"Self-plagiarism"

Is it generally permissible to re-use certain ideas (not actual words) in your dissertation that you have also discussed in previous essays?

Please specify whether your answer is based on wild speculation or actual knowledge. :smile:

I can't email anyone about it now, as the college email system is down.

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Reply 1

lily_blue3

wild speculation - if it's relevant, and your own genuine thought, why not? just don't do it word for word lol...

Don't see why not.

lily_blue3

wild speculation - if it's relevant, and your own genuine thought, why not? just don't do it word for word lol...

shh..dont tell yourself...you might hear and say something... :bl:

^ hehe

We are specifically not allowed to at my university.

Reply 6

username43584

UCL's policy is that you can do it but you must provide a reference, I think. But obviously not whole sections of the essay - just a brief concept or short quote.

Reply 7

ShaolinTemple

Why aren't you allowed? It's your own work =/ (not a uni student)

Reply 8

schrodinger's cat

Albert Einstein (after having written the special theory of relativity) - "hmmm, i have a great idea for a more general form of the theory but using warped space time; oh no, wait a minute, i'd have to reference some of my earlier work... can't do that."

:biggrin:

Sorry just wild speculation though. Looks like it actually dependson the uni i'm afraid.

Reply 9

rottcodd

ShaolinTemple

Why aren't you allowed? It's your own work =/ (not a uni student)

Because, if you get a 2.1 for an essay, and then you resubmit a certain chunk of that essay for another seperate piece of coursework that just happens to be relavent, that extra chunk took you absolute zero extra effort. You already know that chunk is worthy of a 2.1 so it's not really fair to reuse it. You can of course refer to certain ideas that you may have pointed out in a previous essay, but approached from a different angle. Obvioulsy, if you're writing a much longer piece of work, it is permissible to refer to earlier stuff you have written, but you can't just copy chunks of it.

I dunno, I'm only talking about my own university. But I know that when my dissertation is marked, if it is a borderline grade they will compare it to my other coursework and see if I have repeated information from previous work.

Reply 10

linkdapink

I'm not sure about this, and yet again is wild speculation, but surely if you write some ideas, and reuse it that would be fine - provided its the idea, not a full section. And also, I did this at A Level, I just reused the same idea, but in an essay which was about a totally different thing to the original essay. Hmmmm

Reply 11

ssk2

Yeah we're not allowed AT ALL to self plagiarise.

Reply 12

Rich_b

As far as I know, I think you treat your own work as you would any other writers'. That is you should reference and footnote it all. It's certainly what most scholarly writers do in journal articles etc.

Reply 13

Eubacterium

Unless you know otherwise reference yourself, you certainly won't lose marks for doing so.

Reply 14

Sickminded

shh..dont tell yourself...you might hear and say something... :bl:

i heard that david!!, ill make sure you are expelled from school for copying me, err, yourself..... :p:

Reply 15

WoWZa

It's an interesting question and one I pondered about recently too. I don't think it is because they are your own ideas (or should be!)

Reply 16

.ACS.

rottcodd

Because, if you get a 2.1 for an essay, and then you resubmit a certain chunk of that essay for another separate piece of coursework that just happens to be relevant, that extra chunk took you absolute zero extra effort. You already know that chunk is worthy of a 2.1 so it's not really fair to reuse it.