Been reported for Plagiarism...please help!!

Lola2010

So I had my results back last night for a very important essay, and it has been reported for plagiarism.

I emailed my lecturer and she said I have to go for a hearing with the Dean because mine and my friends work is 'exactly the same'. Neither of us have copied, all we had that was the same were the articles we used to back up the essay. We also discussed the work and my friend did help me a lot with the essay.

I'm so scared I've been crying pretty much all day expecting the worst to happen. My friend also thinks it'll jeopardize her doing her masters, so I feel like I should take the blame seeing as she helped me a lot.

What do I do?!?! I'm so scared

Reply 1

TheSownRose

Original post by Lola2010

What do I do?!?! I'm so scared

That sounds more like collusion than plagiarism, although that is still a serious offence.

What year are you in? What university are you at? Do you have a copy of the regulations to hand, because that should outline the procedure?

Go and speak to your union and get advice there - they'll know the process at your uni more, and will be able to represent you.

Reply 2

Lola2010

Original post by TheSownRose

What year are you in? What university are you at? Do you have a copy of the regulations to hand, because that should outline the procedure?

.

the Board decides what kind of penalty to apply. This is likely to vary depending on factors such as:

whether you may have been in the dark about plagiarism
how much of the work in your assignment was actually plagiarised
whether you have done it before
whether you should know well enough by now what to avoid
Penalties range from a written warning and rewriting the piece of work to failure and discontinuation of the whole course.

This is all it says at my university about it. My lecturer is renowned for being OTT when it comes to plagiarism. I'm just so worried, my friend is blaming me for it all now. It was just an honest simple mistake. I will never ever ask for help ever again if that is what happens

Reply 3

Lola2010

Oh i'm also in my second year

Reply 4

Alvrae

presumably you have copies of your eassy still?

compare them before you go to the interview, if they are identical then your a mind reader and if there not ask questions as to why they think there the same.

using the same sources (unless ofcource you were supposed to do your own reaserch) isn't really an offence if you consider theres only a select amount out of any given text you might take.

me and my mate share info whilst writing assignments (i.e. decent websites and books to look in) and have been pulled up on that before. we just asked questions rather than answered multiple questions to ascertain what they thought - makes it easier to answer your own.

note next time if your having problems ask your lectureer. they should have some software analysis - if thats the only reason its saying its plagerised software can malfunction aswell.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 5

Dude Where's My Username

Have you gone to your Student Union? They can offer advice too.

It sounds to me like your friend helped you then put the same content in her essay, giving the impression of plagarism. From my point of view, that's quite a hard case to argue against as a situation like this was given to me as an example of plagiarism on my course.

Were you given adequate guidelines as to what constitutes plagiarism? I think the best tactic to go for here would be damage limitation. Tell them what you told us, but stress you didn't copy each other.

You get three strikes before they consider expulsion so I wouldn't worry too much. 0% for this work is the worst that should happen (if my guidelines are anything to go by). Talk to your Student Union. Learn from this experiance. Seek help from lecturers rather than coursemates in future, just to stay on the safe side.

Good luck :smile:

Reply 6

Sani-Insanity

This is the most depressing thread ever. whatever happens, good luck

Reply 7

TheSownRose

Original post by Lola2010

Oh i'm also in my second year

Well, they're less lenient in your second year than they would have been in first, but I presume first offence will be in your favour.

Go and speak to the union, but get separate representation from your friend, because she will be trying to blame you solely for it and you do not under any circumstance want or deserve to carry it all.

Reply 8

Kerny

Original post by Lola2010

You've just admitted to collusion there. You and your friend better make up some good excuses, and fast.

Reply 9

Tommyjw

Feel sorry for you but the fact is you should know better than to discuss essays in such ways with friends, especially if one helped the other a lot.

Reply 10

SuperSam_Fantastiche

To be fair, at university level you should be more independent than to get your mate to help you with essays, that's what tutors are for if you really are stuck. What are you going to do, share the degree title at graduation?

That said, I hope you get out of it without being punished too harshly and learn to do your own work next time x

Reply 11

Lola2010

I appreciate all of your comments, agree'd that it is a very depressing post!

I don't know why but I lost by confidence at the beginning of this year (when the essay was given), and I did ask her for help which I admit was wrong and yes I should be working independently, which I will now in future do!

I should know better blah blah, but am meeting with my lecturer tomorrow. Apparently I will either have to re-submit the essay, or redo the whole module. Bad times.

Reply 12

TheSownRose

Original post by Lola2010

So that then means capping, I presume...?

Not great, but not the worst outcome you could have either - just learn from it. :wink:

Reply 13

SuperSam_Fantastiche

Original post by Lola2010

That's probably the best times you could get! I know two people who got kicked out of uni over plagiarism! Good luck :smile:

Reply 14

Lola2010

Will most definitely learn from it, trust me it's **** me up enough.

Thankfully I'm hoping as it's my first time I've been pulled up for plagiarism it should be ok with any luck.

Again, thank you for your comments x