I know this is a silly question that's probably been asked before...
If I publish a paper (i.e. jointly with my supervisor), I just wanted to double-check that I can still include that in my thesis? Presumably I can include the published paper word for word since it's my own work? What I'm planning to publish will probably make up a big chunk of a chapter in my thesis.

Many thanks for your help!,-)

Of course you can! I thought that was the whole idea - do work, get it published, oh yeah, and put together a thesis at the end!! the more you publish the better, so why should you be penalised and made to re-write chaps or miss them out just cos they are published?

There are only two problems I can foresee; the first is if you gave the publishing company the rights to your paper. I'm not sure if there are any limits on using published work in your phd (usually if the publishing company has the rights they say that it cannot be made publicly available in any other form e.g. posting it on your own website, re-publishing as a book chapter etc) but if you subsequently want to publish your phd there might be an issue.

The second is that it was co-authored so I think you will need to be able to prove to the examiners that the part you have included in the thesis is all your own work. I vaguely remember something like that from our degree regulations because you have to sign a declaration when you submit to say that it's all your own work.

Squiggles, in a nutshell, inserting your own published work into your thesis can be considered self-plagarism which has exactly the same penalty as normal plagarism. This sounds harsh, but it is a rule that some universities insist upon i.e., you cannot reproduce your own work elsewhere. If you use the search engine on this site, you'll see this matter has been discussed before...and there appears to be no consensus on whether it is right or wrong.

Even if your university does not have self-plagarism rules, as Heifer points out, you face two problems (i) copyright and (ii) co-authorship problems.

The easy way to get around this problem is to re-write your published work, and then reference it. This way the examiners see you're already published and you avoid the plagarism risk.

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Try this thread: http://www.postgraduateforum.com/threadViewer.aspx?TID=9448

Well I've been having a look at a thesis which was done by someone with the same supervisor as me. At the beginning of his thesis, he points out that 'the work in chapter 3 appears in ...', and references his own paper (co-authored by his supervisor). Chapter 3 is basically the same as the paper with a few extra lines and explanations added. So it seems to be ok as long as you make a reference to your own paper (and presumably don't copy and paste the paper into your thesis word for word).

although using work from your own papers in your thesis can be self-plagiarising, there should be a way around it. in my university you can choose to submit your thesis in 'alternative thesis format' - this basically means that you stick your entire paper into the relevant part of your thesis in place of a chapter(s). you can use as many of your own papers as you like. your viva should then be very short, as your work has already been peer-reviewed. if the papers are co-authored, your viva will mainly consist of questions about how much of the work you did yourself, and therefore your understanding of it.

i would think that all universities have something similar to this, as they all encourage students to publish as much as possible. you need to speak to someone at your uni about this to find out the rules, as you need to apply in advance to be able to submit in this format. if you don't tell anyone and you use work from your papers in your thesis, you will be self-plagiarising.

Of course you can, just need referencing. The more you publish, the better.