"Self-plagiarism" question

[Lexie16]

Hello all, I have some questions about a grey area of self-plagiarism and whether you can reuse material that has been submitted for classes.

I wrote a paper for a seminar last year on a topic tangentially related to my thesis topic. I pulled evidence and background information from sources, which I paraphrased in the paper and cited appropriately. I am now putting together a draft of a thesis chapter that will be submitted for another class. I would like to use some of the same evidence and background information in order to prove a different argument. I will not be using any of my original analysis. Can I use some sentences in the paper that I submitted for that first seminar in my thesis chapter? Is it self-plagiarism if I am re-using evidence from another author that I paraphrased and cited properly? In other words, would paraphrasing another author count as "original" work that I need to cite?

Thanks!

[fuzzylogician]

It's fine to use the same evidence to support arguments in multiple papers. You'll need to cite the original source(s) of that evidence in each one of your papers. If you do re-use arguments from your previous work, you need to cite that work, too. For classwork, things might be a little different: you should consult with your professors as to how much overlap they allow between work submitted for their class and old work. But in any event, you always cite any paper you used in your work. 

[DataCrusader]

At least in my field, coursework that aligns with a thesis is a welcome addition to an early thesis/dissertation draft. It helps get those first (and hardest) hundred words down on paper!

(sidebar: I know at many non-thesis SocSci MA programs, extended research papers usually begin as a term paper)