Let’s begin with a scenario: You are a student, and you spend weeks crafting a well-researched paper. And after submitting it you received a decent grade that boosted your confidence in your work. Now, you realize another assignment is making its way to your desk, you thought of using the same previously written work for the other course and questioned “Can I use the same essay again?”   

It is one of the most prevalent types of academic misconduct and is considered self-plagiarism. Given that it would seem reasonable to be able to reuse your own paper, it is somewhat understandable. However, submitting a paper more than once is considered plagiarism by almost all academic (and occasionally professional) standards.  

Let’s take some time to discuss what self-plagiarism is and why it might bring you a lot of trouble.   

Self-plagiarism: What is it?  

Plagiarism involves exploiting the sources of others whereas, self-plagiarism is the act of reusing and turning in a document that was written for one reason as proof of completion of a separate task.   

Even more precisely defined by Merriam Webster: the practice of using one’s own words, concepts, or creative expression (as in an essay) from previously published work, especially without acknowledgment of their earlier use is called self-plagiarism.”  

What constitutes self-plagiarism?  

Self-plagiarism is an ignored form of plagiarism, yet it can lead to severe consequences. It involves reusing the previous work in many ways. Some of them are:  

• Paraphrasing the paragraphs from the old work  
• Resubmitting the entire previously published/submitted work  
• Publishing the same article several times on different platforms  
• Utilizing the same sources or data without any new research conducted for the next project  

Self-plagiarism misleads the readers because it makes them feel that the submitted work is original and new. It can occur in any kind of writing but is most common in:   

• Scholarly/academic writing for classes  
• Publications  
• Professional writing (blogs, documents, whitepapers

In each of these cases utilizing the old paper and presenting it as a new document is plagiarism.   

Examples of Self-Plagiarism

There are many examples of self-plagiarism depending on the re-usage of the work.  

Scenario 1: Suppose you wrote a paper on the consequences of WW2 on Germany for your European History course. Then you have submitted the same entire essay (consequences of WW2 on Germany) for another USA history course, or you stole some of the paragraphs from the previously submitted work. Then this is considered self-plagiarism unless you have cited yourself properly.  

Scenario 2: Let’s say you have planned to reuse your work. You paraphrased a few paragraphs from your previous work and submitted it as new and original content. This will be considered self-plagiarism as it lacks the proper citation.  

Scenario 3: Imagine you have written a well-researched paper and want to publish it. What you do is that you send that document to various academic journals to increase the chances of your publication. This enhances the risk of committing self-plagiarism if more than 1 academic journal published your work.  

When can I reuse my work?  

You can only reuse your work when you meet these two possibilities:  

• Get permission from the instructor to use the same work for their course.  
• Properly cite the content with attributions to avoid self-plagiarism.  

Why is it plagiarism if you use your own work twice?  

Although self-plagiarism does not harm anyone as the other forms of plagiarism do. However, it is still considered misconduct as it is against academic integrity.    

So why is using the same document plagiarism? It depends on the types of writing:  

In educational settings, writing assignments are made to teach a certain set of abilities that students will require in the future. So, self-plagiarism would be considered a problem because it:  

• Showcases the lack of students’ interest in producing new content  
• Hinders creativity and does not contribute to innovation in the community  
• Undermines academic integrity as you are cheating by using the same work for the other course  
• Impacts the learning process and management skills as you are not meeting the deadlines to create original work  

In research and publication departments, when you hand over your article to another source for publication, although ideas are yours, the publication community has also got the right over your work. In this case, the reuse of the same text will come with some severe consequences:  

• Deletion of your published work  
• Violation of copyright laws   
• No further acceptance of your written work  
• Loss of reputation and trust  

Therefore, it is extremely important to avoid self-plagiarism as much as possible because it is a problem for academic integrity and ethical practices.  

How to cite your own work?  

Just like the citations done in any piece of writing, you can also cite yourself depending on the style and format of the citation.  

For Example

You wrote an essay on the impact of climate change on melting glaciers, and you have used some pieces of information from that previously written work.   

Then in MLA style, you can cite your work as:  

Your last name, First name. Title: Subtitle. Year. University Name, type of work or thesis  

Amelia, John. Impact of climate change on melting glaciers. 2022. Oxford University, bachelor’s Thesis.  

How do I avoid self-plagiarism?  

Like other forms of plagiarism, self-plagiarism is also easy to avoid.  

• Avoid reusing your work and rather generate new and original content.  
• Even if you are using your work, it is necessary to cite it properly.  
• Make use of a plagiarism checker, such as Skyline Academic Plagiarism Checker, which will help you detect even accidental duplication of your own work and catch it before it becomes an issue.  

Conclusion  

Yes, using your own work is a type of plagiarism known as self-plagiarism. Many institutions have developed advanced plagiarism detection tools to detect self-plagiarism by comparing your work with the already submitted vast database.  

However, the checkers that are available online lack access to the already submitted papers because they don’t have direct access to the university. But at Skyline Academic we are partnered with Turnitin and have direct access to extensive databases like students’ previously submitted works, and publications.   

You can access our advanced tool to detect any accidental or self-plagiarism in your work.