<p>A while back, a question was raised about my statement that a student who uses the same paper for more than one course is gaining an advantage over other students in both courses (and in their other courses, as well). </p>
<p>Here is why I think so: I am assuming a situation in which students are willing to put an unlimited amount of work into all of their courses, and the quantity, depth, and quality of work that they can do is limited only by overall time constraints. I am also assuming that time constraints are in effect–that is, even if the students begin work immediately when the paper is assigned, there is not as much time as the students would really “like” to devote to the paper(s). In this case, Student A, who submits a single paper for two courses, has in effect twice as much time to work on the paper as Student B, who is writing two different papers for the two courses. Alternatively, Student A could spend 1.5 times the amount of time on the paper, and have 0.5 times the amount of time to distribute among other time-stressed courses.</p>
<p>There are at least some students and some colleges where this scenario applies.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you assume that students only care about “credentialling,” they would still be affected by Student A’s action. Student A is receiving twice the credit for the same “work.” Student B (who in this scenario, only cares about accumulating credits toward a degree) would feel gypped, I’d think.</p>
<p>With regard to the case where a student has written a paper on his/her own, and put it in a drawer, I see nothing whatever wrong with obtaining credit once! With a lot of Ph.D. programs, the student has to state that the thesis has not been submitted for “any other degree or qualification.” Otherwise, one thesis could be used to collect multiple Ph.D.'s–as if anyone would be helped by that!</p>