“Is self plagiarism a form a cheating? Why or why not?”

The term “self-plagiarism” was first used in 1997 to describe what students were doing when they appropriated their own ideas and words from prior works without proper citations or acknowledgements. Since then, self-plagiarism has become widely recognized as a form of cheating since it often involves trying to pass off someone else’s work—in this case your own—as your own.

Self-plagiarism can have serious consequences for students since universities usually have strict policies on plagiarism which frequently include penalties for self-plagiarizing behavior like failing grades or expulsion from the college or university program altogether. Moreover, self-plagiarising may lead to questions about research integrity, professional misconduct and ethical issues concerning authorship rights due to lack of originality within a given paper/publication etc., leading towards further implications within academics such as loss of credibility among peers & colleagues along with legal action if necessary depending on severity of offence committed by author/s involved.

In academia particularly (though this applies elsewhere too), there are certain norms regarding reuse of one’s own words which must be followed: If you want to present information you’ve already written before (or data that you’ve already collected), then you need permission from whoever holds copyright on it; if it’s your own work then all you need is a citation explaining where it came from (including its date). Generally speaking though, no matter who owns copyright over something being reused — even if it´s yourself —you should always cite previous versions properly with dates for the sake of accuracy and transparency so readers know exactly where info comes from (& exactly how old/dated said info might potentially be). This will help build trust between reader & writer – plus avoid any potential confusion regarding ownership & authenticity associated with content produced!

To sum up, yes self plagiarism is considered a form cheating because authors fail to acknowledge their sources correctly – whether those sources are themselves or another person -leading towards potential breaches within academic guidelines set forth by institutions involved & possibly even more severe implications including legal action against offenders if necessary depending upon seriousness associated with each particular instance(s) at hand