2.9 Is it possible to self-plagiarise?

If you're using material from your own old pieces of writing, you need to cite yourself. Not doing so is considered self-plagiarism.

However, when you are writing for school assignments, you are always required to create new work for each course you take. The only time you can reuse your own work in assignments is if you have permission to do so. For example, if you are writing a graduate thesis, you may be able to use essays written in your graduate courses as sections of your thesis (if appropriate).

Professors and academic researchers also need to follow these rules. For example, if an author writes a book on a topic in which she has previously worked and published, she would cite her previously published papers.

Can I re-use material from work I did in other courses? No, that's called self-plagiarism. You should never copy and paste parts of old assignments in an attempt to pass them off as new work. Besides, you probably know a lot more now than you did then, so the fresh ideas in your new work will likely be of much higher quality.    If you decide to repeat your findings/ideas from your previous academic work, you must get permission from your instructor and you must cite yourself as a source and include your previous work in the reference list at the end of your current work. Copying anyone's work, including your own, is considered plagiarism and is academic misconduct. Therefore, you can re-use "stuff" you wrote as long as you have permission and you cite your ideas from your earlier essay.

 

 

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