One of the weirdest aspects of citations and plagiarism is self-plagiarism. If you reuse your own work, you also have to cite yourself! For students, self-plagiarism is tied up with academic integrity. Professors want to know that you are doing unique, critical, new work for every one of your classes so that you keep learning and growing.
What is self-plagiarism?
Self-plagiarism may refer to submitting the exact same paper in multiple places or classes, or lifting large parts of the exact text or ideas from a previous paper and recycling it in another assignment.
Does Unicheck in Canvas catch self-plagiarism?
Yes! Canvas checks to see if assignments have ever been turned in before, including to your previous classes.
Does self-plagiarism only apply to students?
No! Many professional publications have policies against duplicate publication (submitting the exact same article in multiple places), and it's also important for profession writers to show where they got ALL their information, even if it came from their own work.
How do I protect myself against self-plagiarism?
Be sure to create new work and conduct new research for every assignment you turn in. If you ever have any doubts, check with your professor to see if they'll allow you to reuse previous work or ideas. If you quote a paper you've already published, be sure to cite it like any other source.