Expelled for plagiarizing your own work?

[EyeMWing]

A senior in my junior english class (He failed) is currently in the process of being expelled for plagiarism. The thing is - he wrote what he copied. He took his research paper from last year, edited for some mistakes and added content. When the electronic copy (They make us turn everything in in both .doc and hard copy) was run by the academic honesty board's software package - it lit up like a christmas tree. It was 80% similar to an essay turned in last year! Obviously he's fighting the process every step of the way, as are his parents, as is the English teacher, and even the majority of the teachers. The board's reasoning is that once the paper is turned in for a grade, you lose all intellectual property rights. It seems to me that this is wrong - never have we signed to anything saying that all work submitted for a grade becomes property of the school. I've even published (AND OWN PAID COPYRIGHTS) to several items that I wrote outside of school that just happened to fit with an assignment that I then turned in. Thankfully, my website was never indexed by the webcrawler portion of the anti-plagiarism software.

What are these idiots thinking? Are they right?

 

[Spoooon]

Well, in some of my classes, we were allowed to use old work, but we had to get permission first.

 

[minendo]

I should have been expelled years ago then. I turned in the same papers multiple times.

 

[Gyrene]

I don't think he should be expelled for it, but he should have to re-write the paper. Students learn nothing when they don't do the work. If he failed once, he should have to repeat all the work over again.

 

[whaleskinrug]

Turning in something more than once, even if you wrote it, is plagiarism (because they are getting credit for it again). However, if you are willing to substantially change something and clear it with teacher/prof first it's usually ok.

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: dtyn
I don't think he should be expelled for it, but he should have to re-write the paper. Students learn nothing when they don't do the work. If he failed once, he should have to repeat all the work over again.

High school is a waste of time anyways so why does it matter?

 

[moshquerade]

i got accused of plagiarism on a paper i wrote THE FIRST TIME. beat that.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Sounds like academic dishonesty (unless he got permission) but not plagiarism.

 

[Gyrene]

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: dtyn
I don't think he should be expelled for it, but he should have to re-write the paper. Students learn nothing when they don't do the work. If he failed once, he should have to repeat all the work over again.

High school is a waste of time anyways so why does it matter?

Depends where you go to high school. I got to start as a sophmore in college due to my AP classes from highschool.

 

[Anubis]

glad i didnt go to that school

hell here in college i turned in teh same paper to 2 different classes about a week apart from each other got A's on both nothing happened

 

[Renob]

Back in High School I used to turn in old Black Sabbath songs as poetry I had written, always got an A on those papers.😀

 

[EyeMWing]

Originally posted by: whaleskinrug
Turning in something more than once, even if you wrote it, is plagiarism (because they are getting credit for it again). However, if you are willing to substantially change something and clear it with teacher/prof first it's usually ok.

Plagiarism is defined as

n 1: a piece of writing that has been copied from someone else and is presented as being your own work 2: the act of plagiarizing; taking someone's words or ideas as if they were your own

Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University

They're his work. Therefore, it's not an act of plagiarism unless somewhere along the line, intellectual property rights were forfeited or transferred. They, uh, weren't. Getting credit twice is another issue entirely - and while it may be considered wrong (I don't) - it sure as hell isn't plagiarism.

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: dtyn

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: dtyn
I don't think he should be expelled for it, but he should have to re-write the paper. Students learn nothing when they don't do the work. If he failed once, he should have to repeat all the work over again.

High school is a waste of time anyways so why does it matter?

Depends where you go to high school. I got to start as a sophmore in college due to my AP classes from highschool.

You acquired over 24 credit hours based off AP classes?

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: dtyn

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: dtyn
I don't think he should be expelled for it, but he should have to re-write the paper. Students learn nothing when they don't do the work. If he failed once, he should have to repeat all the work over again.

High school is a waste of time anyways so why does it matter?

Depends where you go to high school. I got to start as a sophmore in college due to my AP classes from highschool.

You acquired over 24 credit hours based off AP classes?

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: dtyn

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: dtyn
I don't think he should be expelled for it, but he should have to re-write the paper. Students learn nothing when they don't do the work. If he failed once, he should have to repeat all the work over again.

High school is a waste of time anyways so why does it matter?

Depends where you go to high school. I got to start as a sophmore in college due to my AP classes from highschool.

You acquired over 24 credit hours based off AP classes?

 

[Gyrene]

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: dtyn

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: dtyn
I don't think he should be expelled for it, but he should have to re-write the paper. Students learn nothing when they don't do the work. If he failed once, he should have to repeat all the work over again.

High school is a waste of time anyways so why does it matter?

Depends where you go to high school. I got to start as a sophmore in college due to my AP classes from highschool.

You acquired over 24 credit hours based off AP classes?

I got 30 credit hours. 5 AP courses junior/senior year, each worth 3 credit hours. Never made below a 4 on the tests.

 

[SilentZero]

None of my classes allowed copying of previously written work for other classes. Its pretty standard I believe. So far Ive attended 4 different universitys throughout the country and in Europe, and none of them allowed it.

 

[Sukhoi]

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: dtyn

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: dtyn
I don't think he should be expelled for it, but he should have to re-write the paper. Students learn nothing when they don't do the work. If he failed once, he should have to repeat all the work over again.

High school is a waste of time anyways so why does it matter?

Depends where you go to high school. I got to start as a sophmore in college due to my AP classes from highschool.

You acquired over 24 credit hours based off AP classes?

That's very possible. I have 15 hours from Calc BC, Physics C, and Comp. Sci. A. I could have easily done AP English, Chem, U.S. History, European History, and maybe another, but I didn't feel like doing the extra work.

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: dtyn
I got 30 credit hours. 5 AP courses junior/senior year, each worth 3 credit hours. Never made below a 4 on the tests.

Nice I should have taken all the AP exams, but I figured I'd take the college course anyways. HS was a waste of time for me although I did have many more courses that others. I ended up graduating with 4 years of Social Studies, 5 years english AP, physics AP, 2 years of Chem AP, 2 years of Biol AP, and a couple years of Photography.

 

[PatboyX]

ive heard that rule before. you should always run it past the prof if you want to turn in something you have turned in before.
or even just use part of it.

 

[jjessico]

This is insanity. It is obviously not plagerism as he is not passing off other's work as his own.

As for this academic dishonesty garbage, I do not understand. If a student is asked to complete a task and has *already completed this task* why is it wrong to turn in the work he/she has already done and receive a grade based on its merit?

Jason

 

[rocadelpunk]

I don't think he should be expelled...I'd almost be temped to give him a 0 for the paper, but he did apparantly edit and add...how much, that's unknown could be a couple pages or a couple lines...makes a difference.

Expelling is a little extreme, it is coping out of doing work though...

i mean it's like doing summer reading...choosing a book that you've already read.

 

[TheNinja]

He should have included the original on his "Works Cited" page, then he would have been fine.

 

[RMSistight]

How can it be plagiarism if it's his own damn work? This should be media attention =D

 

[Yossarian]

They're probably trying to get him under some stupid zero tolerance rule. If so you would have to know the exact wording, and what the school's definition of plagiarism is.