Accused of plagiarism, any advice please! I didn’t plagiarise.

None of it was my own work because it was discussing theories and applying the knowledge.

If it is a discussion with him, then it might be just to highlight where you went wrong e.g. excessive use of references. They put the entire document through the system to check for plagiarism, there is leniency for references but given the amount you used, if probably account for over half you words?

This is probably why you got flagged up. You can still add your own input when applying theories. Such as the implications of it, why you agree/disagree with it..

You've seriously over referenced your work, 50+ is a hell of a lot for 2k words.

This is probably why you got flagged up. You can still add your own input when applying theories. Such as the implications of it, why you agree/disagree with it..

You've seriously over referenced your work, 50+ is a hell of a lot for 2k words.

I don’t always use loads of references, in my other coursework I only used 8. As lecturer said the assignment didn’t consist of many references, they’re only for my pastel analysis.

So I listened to him and stuck to bare minimum.

That’s what I was going to do, but he told me I’m wrong and that my opinion isn’t needed.

He only cared about what authors said.

Everything is in my own words,

It was 3 descriptions of the theories, then why authors agreed or disagreed it. After that, it was application of theories to organisations which consisted of more references.

I just wish he would have said something before in the feedback meeting that I used too many references.

This is probably why you got flagged up. You can still add your own input when applying theories. Such as the implications of it, why you agree/disagree with it..

You've seriously over referenced your work, 50+ is a hell of a lot for 2k words.

None of it was my own work because it was discussing theories and applying the knowledge.

The issue is the similarity score.

You cannot discuss theories and apply knowledge simply by sticking lots of quotes and paraphrased sentences together. You need to actually frame the arguments yourself and explain why each reference is relevant to the assignment. For example: "There are many arguments to assess theory X; some are strong, others more subjective. The first argument for the use of theory X was by Smith (1990), who suggested that...[paraphrased sentence]." The bit in italics is essentially your own work, as you're introducing the concepts and how the assignment will be structured. If you weren't writing like that, I can see why the similarity score (and therefore your number of references) would be an issue. With that volume of references, you wouldn't be able to include any original thoughts and structuring of your own - those students that did include those would automatically require fewer references and have a lower similarity score. Does that make sense?

I’m a third year student studying Business and Marketing at Coventry University.

I recently submitted coursework (literature review). Lecturer asked us to use journal articles, books and mintel. The first part was discussing the theory then the second part was applying the theory to two organisations.

I used loads of references, as I thought I’m in third year so they’d expect me to use more and research further rather than using generic sources.

The word count was 2,000 and we can 10% limit over, so I did 2,200.

I used 56 references and 6 in my bibliography.

I have referenced everything, I double and triple checked everything but unfortunately because I used so many references my similarity score came up high on turnitin ☹️

I attached screenshots of the similarity scores.. Hope you can see them.
The 7% is my question title, module name, word count and lecturers name. Everything else is just references - I got loads of 1%. I also have <1?!

All my references have been cited, in references.. I also have “” and page numbers where appropriate.

In addition to all this, I have emails over two week period of my coursework drafts which prove I was doing the work. I don’t like USB as I’m afraid I will lose them - I prefer sending myself emails of the work.

I also went and got feedback from my lecturer - 3 times!!!

I have printed 6 copies of my drafts with different dates which can be proved by my emails, I can show them on my iPad for them to check:

Sorry for the long post, I’m really stressed and can’t believe I’m being accused of plagiarism ☹️

Feel like crying 😢

I use max 5 reference max. For example, if i get many idea from one single book. I don't reference every page of that very book i got the idea from. I reference as one. I'm not in uni so might be different. Be extra careful as you're third year student. You don't wanna mess up all your hard work!

Same, I don’t do that either. I use different journal articles.

When there is multiple authors in one sentence with different dates, I reference them as 2 or 3. Wouldn’t it be plagiarism if I only referenced 1, when there is 2 or 3?

There was no idea from the journal articles, it was critical evaluation of 3 theories. Why they were good and bad (what journal articles said etc). I asked if my own opinion was needed and he said no.

I also did 3 theories, others did 2 or 3. So, hence more references.

Second part, was applying the theories to two organisations. So I used Mintel and journal articles. I made the table and applied to the organisations I chose.

Then, I did comparison of the two organisations.

I wrote like this:

Smith (2010) said (one sentence or max 2). However, Jones (2012) argued that.
In addition, Atkins (2015) said..

It was critical evaluation. I didn’t take chunks of huge paragraphs from other people. It was max 1 or 2 sentences, of why the theory was bad or good.

My point is if he had an issue with the way I wrote or the amount of references I used, then he should have said it at least once when I went to see him 3 times!!

Also, he hasn’t said he had an issue with my references.. He said I plagiarised because my similarity score is high when he hasn’t properly looked into why it’s high.

I also have proof of emails and coursework drafts to back me up.

This was literature review hence why I used more references.. In my other coursework I only used 8 as the lecturer said it wasn’t necessary to use loads. I listened and agreed, stuck to bare minimum.

I just feel frustrated.

You can't critically evaluate anything if all you're saying is "X said this, but Y said that". In that case, you're just presenting two opposing views, without putting them into a context or framing them in any way. You don't necessarily have to put your own opinions, but you do need to show direction in your writing. I can't really comment further without reading your lit review (which I obviously can't do).

It does seem odd that they've called you to a meeting without knowing why your score was so high - unless only your lecturer doesn't know but others do. I appreciate your frustration, especially if you weren't told of any issues during the time you could have fixed them. You'll need to prepare yourself for the meeting now - don't get defensive or point the blame at your lecturer, try to be calm and collected. If you don't know why you've been called (apart from your similarity score being high), then make sure that they explain to you the exact reason(s) you're there before saying anything yourself.

But even if I wrote wrong, fine I’m happy to accept that and change the way I write. I’m at university to learn after all. I’m not perfect by any means.

But I went and saw him 3 times and he said my work was fine, much better and that I don’t need to come back to see him anymore. That’s why I’m frustrated.

My score is only high because old my references - I have loads of 1’s..

Thanks, yeah I will try to calmly explain what happened. I have emails I sent to myself and 6 coursework drafts - to show as proof that the work is entirely my own.

I think my lecturer thinks I copied someone else hence plagiarism. But it’s all my own work.

I normally don’t use loads of references, I only did in this case because he wanted loads of them.

Loads of references for references' sake is never a good approach sadly. Let the meeting convener explain to you what you are excused of first, then tell them your side of the story/shoe your evidence. That way you're less likely to incriminate yourself. Plagiarism isn't just coping another student's work - anything from paraphrasing or citing incorrectly to missing out quotation marks can constitute plagiarism. I know that you say you checked for these things though, so I don't know what else to suggest.

I hope things get cleared up for you at your meeting.

Loads of references for references' sake is never a good approach sadly. Let the meeting convener explain to you what you are excused of first, then tell them your side of the story/shoe your evidence. That way you're less likely to incriminate yourself. Plagiarism isn't just coping another student's work - anything from paraphrasing or citing incorrectly to missing out quotation marks can constitute plagiarism. I know that you say you checked for these things though, so I don't know what else to suggest.

I hope things get cleared up for you at your meeting.

Just had ACO meeting, the reason I’ve been pulled up for plagiarism is because of quotations marks. Even though I’ve referenced..

I’ve got minor.

But I’m going to appeal her decision.

On locate it doesn’t state to use quotation marks.

Due to a lack of quotation marks? Well yes, that would be plagiarism in the literal sense - no quotation marks (or incorrect use of the latter) makes it look like the quotes are your own words/paraphrasing, even with a citation.

So you're going to appeal on the grounds that you weren't told you needed to use quotation marks? That's going to be a difficult one to argue I'd imagine.