Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the process by which you submit an idea or set of ideas taken from another source and attempt to pass them off as your original thoughts, ideas or work. It is characterized generally in the written sense, by which a person finds written information and submits it via another avenue as an original work. It is definitely considered a form of cheating, particularly in the educational realm. When it comes to cheating this way, there are other areas that may seem more unclear, such as self-plagiarism. However, by and large, self-plagiarism is the same process, only it is centered on your own work versus that of another.

The idea is that work submitted to one source is contingent upon that work being original; when the time comes to submit work to another source, the expectation is that the work for the second source will also be completely original. Even using your own work again means that it was not originally conceived for the second source. This essay will explore why submitting an essay used for another class is, in fact, a form of cheating and plagiarism and is not acceptable in any circumstances.

It should be noted that for some people self-plagiarism is not a possibility based on the fact that work is original to the author in question (Klosterman). In fact, author Chuck Klosterman goes so far to say in his article in the New York Times that: "I look at it like this: You were essentially asked two questions that shared a common answer. The fact that you could see commonalities between unrelated intellectual disciplines is a point in your favor. Some might call your actions self-plagiarism, but the very premise of stealing your own creative property is absurd. You're not betraying the public's trust."

However, turning in a paper that you've written for one class in for another is more than just an issue based on the fact that it is your own work. It's about ethics and honesty. When a teacher gives you an assignment in Class A, it is the expectation that the assignment derived out of the work you do will be solely for the purposes of that class. Conversely, when you get an assignment for Class B, that teacher expects the same thing. It is not honest to parade the assignment for Class A to the teacher for Class B because it was a work you originated. The fact remains that you did not, in fact, originate it for that particular class.

The hallmark for whether or not self-plagiarism is considered cheating should be how open you can be about it. For instance, if there is truly nothing wrong with submitting a paper for more than one class, you can tell your teacher what are you doing? If you can, and you expect that there will be no adverse effects, then perhaps the school's philosophy is in line with your own. At the same time, if you cannot tell your teacher that a paper you are submitting was, in fact, for a previous class, then chances are the school feels like what you are doing is just as unethical as what you already suspected for yourself.

One of the things to remember about the educational process is that it is not always about the nuts and bolts of what you learn in a particular subject. One of the other arguments made for why multiple submissions are okay for one paper is that you've