Grade Policies

Self-Plagiarism

Submitting the same paper to fulfill two different assignments

The issue with “self-plagiarism” (sometimes called “recycling fraud”) is that you did not do what you said you did. If Professor Smith assigns a five-page paper and Professor Jones assigns a five-page paper, but you only wrote one, you did not actually write two papers, so you do not deserve credit for writing two papers. If you failed a course from Professor Brown, then retook the course from Professor Black and resubmitted papers from the first course, you were not doing the work assigned by Professor Black.

For us, here at Ashland University, we’re bound by the Class and Coursework Policies Academic Integrity Policy which states, in part, that “Using a portion of a piece of work previously submitted for another course or program to meet the requirement of the present course or program without the approval of the instructor involved” is an example of “intentional falsification.” This means that two different practices are forbidden:

  1. Submitting the same paper to two different instructors to fulfill two different assignments (without the permission of both instructors).
  2. Recycling a paper you previously submitted in an attempt to pass the course on the second time around.

The reason these are considered unethical is that academic degrees are awarded on the assumption that you have done a certain amount of work and mastered a certain body of learning. Double submissions defeat that purpose.

Wound Just A Bit Too Tight: Is it plagiarism for me to copy my own notes into a paper?

No. If you came up with a brilliant idea for your introduction and wrote it down, you don’t have to cite your own work. “Self-Plagiarism” refers to double submissions.

However, if you attend a lecture or interview someone and take notes, give proper credit to the source (the lecturer or the interviewee). MLA has a way to include this sort of item in the Works Cited page; APA does not, but you can still introduce the material in the body of your paper with a comment about the source.

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.

The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by Ashland University.

Revised 9/21/23 • Page author: Curtis Allen • e-mail: callen@ashland.edu.