Kim wrote:
This is just poor academic practice. It isn't plagiarism, so it doesn't attract the regulatory punishments for plagiarism that universities advertise, but it would probably attract a zero mark, or at best an opportunity to resubmit with a very short deadline.
In Kent's regulations it's specifically covered:
5.4 A student must not reproduce in any work submitted for assessment any substantial amount of material used by that student in other work for assessment, either at this University or elsewhere, without acknowledging that such work has been so submitted.
Therefore it could attract a penalty. I think also that contrary to what was implied it could be done dishonestly, so an academic discipline procedure would be an appropriate way to deal with it. Re-using brief passages could be no more than sloppy. However I did come across a final year student who did a dissertation module and the dissertation was more than 50% identical with a dissertation submitted within a module studied the previous year, so that the issue of getting credit for the same work twice was of some significance!
Paul
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From: learning development in higher education network [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kim Shahabudin [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 25 October 2010 11:48
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Self-plagiarism
I too have found this debate interesting, but feel it got a little bit sidetracked from Michelle's original question. Gerd's development-focused 'recycling' sounds lovely, and exactly the sort of learning that we should be encouraging, but the case Michelle asked for advice on originally was where students simply re-used passages from previous assignments in new work. This is just poor academic practice. It isn't plagiarism, so it doesn't attract the regulatory punishments for plagiarism that universities advertise, but it would probably attract a zero mark, or at best an opportunity to resubmit with a very short deadline.
I'm not sure that I agree either that undergraduate students should actually cite their own previous work formally. Unless it was collaborative work (in which case they should certainly refer to their collaborators), or primary research (provide data and a summary in an appendix), it is either going to be derived from research in primary and secondary texts (in which case cite the source as normal) or an original synthesis which is not in the public domain (unless they are very advanced and have published or presented formally). The thought experiment is, would the marker need access to the previous work to check how the synthesis was reached (i.e. if that was not fully explained in the later work) or the data collected? If the answer is no, as I suspect it mostly is, then it is not necessary either to mention the previous work, or provide a formal citation -in fact providing one feels like a misunderstanding of the rules of referencing.
We see more serious problems with postgraduate students who use research they have previously presented either in article or conference paper/poster form and do not realise that once it is out in the public domain, it needs to be cited as do any co-researchers. In these cases, not citing *is* plagiarism, and can attract some very nasty consequences.
I do feel (probably very unfashionably) that however much we wish to place the focus in learning on development, we also need to ensure that academic rigour is clearly understood and adhered to by students at all levels. Gaining a university degree in the UK is not just about acquiring subject knowledge, or going on a personal journey of development. It is also about proving that you can learn and apply a set of rules. The rules of correct citation are at the heart of the kind of creative knowledge building that university learning represents - they make synthetic knowledge building possible. If you do not understand how, why and when to cite, your work is not academic.
Kim
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Dr Kim Shahabudin, FHEA, Study Adviser, Study Advice & Maths Support
1st floor Carrington Building, Whiteknights, University of Reading, RG6 6UA
( 0118 378 4236/4218 : www.reading.ac.uk/studyadvice
Winner of Student Nominated Award for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching and Learning, 2010
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