If you submit a recycled paper through a plagiarism detecting program like turnitin. com, it will likely show up as plagiarized.
If you’re writing about strongly held views, it’s easy to accidentally duplicate your previous writing. Don’t beat yourself up over it. Instead, be proactive. Treat your own work the same way you do someone else’s.
Improving on ideas is a purpose for academic writing, even if those ideas are your own. [2] X Research source By making your instructor aware of your previous work, you can ensure that you show enough development on your ideas to receive full credit for the assignment. It’s best to check with both your current instructor and the previous instructor before reusing part of a paper. [3] X Research source
For example, you may use a quote from a previous paper as support in a body paragraph. You may include one or two sentences from your prior work within one paragraph. Alternatively, you may use a previous essay you wrote as a launching place for your latest paper. Briefly explain your prior work to the reader, but let this work stand on its own.
If you’re worried that you may have self plagiarized, review the text to see if the ideas you present are similar to your previous work or if your phrasing is similar. You may just have your own style of writing.
For example, you may be able to submit a paper to a history class about the history of the black plague in Europe, and then reuse some of your ideas when writing about the spread of disease for a science class. Similarly, you could rewrite ideas from a scholarly article that you wrote to make it more appropriate for a blog audience.
Make a new interpretation of your old ideas, or take them one step forward. For example, add a new conclusion or take a new stance. Consider your old ideas as background information rather than the main part of your text. Minimize how much of your old work you include in a new text.
Include your explanation in your commentary.
Always state the original study you got your data from, even if it was your work. If you have made new conclusions on existing data, make it clear to the reader that you are using the same data as you previously used.
If you’re posting the same article in multiple places, you may include a short statement at the end. You could write something like, “This article has also appeared on the website “Life Beauty. ” If you’re turning in an assignment, ask your teacher if they’d like you to add a formal statement to the paper or if a verbal statement is enough.
You could write the following: As I show in “The Effects of Music on Butterflies,” “Butterflies follow a specific cadence when exposed to various styles of music. ” If your quote is more than 2 sentences long or your style guide requires it, set it off in its own block of text.
For example, you could write: In my paper “The Effects of Music on Butterflies,” I identified a connection between Beethoven and flight patterns that was not present with other classical music. A longer lead-in be good for longer paraphrases or for when you need to briefly introduce your previous work.
MLA format is often used for language classes, arts, and the humanities. APA format is common for subjects like psychology, political science, history, and economics. Chicago Manual format is used for subjects like architecture, planning, and sometimes journalism. CSE is commonly used for science texts.
You should also avoid submitting to multiple publications unless it’s expected in your field. [12] X Research source Get permission before you show your new work to other people, especially an editor. Make sure you tell the copyright holder how you plan to use the original text in your new work.
