Major Academic Offense, I'm absolutely petrified

I'm so scared right now, actually petrified that I've ruined everything. I've been accused of committing a 'Major academic offense' by my Faculty, I now have to sit in front of a panel and plead my case this month. The worst possible penalties could be removal off of the course or retaking the year.

I've just finished my second year and for my last essay I had to write 3000 words. At the time I had so much going on, the same pressures the rest of my course were under but I was rather unfortunate with particular deadlines coinciding with each other around the same dates. I was so stressed, not only did those deadlines effect me but I have a lot of outside commitments such as my sport, which I also represent the Uni for as a scholar athlete and have to train for on nearly a daily basis. I plagiarised a lot of my essay, but it wasn't completely intentional, I'm fully aware of what plagiarism is but I was just negligent with my referencing and thought I'd be okay to submit it, I was pulling an all-nighter and felt horrific. This is my first ever offense which is considered also, however it's major and they have sent me 10 examples of poorly reference or plagiarised material in the essay. I'm terrified I've ruined everything I've worked so hard to achieve. I strived to get into Uni having left high-school with less than 5 full GCSE's, I was awarded an academic scholarship and a sports scholarship on arrival, I've been averaging 2:1's but have some 2:2's sprinkled in. I just prepared poorly for this particular assignment and submitted a rushed and half-assed piece of work.

As a part of my course I've had to work a 4 week placement over this summer, I've managed to work at probably the biggest company in my industry for 4 days as well as secure a temporary (paid job) at one of the other biggest, I'm lucky to live right by them both. Finding a placement was also one of the issues I faced whilst this essay needed to be completed. I know I messed up, I truly didn't understand the consequences of my actions could be so serious and I'd never think about doing it again. I hope they're just scaring me a bit, all things considered I think I'm a really good student. Do you think I'll be okay if I beg them to spare me another chance? I can't be held back a year or kicked off, I'd be distraught.

I know I messed up, I'm only human and we've all been guilty of something one way or another, I've already learned my lesson.

The assignment was for 60% of the unit. I just couldn't bare being held back a year, if that's what you're saying might happen if I resit a module?. I would be completely happy and overjoyed if I could just redo it in my final year.

Thanks for the info though, I mean there's a fine line between begging and being extremely apologetic, showing my remorse and highlighting my good character as a student at the Uni, I do a lot there and have been rewarded for it with my scholarships.

Heya - don't go to the meeting without getting in touch with your SU first. They'll be able to offer guidance and usually someone there will be able to help prepare you for the meeting and go in with you

Thanks for that, I've actually been in touch and I was assigned someone to help me and who will attend the meeting with me. I'm going to submit a statement to them in the coming days

That's good I'm not 100% familiar with how this all works, so take with a pinch of salt, but there is a difference between purposefully plagiarising in order to pass other work off as your own, and poor academic practice such as not referencing properly. I think they will look more kindly on the latter, which sounds like your situation. I would say be truthful about what's happened and fingers crossed. Let us know how it goes.

Maybe @Klix88 will know more

As far as I can see, it's going to be down to how the panel interpret your actions. If they determine that it was deliberate plagiarism, then you will probably get the harshest penalty under your uni's regs - each can set their own, so do see your Student Union as soon as posdible. At my current uni, a first accidental offence is serious, but is not penalised as harshly as a repeat offence. You may be lucky in that respect at least.

Please get it straight in your own mind before you appear before the panel. If you come out with a statement like "I plagiarised a lot of my essay" as you did in your OP, then this will be taken as an admission of deliberate plagiarism. You should definitely base your defence on a perspective that your referencing was extremely poor due to stress. You will have trouble putting forward a defence based on stress due to deadlines, as your course colleagues will have experienced the same situation and will not have plagiarised. Maybe you could emphasise that you were possibly over-committed to uni sporting events and you could undertake to cut back on those. It may not be an attractive idea, but if it's the difference between something like passing or retaking the year (depending on your uni's regs) then it would save you an unnecessary £15,000+ of student loan debt for a retakeyear.

Thank you for the reply! I'm going to start writing my statement tonight to send to mu SU adviser. I'm going to try approach it with a clear head. I must say though I can't see how they would ever give me a pass considering there's some stuff I completely failed to reference, making it definite plagiarism but I don't know really

What would you say regarding me highlighting my definitive qualities as a good student, such as my academic scholarship as well as my sports one which definitely has had an impact on my work ethic. I have to balance training everyday with work. I don't want it to come across as arrogant, I can also imagine certain people wouldn't sympathise and would say they're irrelevant to the issue at hand but in all honesty they're very relevant. They're perfect evidence that I'm a hard-working student, not some slacker who's just going to repeat offend.

Thank again