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Plagiarism hearing

Hey,
I just got an email from my university (Leeds University) inviting me to a hearing because I have been accused of plagiarism. It was for an essay I did, which counts for 50%, and I genuinely couldn't remember if I had accidentally plagiarised anything. I have never plagiarised before; my work has always been my own work, as it should be. However, attached to my invitation was a copy of my original essay with two highlighted sentences, followed by two internet sources which had the exact same sentences in. :/ I have never had to do anything like this before and I'm really scared. I did not intend to plagiarise, and all I can think is that I found the information from those two sentences very useful and intended to put the information into my own words but forgot to. Does anybody know what the usual penalty is for plagiarism? And what should I say in my hearing?
Reply 1
Avatar for cfizzle
cfizzle
9
http://www.ldu.leeds.ac.uk/plagiarism/penalties.php

Hope all goes well :redface:
Tell the truth

My friend's mum was accused of plagiarism because she let her 'friend' 'look' at her essay, yet her friend copied it all and accused my friend's mum of plagiarism. In the end, the 'friend' got kicked out of uni and the are no longer friends.

My friend's mum had no evidence, but she got out of it.
Reply 3
Avatar for wildrover
wildrover
19
Just so your aware, you have to reference things even when they are in your own words.
sorry to hear this!! that must be really annoying, especially if you didnt mean to plagiarise!

just tell the truth and you will be fine- just say you genuinely made a mistake and you meant to write it in your own words but you must have forgot.

With essays and excessive note taking this can be easily done :smile:
Don't lie - tell the truth and explain what happened, and they are likely to be lenient. If you try to lie about the situation, the chances are that you will be found out, and then the penalties will be much more severe. If this was a genuine mistake, then tell them that, and they will understand.
Reply 6
Avatar for the bear
the bear
20
If it is a genuine error they will not punish you.
Reply 7
Avatar for anna_ready
anna_ready
Like all, I would like to advice you to speak the truth and not to worry about any thing.Stay calmed and you 'll be out of this soon..
Reply 8
Avatar for tenaciousgirl
tenaciousgirl
OP
Hi guys, thanks for all the advice. I've had the hearing and the staff were really nice. I explained that it was an honest mistake and I got the minimum penalty! I've got to do an online plagiarism tutorial, and my essay is going to be marked with the plagiarised sections taken out, without my mark being capped. So I've been extremely lucky!!
Original post by tenaciousgirl
Hi guys, thanks for all the advice. I've had the hearing and the staff were really nice. I explained that it was an honest mistake and I got the minimum penalty! I've got to do an online plagiarism tutorial, and my essay is going to be marked with the plagiarised sections taken out, without my mark being capped. So I've been extremely lucky!!


Well done! Mistakes happen.

A note for the future is that it is better to over reference than under reference.

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