Forgot to cite a quote - what will happen?

Hi,

I just handed in 4 big essays a few days ago. I realised now, after reading through it for probably the 7th time that I have forgotten to add a footnote to a quote. This quote was taken from a novel, (it is for a literature module), I have added footnotes to everything else from that novel and other works, and it is clear that the quote is taken from that novel - it is included in the bibliography.

I was sure that I had provided footnotes for everything - but I got some problems with page numbers because I was switching computers, and converting from Openoffice to Word document when I was printing, so everything with page numbers, etc. ****ed up. I have either forgot to add the footnote when I was typing, or I have deleted it when I was trying to fix everything else.

What do you think the consequences will be for this? Will I be accused of plagiarism or will I just lose marks - and in that case, how many marks do you think they will deduct?

I'm a bit stressed out now - read through the work so many times before I handed it in. I can live with losing a few marks, but I'm a bit scared of being brought in on plagiarism charges.

Thanks for all replies.

Reply 1

sr90

Volunteer Team

I've forgot to reference something in a couple of essays, nothing ever came of it. In my case it was obvious where the quote had originated from e.g ''<name> argues that the sky is blue''. If it's just a one off you won't get done for plagiarism, referencing is the last thing everyone does in their essays so it happens to more people than you'd think. You'll probably just lose a couple of marks as accurate referencing will be amongst the criteria.