In the situation under analysis, the student did a class assignment for one course and offered a similar project with small changes for another class because of a short deadline and time management concerns. In today’s education, plagiarism is usually defined as an unacceptable practice because it might affect the integrity of student development and knowledge. It can be intentional or unintentional, depending on the preferred way of using information from outside sources. Self-plagiarism is not as harmful as other forms of plagiarism, but the act of presenting an own previously done project remains inconsistent with academic honesty (Issrani et al., 2021). In addition, the reuse of personal research without proper citing touches upon the respect of intellectual property. Thus, the correct principles of research ethics, including honesty and intellectual property were violated. The student is abused by turning in the same paper for two different classes.
There is no adequate remedy to the unethical situation because the student understands and admits the case of self-plagiarism. Further improvements to an already ethical situation might address three steps. First, checking the academic facility’s website with guidance on self-plagiarism is possible to learn about situations when the work can be re-done. Second, if ideas are reused from another essay, it is important to acknowledge them and add a footnote with reference to another work. Finally, if there is no time to search for new information, there is a chance to use the previous project and sources but from another angle to find additional aspects and arguments. However, in most cases, students who do not have time to complete their projects by the established deadline and avoid plagiarism should contact their tutors and ask for an extension by giving clear and fair purposes.
Reference
Issrani, R., Alduraywish, A., Prabhu, N., Alam, M. K., Basri, R., Aljohani, F. M., Alolait, M. A. A., Alghamdi, A. Y. A., Alfawzan, M. M. N., & Alruwili, A. H. M. (2021). Knowledge and attitude of Saudi students towards plagiarism – A cross-sectional survey study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(23). Web.