Isn't it considered a violation of the Academic Integrity policy to take a paper you wrote for a class and reuse it for another class? Can someone cite a source stating this policy, if it does exist? I can't find it on ncsu.edu or northcarolina.edu

4/27/2010 8:25:23 AM

This is the NCSU link ...
http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/student_services/student_discipline/POL11.35.1.php

This is the specific regulation .... The last sentence is the one of interest.

8. DEFINITIONS OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

8.3 The act of submitting work for evaluation or to meet a requirement is regarded as
assurance that the work is the result of the student's own thought and study, produced
without assistance, and stated in that student's own words, except as quotation marks,
references, or footnotes acknowledge the use of other sources. Submission of work
used previously must first be approved by the instructor.

4/27/2010 8:35:46 AM

I've had professors tell me I should just use the same work. Worth a try.

4/27/2010 8:51:47 AM

I used a paper on some asian novel for both my Ancient Chinese Lit and my Ancient Asian History Class and it worked alright for me.

4/27/2010 8:53:50 AM

i cut and pasted two previous 3 pagers to get a 6 pager recently...

4/27/2010 8:57:20 AM

Thanks, factotum.

4/27/2010 11:07:49 AM

Wow. Glad I didn't know that when I was in school.

4/27/2010 11:26:06 AM

theres definitely something called self plagiarism (which makes no sense to me). i'd just do what was suggested and check the honor code. i have done it but i couldn't a) find something in the honor code that prohibited it (not at state) even though it was still sketch and b) it was substantially changed - not the exact same paper.

so i dunno. it is sketchy. i'd only do it if i did what i've done before and use the same research but substantially change the actual paper

4/27/2010 2:34:01 PM

I'll write your paper for a fee

4/27/2010 2:59:14 PM

fatscrotum dropping knowledge ITT

4/27/2010 3:07:31 PM

I never understood this rule, and ignored it.

never was a problem.

I can't see any ethical issues with submitting the same paper for two different classes if paper addresses the requirements of both.

4/27/2010 3:08:00 PM

Sheeeeeeeeeit this is how I got thru college

I probably only wrote about 5-6 papers from scratch....all the rest were tweaked versions of those 5-6

4/27/2010 3:08:54 PM

I reused part of a research paper on stem cells for a religious conflict paper on...stem cells.

4/27/2010 3:14:54 PM

reusing previous work may not really matter for a class, but can have consequences in the world of copyrights. not to mention, you're not learning anything by doing so...

4/27/2010 3:24:42 PM

how would they know though?

4/27/2010 3:29:31 PM

if you're able to reuse a paper it's not like you've learned anything new anyway

4/27/2010 3:30:56 PM

yeah this is a stupid rule IMO.

4/27/2010 3:32:52 PM

^^^^We don't go to college to learn. We go to college because that is how our society is structured. If you want to make that paper you have to get a degree.

4/27/2010 3:36:20 PM

^^^academic journals are mostly a compendium of papers all about the same shit, or different variations thereof. you can write four essays about grendel and have each one be substantively different and the quality of the argument you make will inevitable vary from one to the next

[Edited on April 27, 2010 at 3:39 PM. Reason : ^i know ]

4/27/2010 3:36:31 PM

This was the only time I was tempted to cheat in college.

I showed up to class with my tweaked version of a previous paper, and the professor began collecting them, and I started to hand it to her, then took it back, started to hand it to her again, and finally took it back and was like, "Uhhhh, I'ma have to turn it in late."

Late paper: -20 points
Lifetime of feeling inappropriately superior to my dishonorable peers: Priceless.

4/27/2010 4:41:13 PM

Uh, I'd break this shit if I'd ever had papers that overlapped.

Unless the assignment is almost completely identical, your essential argument to the paper shouldn't be general enough to be submitted to another purpose, that is, without critical rewriting.

I don't know how you guys did it so often. I'm in lit, film, humanities, social sciences, and writing classes all the time, and I've never had an opportunity to recycle a paper yet.

4/27/2010 4:47:26 PM

I'm pretty sure I used different "revisions" of the same paper for different classes. I didn't feel dishonest about it then and don't feel dishonest about it now.

In fact we do the this exact thing at work. Our engineering department hasn't had an original idea in 75 years. I'm not implying its necessarily a good thing, but not uncommon.

4/27/2010 6:27:16 PM

I've definitely adapted an old paper for a class. As long as you're not turning in an identical paper, I think that it's ok.

But as an English Ed person, I gotta tell you that the process is part of the grade/assignment.

[Edited on April 27, 2010 at 6:30 PM. Reason : .]

4/27/2010 6:29:44 PM

just asked my brother this question, who is a college graduate, and he said "what, like flip it over?"....go parks and rec degree from uncw

4/27/2010 8:55:37 PM

Since nobody has said it unequivocally, I will share that if you don't discuss your previous paper and research with the new professor who gave the new assignment, this is totally dishonest and definitely cheating.

If the assignment was to rework an old paper, then the professor would say that.

There are plenty of people out there who are under extreme pressure to keep their grades up and graduate and work full-time jobs and even raise children so I can understand the temptation to cheat. Still, many people manage not to cheat in the face adversity.

For a regular college kid who revised an old paper because they thought it was smart and wanted to free up time to party, that's just lazy and dishonest. Laziness is to be expected...the dishonesty part isn't cool though. Just take a late grade, fix a jug of coffee, and go to the library and write something...

4/27/2010 11:37:16 PM

yea i don't feel mine was dishonest.

i mean i used some of the same research but i did a shitload of new research and essentially took out MOST of the paper. the argument wasn't the same. it was originally a 15 page paper i erased like all but 3 pages and then it ended up being 25 pages. there were a few sentences that were similar (from the 3 pages i kept) but mostly i just used the same sources that i had used before (not the same research really - i just used the same sources because they were helpful in this paper too)

when reading the papers side by side you wouldn't think it was the same paper - you'd just think the topic was similar.

so i agree with this:

Quote :

"Unless the assignment is almost completely identical, your essential argument to the paper shouldn't be general enough to be submitted to another purpose, that is, without critical rewriting. "

4/27/2010 11:42:40 PM

As a Grad from NC State, I am very hard pressed to remember a paper that could satisfy two different class's requirements.

If you have a paper that you used in a previous class that you can use in another class (exactly) then you should tell your professor that you are reusing your paper.

But, if you need to modify the paper in any way (and therefore, are not using the same paper twice) then you don't need to tell your professor that you are reusing your paper.

Basically, if the paper is verbatim the same paper, then tell your professor, otherwise, don't.

4/27/2010 11:47:31 PM

^ that is how i feel

except i don't agree with the "in any way" part

i think it has to be pretty substantially changed. but then i'd agree with you!

4/27/2010 11:50:29 PM

^^^Oh totally.

I mean, it's not like once you turn in a researched paper, you can never use the same research again. In fact, you'd expect it to be the opposite as you become an expert in given topics.

I trust most people know when they've violated the spirit of the honor code, and it's pretty much their personal business since they'll most likely never get caught.

And that's another thing that sucks! Since so many people cheat, I almost don't even support punishing the tiny percentage of people who actually get caught...it's not fair that they get screwed and made out to be horrible human beings for doing something that other people do all the time.

4/27/2010 11:57:52 PM

i know i hate fucking cheaters. especially in law school because i work HARD. my topic for one paper was child marriage and human rights and the un and how their solutions weren't working. my other paper was about morality - if there is an objective moral "right" and "wrong" and i chose to evaluate that within the context of having global human rights law that could actually be enforced. so i used child marriage just to illustrate how customs dictate what is right and wrong and can we call another custom wrong? i dunno.

so yea some research was the same but i didn't feel sketch at all cause i still worked hard on it.

but i hate cheaters. i especially hate that there are people who consistently cheat (i call it cheating but i guess the honor council just sees it as coming close to the line) and get to stay in school and grad cuase they are rich and i'm sure their parents give money everytime they get in trouble. whereas some other kid cheated ONCE (i mean once is all it should be) and got kicked out.

its just irritating the bureaucracy of school. if you have money then ethics apparently don't matter. and i'm going into a profession where everyone is always skeptical of attorneys ethics anyway so you'd THINK that the school would want to hold us to a higher level. but whatever. at least i don't have a guilty conscience and hopefully one day karma will get those cheaters!!

4/28/2010 12:03:39 AM

Quote :

"i cut and pasted two previous 3 pagers to get a 6 pager recently..."

Dont know why, but I lold

I picture this guy, taking 5 min out of his day to do that, dust his hands in satisfaction and then moseying on over to the couch.

4/28/2010 12:10:33 AM

I would also agree that it totally agrees upon the level of education on the school. Copying a paper you did for undergrad for another undergrad = totally acceptable.

Undergrad for Grad school = changing the work

Grad School for Ph.D. = changing the work.

4/28/2010 12:15:01 AM

i havent ever done this per-say, but i have taken paragraphs from past papers and reworked them into other papers (not copy and paste, but pretty much using it as a source). im a spanish literature major, so i write alot of papers.

I've actually used past papers as one of my sources for other papers.

4/28/2010 2:56:43 AM

My feelings on the topic:


If you wrote something, you fucking own it. If they claim it's against a honor code tell them to go fuck themselves. if they call it self-plagiarism tell them "What am I gonna do: sue me?"

If you write a paper about how fucking awesome Carlton was in a Tale of Two Cities (I think he was a character in that book, I haven't read or discussed it since high school) you should be able to summit that shit for as many topics/classes as you want - even if the question has nothing to do with Carlton, that book, or even literature in general. If that paper fits the topic and is good enough for a 100, I don't care if you wrote it in 6th grade and this is a class in your second year of grad school; if it fits and is well written, it fits and is well written.

4/28/2010 8:16:14 AM

i've reused work from one class in another on multiple occasions

it's my work, i wrote it, i can do whatever i want it, regardless of policy

4/28/2010 8:23:23 AM

Quote :

"i've reused work from one class in another on multiple occasions it's my work, i wrote it, i can do whatever i want it, regardless of policy"

You filthy, integrity lacking manwhore.

This is how a bunch of losers got by in various classes of mine, it's incredibly dishonest and filthy. The point is to grow and expand your knowledge base son, not fucking cop out and re-use old shit like a little bitch. It's always hilarious to me when they get great grades on it too because they already had it graded before and corrected the errors, so they turn it in already perfected while everyone else actually busts their ass to do the work. You are what's wrong with 'uhmurica, bitch.

4/28/2010 8:28:38 AM

Quote :

"You filthy, integrity lacking manwhore."

i graduated with honors...i care very little about what you think of me

Quote :

"The point is to grow and expand your knowledge base son, not fucking cop out and re-use old shit like a little bitch."

if i have old classwork that can be used, practically verbatim, in another class, i'm likely not in a position to expand my knowledge base because the classes aren't diversified enough to do so...i'd consider this a design flaw in the academic program, but meh

Quote :

"It's always hilarious to me when they get great grades on it too because they already had it graded before and corrected the errors, so they turn it in already perfected while everyone else actually busts their ass to do the work."

i, too, find it hilarious, but a completely different reason...i am efficient and the others are suckers

Quote :

"You are what's wrong with 'uhmurica, bitch."

i'm okay with this

4/28/2010 8:52:51 AM

As many of you know, I am a licensed HS English teacher turned stay at home mom. As a teacher, I don't have a problem with students using a previous paper as their jumping off point for their paper. A part of the writing process is learning how to revise and enrich your writing. Also, through the revision process, you typically delve deeper into the work in order to flesh out your writing. It is unacceptable to just turn in the same exact paper that was written for another class. That's just dishonest and you miss part of the point of the assignment -- the writing itself.

On at least one occasion in college, I took a 4 page paper that was written for a lower level class and used it as my rough draft for a 12 page paper written for an upper level class with fantastic results. I saved myself quite a bit of time in the early stages of the writing process, but I also learned a lot about how to expand my writing.

4/28/2010 9:05:48 AM

That isn't what this thread is about though. It's about re-using a paper, like simply turning in the original paper. That is what I'm referring to as well. I've seen people re-use projects, papers, presentations, etc. It's sickening and dishonest. It's nothing like delving deeper into a topic, it's simply cheating and not doing the work while everyone else actually does. You don't deserve your degree if that is how you obtained it because you didn't do the required work to get it. You were dishonest about your work and you obtained your shit based on lies.


I'M ALL FOR RECYCLING, BUT THIS IS NOT COOL AND FAILURES LIKE QUAGBITCH WHO BRAG ABOUT THEIR LACK OF INTEGRITY DESERVE TO BE EXECUTED VIA FIRING SQUAD.

4/28/2010 9:10:09 AM

Quote :

"it's simply cheating"

how is it cheating? i did the research and wrote the paper and it's perfectly applicable and valid for the situation

Quote :

"You don't deserve your degree if that is how you obtained it because you didn't do the required work to get it. You were dishonest about your work and you obtained your shit based on lies."

because OBVIOUSLY a couple of papers and/or projects defines your entire degree

the fact, my knife-loving friend, is that i know my stuff...just because SOME people need to have the same stuff ground into their brain in order to retain it doesn't mean the rest of us aren't intelligent enough not to have to repeat the same thing over and over again

don't think this reflects poorly on you...it's not your fault that you have to go over the same material multiple times to get it down

Quote :

"I'M ALL FOR RECYCLING, BUT THIS IS NOT COOL AND FAILURES LIKE QUAGBITCH WHO BRAG ABOUT THEIR LACK OF INTEGRITY DESERVE TO BE EXECUTED VIA FIRING SQUAD."

i realize you're trolling, but still

4/28/2010 9:34:42 AM

The reason I asked is because my sister-in-law, who is in grad school (not at State), recently boasted about "killing two birds with one stone" by resubmitting a paper (unchanged) for another class.

At first I couldn't find the academic integrity policy for her school. I wanted State's policy because I was almost certain that the policy prohibited this and that if State's did, then most school's would. I finally found the one for her school, and sure enough, their policy also prohibits it.

4/28/2010 9:37:01 AM

^ Exactly. It's cheating, plain and simple, because you're just pretending to do the work. In reality, you're simply taking a past assignment and submitting it as if it's a new one. No different than taking another person's paper and submitting it as if it's new work you've done.

4/28/2010 9:40:25 AM

in all honesty, I think that the chance for this to happen is generally pretty small even for an English major. I just asked my wife about it and she said she never even had the chance to consider doing that because no two writing assignments were enough alike. (One of her majors was English).

That being said, I don't think I could let myself do it unless I asked the professor first. Now, if it was just "similar" and you were able to save time having a lot of the same sources and stuff already easily able to be referenced, that is a little different.

[Edited on April 28, 2010 at 9:44 AM. Reason : ]

4/28/2010 9:42:49 AM

Well, I've personally witnessed it numerous times in engineering, so I disagree completely. Oh, and it was on a MUCH bigger thing than just a paper. I'm talking semester long group projects being completely re-used without any editing. Totally cheating your way through the class IMO. Getting a good grade by using something you've already "perfected" in a previous semester and doing none of the work while everyone else busts their asses and gets worse grades. It's straight up cheating, as I said before.

4/28/2010 9:43:42 AM

What did you notice it in for engineering? I went through ME and I can't think of what you would be referring to except maybe some menial early group projects or something (bridge building etc.).

4/28/2010 9:45:26 AM

Quote :

"No different than taking another person's paper and submitting it as if it's new work you've done."

actually, it's extremely different...good try, though

Quote :

"I just asked my wife about it and she said she never even had the chance to consider doing that because no two writing assignments were enough alike."

exactly my point...if the program curriculum is so poorly designed that you can successfully use work you've done in one class in another, it's not the student's fault

4/28/2010 9:45:56 AM

^^ Senior year shit, not some freshman bullshit.


There are engineering majors besides ME btw.


^ You're supposed to be exploring new topics. That isn't a poor curriculum, it's YOU using the opportunity poorly and taking advantage of the system. You broke the rules, plain and simple.

4/28/2010 9:46:06 AM

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one that thinks she's cheating.

4/28/2010 9:46:21 AM

Quote :

"I'm glad to know I'm not the only one that thinks she's cheating."

your sister is working smarter, not harder...don't judge her because the curriculum is poorly diversified

Quote :

"You're supposed to be exploring new topics. That isn't a poor curriculum, it's YOU using the opportunity poorly and taking advantage of the system. You broke the rules, plain and simple."

haha, you don't know jack shit about the situations...but hey, tell me more about my undergraduate and graduate education...really, please

[Edited on April 28, 2010 at 9:49 AM. Reason : .]

4/28/2010 9:47:57 AM

^^^ I understand that...I was simply clarifying ME for your sake so that you knew exactly which major I was in that tied to my experience I was giving.

[Edited on April 28, 2010 at 9:48 AM. Reason : ]

4/28/2010 9:48:12 AM