Plagiarism?

[Marissa4usa]

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I am applying to an internal grant at my university to fund my dissertation research. This grant is not specific to psychology, but rather focuses on a specific theme (humanities focused). This is the second time I'm applying for this grant - two years ago, I applied for and received the grant to fund an unrelated project. Because this grant is not specific to psychology, most of my application focused on making the connection between this grant's mission and my overall area of research. In other words, the focus of the application essay was less on my specific research questions/hypotheses, but more on how my overall research can answer questions relevant to the agenda of the grant.

My dissertation project is a completely separate project; I am studying a completely separate mental health diagnosis in a entirely different setting/set-up. My prior project was much more mechanism-based, whereas my dissertation is more clinically-focused. Yet, the context is the same (think: same population, and overall area of research). However, this is the level at which I connected my research and the grant's mission to persuade the review committee of the "relevance and importance" of my project. Said differently, this part of the application would be identical for my current application for this particular grant.

I might be overthinking things, but I am wondering whether it would be considered plagiarism if I re-submitted part (we're talking ~1.5 pages) of my prior application with this grant submission. There is some wording that I dislike and that I will change, but essentially it would be the same. The issue isn't that I could re-word/re-write that section, but it what it ultimately comes down to is that it was difficult connecting these two domains (content-wise) in the first place, and there are simply only so many ways in which it can be done.

I talked to my adviser and another prof in my program, and they didn't really give me straight-forward answers. I have submitted several grant applications in the past few months for my dissertation, and clearly have recycled everything over and over. However, this is for two separate projects, so I am not sure. I know that self-plagiarism is a thing, however, this is not a publication or a class-assignment, but what about grant applications?

Thoughs? Ideas? Comments?

Thanks for reading 🙂

 

[futureapppsy2]

I am applying to an internal grant at my university to fund my dissertation research. This grant is not specific to psychology, but rather focuses on a specific theme (humanities focused). This is the second time I'm applying for this grant - two years ago, I applied for and received the grant to fund an unrelated project. Because this grant is not specific to psychology, most of my application focused on making the connection between this grant's mission and my overall area of research. In other words, the focus of the application essay was less on my specific research questions/hypotheses, but more on how my overall research can answer questions relevant to the agenda of the grant.

My dissertation project is a completely separate project; I am studying a completely separate mental health diagnosis in a entirely different setting/set-up. My prior project was much more mechanism-based, whereas my dissertation is more clinically-focused. Yet, the context is the same (think: same population, and overall area of research). However, this is the level at which I connected my research and the grant's mission to persuade the review committee of the "relevance and importance" of my project. Said differently, this part of the application would be identical for my current application for this particular grant.

I might be overthinking things, but I am wondering whether it would be considered plagiarism if I re-submitted part (we're talking ~1.5 pages) of my prior application with this grant submission. There is some wording that I dislike and that I will change, but essentially it would be the same. The issue isn't that I could re-word/re-write that section, but it what it ultimately comes down to is that it was difficult connecting these two domains (content-wise) in the first place, and there are simply only so many ways in which it can be done.

I talked to my adviser and another prof in my program, and they didn't really give me straight-forward answers. I have submitted several grant applications in the past few months for my dissertation, and clearly have recycled everything over and over. However, this is for two separate projects, so I am not sure. I know that self-plagiarism is a thing, however, this is not a publication or a class-assignment, but what about grant applications?

Thoughs? Ideas? Comments?

Thanks for reading 🙂

Self-plagiarism isn't really an issue for grant apps. I'd say that you're good. Good luck! 🙂

 

[Ollie123]

Obviously can't comment on the specifics of this grant application or your institution, but self (and even other - with permission) plagiarism is just par for the course with grant applications. I think the only core rules are not to steal ideas from other people and make sure grants sent to the same agency are substantively different from one another. Borrowing language is encouraged and normative. Find me a researcher who completely rewrites their facilities section for every NIH grant to avoid self-plagiarism and we can start a pool to see how long it takes them to burn out and leave the field.

 

[WisNeuro]

Yeah, for things like grants and IRB applications, we would lift sections from our earlier applications regularly. Plagiarism is really only an issue for coursework and peer-reviewed stuff.

 

[Marissa4usa]

Thanks all - that just made my life a bajillion times easier 🙂