luckystar112
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2007
- Messages
- 3,962
Background information:
Last semester I took a Juvenile Justice course online that requred a 10-15 page term paper. The prof never gave us any instructions on how to turn it in, so when the time came I sent it to his personal email (as did anyone else with half a brain). Then I sent him like 5 unanswered emails asking him if he even got my paper since I never got a confirmation. Finally, four days after it was DUE he updated the whole class through the website (the first time we ever "talked" to him) and told us that a paper would no longer be needed. All he said is "Since there is so much confusion with the paper it will no longer be required in this course. Average your three test grades to get your final grade".
So it sounds like some people never figured out how to turn it in or something. But then another student said that she talked to him and he told her that none of us followed his directions correctly and so he wasn't going to accept them.
Yeah, he was a real prize. Virtually (literally-ha) unreachable the whole semester (let the computer do all the grading), but it was OUR fault. mmkay.
So of course this caused a HUGE ruckus. In the end he ended up telling us that IF we did the paper and IF we did it to his specifications that he would add two points to our final grade.
Thing is, that outcome did absolutely nothing for me since I already had an A in the course with the three test grades. If he gave me the two extra points I still got an A. He didn't MINUS any points for anyone who did the paper poorly, he just didn't count it. Not only that, but there was never any follow-up as to who (if anyone) got these extra points.
Here is where it gets interesting---
I am now taking a summer course on juvenile delinquency and I will have to do a 6-8 page term paper on basically the same thing I did last semester. I would like to "recycle" my old paper. I know that academic integrity includes "self-plaigarism", but do you think it would count in this situation? I fully admit that I am being lazy and I'm hoping that you'll tell me I will get away with it. haha. I could always just tell the prof the situation and ask her if it would be okay to use the paper again--and I'm sure that most professors wouldn't have a problem with it--but there is always the chance that she could say no...which kind of makes me want to just take my chances and remain silent. Deal with it only if it becomes a problem (and to be honest I think the chances are slim, but I swear I have a conscience).
So what would you do? Am I a horrible person for wanting to get away with this? Or do you think that given the backstory I'm thinking too much of it, as the paper was never "graded" and there is a chance it was never even counted at all?
It's a tough one for me and I just want to ensure that my laziness isn't affecting my judgment.
Last semester I took a Juvenile Justice course online that requred a 10-15 page term paper. The prof never gave us any instructions on how to turn it in, so when the time came I sent it to his personal email (as did anyone else with half a brain). Then I sent him like 5 unanswered emails asking him if he even got my paper since I never got a confirmation. Finally, four days after it was DUE he updated the whole class through the website (the first time we ever "talked" to him) and told us that a paper would no longer be needed. All he said is "Since there is so much confusion with the paper it will no longer be required in this course. Average your three test grades to get your final grade".
So it sounds like some people never figured out how to turn it in or something. But then another student said that she talked to him and he told her that none of us followed his directions correctly and so he wasn't going to accept them.

So of course this caused a HUGE ruckus. In the end he ended up telling us that IF we did the paper and IF we did it to his specifications that he would add two points to our final grade.
Thing is, that outcome did absolutely nothing for me since I already had an A in the course with the three test grades. If he gave me the two extra points I still got an A. He didn't MINUS any points for anyone who did the paper poorly, he just didn't count it. Not only that, but there was never any follow-up as to who (if anyone) got these extra points.
Here is where it gets interesting---
I am now taking a summer course on juvenile delinquency and I will have to do a 6-8 page term paper on basically the same thing I did last semester. I would like to "recycle" my old paper. I know that academic integrity includes "self-plaigarism", but do you think it would count in this situation? I fully admit that I am being lazy and I'm hoping that you'll tell me I will get away with it. haha. I could always just tell the prof the situation and ask her if it would be okay to use the paper again--and I'm sure that most professors wouldn't have a problem with it--but there is always the chance that she could say no...which kind of makes me want to just take my chances and remain silent. Deal with it only if it becomes a problem (and to be honest I think the chances are slim, but I swear I have a conscience).
So what would you do? Am I a horrible person for wanting to get away with this? Or do you think that given the backstory I'm thinking too much of it, as the paper was never "graded" and there is a chance it was never even counted at all?
It's a tough one for me and I just want to ensure that my laziness isn't affecting my judgment.