscribing colleges <em>know</em> that there is the potential to send multiple copies.</p>

<p>Still, unless you sat down and wrote the CommonApp essay with the intent of using it for the CommonApp at the time you were using CommonApp to apply to colleges, I would be very careful about using it.</p>

<p>For instance, my brother had to write a college-application-like essay for one of his high school prep classes... a bit strange, but alright. He asked me what I thought of him submitting the very same essay in his application process. I told him I thought he should use it as a guide and rewrite it... it would take him what, 15 minutes? I don't like the idea that some people do one piece of work and get credit for it multiple times.</p>

<p>What about other kids who didn't have a spare essay laying around? They had to sit down and write it. Is that fair? What about the colleges that expect something meaningful and targeted in an essay? Is it fair for them to get a generic form? What about the student only having to write a generic essay one time, without thinking about how their skills and interestes would be strengthened and enriched by the specific colleges to which they are applying? Is that fair?</p>

<p>In my mind, the CommonApp is a bad idea. Convenient, perhaps, but then again so are guns and drugs. If you want to apply to a college or university that requires an essay, don't you really owe it to them - and to yourself - and to your peers - to take the time to write something original and meaningful? Or is something as amazing as an education such a cheap and tawdry commodity nowadays that it's not even worth the extra effort?</p>

<p>That's my two cents.</p>

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<p>"Or is something as amazing as an education such a cheap and tawdry commodity nowadays that it's not even worth the extra effort?"</p>

<p>I'm only bothering so I can get paid more</p>

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<p>Shame on you. :P</p>

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<p>Reusing research makes sense. As one creep up the academic latter one know more and more, so synergies make sense.</p>

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<p>There's fair reuse, and then there's plagiarism.</p>

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<p>Mnay years ago when I was in college, I submitted basically the same paper to 3 different classes! One was an English composition course. The teacher had expressly told us we could use a paper from another class to get feedback on it. The other two classes were Child Development: Adolescence and Religious Studies: Catholicism. The paper was on Youth Ministry in Juvenile Detention facilities. I did a little bit of adjusting to make sure the paper fit the classes, but it was great. That was the semester of 22 papers though, so self preservation kicked in.</p>

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<p>Hm well I'd have to say that writing an extra essay for a question that you kind of already have a paper for and could just tweak doesn't really have a basis. I mean besides the fact that other people not might have a spare essay laying around, but then maybe they should write more essays. If it's a question about originality, if they wanted more original papers, maybe they should come up with more original questions.</p>

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<p>I've done it, sort of. Last semester I wrote a paper that perfectly fit the final for two classes (the classes were sort of similar, anyway). I cleared it with both professors and they were both cool with it as long as I was clearly putting in the effort, so I made it a little longer (20 pages instead of 10-15 and 15-18). I got an A from both professors.</p>

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<p>so is it alright to use the same slides for two talks, then?</p>

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<p>I would say that is more acceptable.</p>

<p>The thing about a presentation is that people know you made the presentation material once and then used it several times. You make no representation that the slides / materials are original and meant for that particular presentation, and such a representation is not implied.</p>

<p>With a paper / essay, when it's assigned it's assumed that it's work you will have to do. It is assumed that you will sit down and synthesize something new and original for that particular purpose. Unless somehow clarified, to claim that an essay or paper which was written previously, or written for another purpose, or written for several different obligations is anything but just that is dishonest.</p>

<p>That's just how I feel, and I'm certainly not the one you'll have to answer to about this sort of thing. My rule of thumb is that if somebody else wants me to do something for a contest, grade, or monetary reward, I make an original effort. If somebody wants me to do something for their own personal satisfaction, interest, or it's just a personal hobby, I could use it more than once.</p>

<p>Also, I don't really see the point in only writing one paper for several purposes. Isn't the purpose of a paper to help you learn / express something genuine about a particular situation? If it's for learning, then using one paper for two classes means you decided you only wanted 1/2 the benefit of the assignments. If it's for college admissions, it means you only care 1/2 as much about it as a guy who wrote one essay for one college.</p>

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<p>Its considered plagiarism at my school. It is also considered so if you take a class, fail it, retake it and hand in the same papers. That is also considered plagiarism.</p>

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<p>Most universities in the United States allow you to submit the same original work to multiple classes with the permission granted by a professor. If a university states that you cannot, it is usually because students have abused this privilege, and can still be done, just as long as the student and professor are in agreement that what they have submitted to their class is something they have submitted before.</p>

<p>Plagiarism is COPYING OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS without proper citation in the text. Every time you write down an idea that is not yours, you must give the proper citation. When in doubt, quote the heck out of your paper, because most professors value citation and credible information more than they value content.</p>

<p>If you submit a paper that you wrote to multiple classes, in conjunction with a professor that agrees, than IT IS NOT PLAGIARISM. Even if you submit papers that you have written for multiple classes without telling your professor it is NOT PLAGIARISM because you are using your own original ideas. However, in order to be safe, (and keep academic integrity) it is best to be honest about what you turn in.</p>

<p>There are people that keep multiple papers on various subjects stored on their computer and modify them for each subject, as they see fit. This is NOT PLAGIARISM, especially if they let their professor know what they are doing in advance. Someone made a complaint that “it’s not fair” but when you think about it, the person had to have done the research in order to write the papers they have saved, and in most cases have to add to that research to make it fit with the class. Thus, I would argue that the person ends up doing more work and learning more because not only do they have to expand their original topic, they have to write it so it makes sense for the course, which is a skill that is used in many professions after graduation.</p>

<p>I know of many people at my university that turn in plagiarized work their whole academic career and never get in trouble for it. Is it fair that a student should be expelled or have their degree revoked for submitting their own work to multiple classes, while the majority of people at university are getting their degrees by submitting plagiarized papers? By the way, there was an anonymous poll taken at my school and a shocking 80% of students admitted to not submitting their own work on a regular basis. And this is at a nationally recognized university! Many people I have talked to say that their friends, husbands, boyfriends, or other close friends or family members do their homework for them. Here I am, writing original papers for each class that I take and it makes me sick to think about all of the people that have their doctorate degree and have never had to lift a finger themselves. And who gets in trouble? The underprivileged, poor, working class people attending university (I fall into all of those categories). </p>

<p>There is something very wrong about the priority of universities if they cannot value original work when so much plagiarized material gets people a passing grade. I have known of cases where students slept with professors to get a better grade, and here I am slaving seven days a week to barely make grade ends meet. It is infuriating. Also, I know of a bunch of people that buy their papers from paper writing websites and never get in trouble for it. (A great majority of these people are medical doctors, which makes me feel less than confident about going to a hospital for any kind of treatment.) So much for higher education in America. It seems to me that most systems are only in favor of the wealthy or people who are willing to prostitute themselves for grades.</p>

<p>In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with submitting the same paper to multiple classes, just as long as you get the professor’s consent and it falls within your university’s code of conduct. I have never done this because I think it is easier to write a paper from scratch, but if you are in a bind and your professor thinks it is something that will help you to explore a topic further, it is better to choose this method than to walk down the shady path of plagiarism.</p>

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<p>I think it would be pretty hard to do so and get a good grade, since each teacher will presumably be looking at different aspects of the paper, expecting different things.</p>

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<p>a way to get around this (maybe):</p>

<p>don’t professors get to cite their own work? allowing students to cite their own work would be fair, then. just cite your old paper and turn it in with the original assignment.</p>

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<p>You actually can plagiarize yourself (yes I know it doesn’t make much sense using the normal definition of plagiarism), and if you find yourself writing scientific articles you have to be careful of it. When you submit an article for publication a lot of the time you lose all rights to what you’ve submitted; you no longer own the work, they do. If you were to re-use a section of that article later in a different article it would be plagiarism and illegal since you no longer own the rights to your earlier paper. </p>

<p>As far as re-using previous assignments/papers goes, if your school says you can’t do it then you can’t do it and if the school defines it as plagiarism then that’s just what they call that particular violation. If your school and professor say it is fine then it is fine. It’s a school by school, class by class issue and whether they call it “plagiarism” or “self-copying” or “tripping the light fantastic” doesn’t really matter.</p>

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<p>It has been considered plagiarism at all the schools I have attended.</p>

<p>I have recycled research from old papers, though, and added additional research to write new papers. Not sure if that’s allowed but I don’t see why it wouldn’t be.</p>

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<p>Ideally, you should create brand new work on command for the rest of your life. At the very least you should at least type it up again instead of turning in the same paper with the previous professor’s grades and comments still on it. That’s just rude.</p>

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I would suggest not doing this! My friend did the same thing and got in a lot of trouble. The teacher ended up giving him a 0 on the assignment and failing him for plagiarism.

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It’s called self-plagiarism. Talk to your professors because they may give you permission, especially if you make the essay deeper than you could have otherwise; one deep essay is still less work than two less deep ones.

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If I resurrect a thread from 2009 and make the same post again, is it plagiarism?