Academic misconduct

I recently received an email from my university about concerns with my dissertation and was invited to a meeting to discuss it. I attended the meeting, but because of stress and anxiety, I couldn’t express myself as clearly as I wanted to, even though I tried my best. I’ve always worked hard and achieved good grades in the 70s, and I completed my bachelor’s dissertation with distinction. Now I’ve been accused of academic misconduct, with questions about whether I wrote my dissertation myself or used AI or outside help. This has been very upsetting because I know how much effort and time I put into my work. I regularly asked my supervisor for guidance and followed proper steps throughout the process. My results are currently on hold, and I don’t know how long this will take or what the outcome will be. The uncertainty is causing me a lot of stress and anxiety. If anyone has gone through something similar or knows how this process usually works, I would really appreciate your help, advice, or any guidance on how to handle this situation and stay positive while waiting for the outcome.

Reply 1

PG Study Chester

11

Original post

by Anonymous

I recently received an email from my university about concerns with my dissertation and was invited to a meeting to discuss it. I attended the meeting, but because of stress and anxiety, I couldn’t express myself as clearly as I wanted to, even though I tried my best. I’ve always worked hard and achieved good grades in the 70s, and I completed my bachelor’s dissertation with distinction. Now I’ve been accused of academic misconduct, with questions about whether I wrote my dissertation myself or used AI or outside help. This has been very upsetting because I know how much effort and time I put into my work. I regularly asked my supervisor for guidance and followed proper steps throughout the process. My results are currently on hold, and I don’t know how long this will take or what the outcome will be. The uncertainty is causing me a lot of stress and anxiety. If anyone has gone through something similar or knows how this process usually works, I would really appreciate your help, advice, or any guidance on how to handle this situation and stay positive while waiting for the outcome.

Hi there,

I’m really sorry to hear about all of this and that you’re going through such a stressful and anxious time. I really hope that it gets sorted out positively for you quickly. In the meantime, I’d highly recommend you reach out to your university’s students union. The union is independent from the university and the whole point of it is to support students. It has a department that is dedicated to advice and the staff in it are highly trained in helping students in all sorts of situations. I know you are probably really anxious about approaching them but that is their job, to help and support you. They may be able to help representing you.

Good luck with everything I hope it gets sorted,

Jess
PhD English
University of Chester

Reply 2

PG Study Chester

11

Original post

by Anonymous

I recently received an email from my university about concerns with my dissertation and was invited to a meeting to discuss it. I attended the meeting, but because of stress and anxiety, I couldn’t express myself as clearly as I wanted to, even though I tried my best. I’ve always worked hard and achieved good grades in the 70s, and I completed my bachelor’s dissertation with distinction. Now I’ve been accused of academic misconduct, with questions about whether I wrote my dissertation myself or used AI or outside help. This has been very upsetting because I know how much effort and time I put into my work. I regularly asked my supervisor for guidance and followed proper steps throughout the process. My results are currently on hold, and I don’t know how long this will take or what the outcome will be. The uncertainty is causing me a lot of stress and anxiety. If anyone has gone through something similar or knows how this process usually works, I would really appreciate your help, advice, or any guidance on how to handle this situation and stay positive while waiting for the outcome.

Hi there,

I’m really sorry to hear about all of this and that you’re going through such a stressful and anxious time. I really hope that it gets sorted out positively for you quickly. In the meantime, I’d highly recommend you reach out to your university’s students union. The union is independent from the university and the whole point of it is to support students. It has a department that is dedicated to advice and the staff in it are highly trained in helping students in all sorts of situations. I know you are probably really anxious about approaching them but that is their job, to help and support you. They may be able to help representing you. In the meantime try to put it out of your mind. I know it’s easy to say, but try not to worry.

Good luck with everything I hope it gets sorted,

Jess
PhD English
University of Chester

Reply 3

LJMUStudentReps

Official Rep

18

Hi there,

Following on from what Jess has said, I'd strongly recommend you get in touch with your Students' Union. I'm not sure on the process for your uni, but at LJMU we had a student advice team at our SU who can help with things like academic appeals or academic misconduct.

If you need to attend an academic misconduct panel (AMP), then usually you will be allowed to bring somebody along with you, and your SU should hopefully be able to arrange for one of their representatives to be present for that. They can give advice on what evidence to bring, what to say etc.

In the meantime, I'd try and gather as much evidence as possible to show that you did all the work yourself, some things like:

•

Any drafts of your work to show that you worked on it between certain dates or shows what you have added to your work and when

•

Any notes you made from meetings with your supervisor, or any notes you made from reading papers

I would also write up a small statement, that the SU advisors will be able to read and help you develop. Include information highlighting how you researched and structured your work. As well, mention that you understand the allegations that have been made against you and if you had any tutorials/lectures about academic misconduct whilst at uni. IF you used AI at any point throughout the project (I'm not saying you have!), then be as open and honest as possible and talk about when it was used, what for and why.

Your SU should also be able to help with the stress and anxiety that has been caused by this, the academic advice team will be able to help with the actual misconduct panel/appeal, and they can also signpost you to the support services that your uni or SU provides, like mental health and wellbeing support.

I hope this helps? Good luck!
Jorja (LJMU Student Rep)

Academic misconduct

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