In academia, plagiarism is an exceedingly controversial subject because it involves using the work of another and using it as one’s own without citation. The word plagiarism comes from the Latin word “plagiarius” meaning kidnapper. The word plagiarism cannot encompass using one’s own work without citation because the work originated from oneself. It is not possible to steal something that originally belonged to you. If something once belonged to you it would be taking it back rather than stealing it. Self-plagiarism is a fallacy because if one researched and wrote the paper themselves then they should possess the rights to full ownership.
In the instance that an entire paper is submitted from one class to another without changes it is apparent how that could demonstrate an issue. The Arizona health network stated “Self-Plagiarism is fraud and it goes against the core ethical principles of ethical writing. Papers are used to demonstrate learning. If a paper is reused from a previous class, the student is not demonstrating new learning.”
In this scenario, it is apparent why that is considered “unethical” but speaking on a technicality, if it is a subject that is already written about then technically it wouldn’t be “new” material. If one is already informed on the subject and has a paper that fits the current prompt then why couldn’t the work be refurbished. In this circumstance, the information wouldn’t be new so it wouldn’t pose a problem with demonstrating new learning to the individual.
In 2017, Shelby Ingebrigtesen went to court over expulsion from Linfield college over a case of self-plagiarism. The professor asked the defendant to meet to discuss the offense of self-plagiarism. Ingebrigtesen responded by stating how she was unsure how she could plagiarize herself. The lawsuit states that the student code of conduct failed to state the exact definition of self-plagiarism. The punishment of expulsion was unreasonable due to the failure to properly state the meaning of self-plagiarism along with the punishments that could follow the offense.
When talking about self-plagiarism individuals tend to focus on the sole fact that plagiarism means to steal the work of another. Self-plagiarism is not necessarily using knowledge that you learned in the past, but using it without some sort of reference. A common misconception surrounding self-plagiarism is the idea that knowledge that you learned and previously wrote about is considered plagiarism, but rather duplicating old work and submitting it as new. If the information did not originate from one’s own brain, then it is to be cited unless referencing general knowledge.
