Help needed for "appeal plagiarism"

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
jennifer1585

jennifer1585

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2011
Messages
86
Reaction score
11
Sorry to bother again. Several days ago, I posted a thread about professor submit my case for plagiarism (I quote the thread below). I received a lot of posts from you guys. Thank you very much!

However school seems to have a very strong position (and it is a good school) so I am very weak to ask them to do any change.

Apparently school support professor and stated the course has been made clear about the rules of plagiarism. However the professor is actually not clear about it and he made joke about it when he said things about plagiarism. He didn't say for all the draft needs to put the reference part.

Besides that, he talked about sex in the class and told us that he is very open about it. In one lecture he brought a movie and let us watch it. The movie has the nudity and the women and men were in the bed having sex. (it last for a minute but it was very embrassing) Then after this movie, he said to us about what he thought about this movie. Again he talked about sex- not only heterosexual but also hemosexual ( Is it common for US professor taking about sex in the class in a college?) The last lecture I went, he talked about cheating. He said his friends (husband and wives) cheating with each other. And he found out it is very commmon. In the beginning of his class, he told us not to introduce to each other because he expect a lot of us will leave. He also said one student even complained him after the first lecture. Then the students numbers dropped down to half from the beginning to the last lecture I attended. Every time, he counted the number of attendance and said that is great because he will have less work to grade. Once I asked if he has office hour, he said he don't have it because the school didn't give him a office. Because of language barrier, I have some difficult time to understand his lecture, I tried to often email him for my questions. But his reply is always 3 or more days after I sent the email. For my last two emails (before this plagarism came out), he didn't even reply me. Sometimes I was even confused about if it is because I have been bothering him so much for the questions, he tried to use this way to remove me from the list. That is true that I plagarized some contexts however it is my first time to take the writing class and I didn't understand the culture and know how to orgainize the language well. The school said they understand my plagarism is not intentional, however they still gave me the worst verdict (same as the students who copied the entire paper).

I just don't understand. This is my first offense. The professor didn't even give me any warning then directly submitted my work to the school. He didn't give me any chance to correct it. Then the school give me the worst verdict and suspend me out of the school for one year. If it is a good professor and he made things clear, I am willing to receive the punishment. However he is so bad. It is unfair for me to be ruined my life by such a bad professor. I even think he tried to report me to free his schedule out and reduce his workload...Is it common for people who first time plagarized stuff to receive such a harsh punishment? Not even a chance? I am deeply depressed because of this. I had nightmares every day. I forgot and lost things than ususal. I also made a lot of stupid mistakes when I was in work. What can I do now? If the school is not willing to change their decision, where I should go to complain them? Can someone please kindly offer a hand to me?



The following is my post last time. Thank you so much for your help!"
"This is an embarrassing question. I never expected this situation will occur in my life.

I took a writing course with a lot of assignments. I was stressful at the last minute and copied some material and forgot the reference part.

Professor submitted my case to school for plagiarism and the school decides to require me to "withdraw this course" and suspend my registration privileges for two semesters. It is the worst penalty they gave for this case.

Does it mean I have no chance to apply medical school because of this? My transcript will show up with "Required to withdrawal" notation - which is effectively a failing grade. I was desperate now. Professor didn't emphasized plagiarism in the class too much and I never how seriously it can be punished. There is not even a warning before they gave such a serious decision. I never prepare to this. It was like a nighmare but real.

I didn't know how to face it now. Any help or comfort is appreciated. I never knew plagiarism is treated as such a serious discipline. I deeply regretted now but I cannot go back any more.

Does it mean I have to give up my dream for medical school?

Any hep or advice is much appreciated! Thank you very much for your time!"
Members don't see this ad.
 
Last edited:
cool_story_bro.gif
 
Hi Cowme,

It is a really my story. Please don't make any joke about it. I sincerely ask for your guys' help. Any advice will be much appreciated. Thank you very much for your time and kindly help.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
334m4p5.gif
 
Last edited:
I'm having a hard time understanding what you did. If what happened was you copied part of an online source and then forgot to put it in quotes or you paraphrased it but forgot to reference it, then a full years suspension for such a minor offense is ridiculous. I would definitely fight this. Yes, a full years suspension for academic dishonesty is a really hard thing to overcome when applying, so do everything you can.

Delete Facebook, hit the gym, lawyer up.
 
To SU1989,

Thank you very much. I didn't come from US originially. My country has a different culture where plagarism is not emphasized seriously enough.

I wrote a letter to school about it before they made the decision. So they have known. The professor, who is the primary contact for this case, told me when the committee was reviewing my case, they debated it at some length. However they felt that they had to vote the same penalty they have voted in some similar instances.

I didn't quite understand what it means. It sounds like they had considered my special case however they felt they still have to stick to some policy? Or it is just because that professor is trying to comfort me by saying that?
 
To LuciusVorenus,

I think my case is more seriously than what you just said. But I didn't copy the entire paper. I did copy several sentences. But that was done because I was under stress for finishing the paper. And I was not treating plagarism seriously enough. It was done at the last minute when I finished up my paper. I didn't even remember how much I copied. I forgot to put the reference part at my paper because it was a draft and I didn't think it is seriously enough. The draft I wrote in the first time, is usually completely revised for every single sentence. I know it sounds like an excuse to the school but it is true.

I think the school only consider how serious of the plagiarism is without considering the students' background and the intention. They may only spend 15 minutes to discuss about it and made the decision strong enough to ruin my life. For my understanding, when you punish a people by wrongdoing, you should consider his intention and other situations instead of just how bad the result is. But it seems like they only made the decision based the result without considering anything else.

So far, I didn't get it. I didn't kill someone or hurt someone by plagarism. But my future seems to be completely ruined by it. Such a serious lesson in my life. I guess I will never forget it in the rest of my life time.
 
Last edited:
jennifer1585 said:
To LuciusVorenus,

I think my case is more seriously than what you just said. But I didn't copy the entire paper. I did copy several sentences. But that was done because I was under stress for finishing the paper. And I was not treating plagarism seriously enough. It was done at the last minute when I finished up my paper. I didn't even remember how much I copied. I know it sounds like an excuse to the school but it is true.

I think the school only consider how serious of the plagiarism is without considering the students' background and the intention. They may only spend only 15 minutes to discuss about it and made the decision serious enough to ruin my life. For my understanding, when you punish a people by wrongdoing, you should consider its intention or other situations instead of how bad the result is. But it seems like they only made the decision based the result without considering anything else.
Click to expand...

Check your school's website for their policy on plagiarism. It still sounds really harsh for what you did. At our school the punishment would have been an F on the paper only and a letter in your file. Cheating again would have been an F in the class and a letter in your file. No suspension for either of them.
 
LuciusVorenus said:
Check your school's website for their policy on plagiarism. It still sounds really harsh for what you did. At our school the punishment would have been an F on the paper only and a letter in your file. Cheating again would have been an F in the class and a letter in your file. No suspension for either of them.
Click to expand...

Thanks again, LuciusVorenus

No policy is posted on my school website. Every decision is made by the administrative board. That's all I know.

I got the permanent record in my transcript for "required to withdrawal" this class and I was suspended for the whole year.

I did voluntarily withdraw this class by my own when I was informed by professor. I did it because I didn't think I have time to catch up this class and I did it because I tried to show them I am responsible for what I had done. However they still gave me the permanent record of "required to withdrawal" in my transcript. It will be here forever and it indicated the disciplinary actions of the school occurs.

That's why I said my life was totally ruined by it. I have been working so hard to try to get to medical school. However there is no school will accept me once they see this record.
 
jennifer1585 said:
]I took a writing course with a lot of assignments. I was stressful at the last minute and copied some material and forgot the reference part.
Click to expand...

So how bad did you plagiarize? It sounds like many people at the school have considered your case thoughtfully and still collectively agreed that a major suspension was appropriate for the offense.

It is one thing to copy a few sentences and leave out a citation. There is still no excuse for that at the college level, but that alone is not worthy of the punishment you have received.

It honestly sounds like you had an entire report due the next morning, found something online, pasted the entire thing or at least a good chunk of it into a word document and slapped your name on it, without even attempting to inject any originality into it or cite it. Since this is the end of the semester it may have even been your "big" research report for the whole semester. In that case, yes, a two-semester suspension is warranted and you are lucky to not have been expelled altogether. At least that's the case at my university, but admittedly they have an extremely strict academic honesty policy.

If the unlikely is true and you really committed a minor offense that has been blown way out of proportion, then maybe you should try and appeal it. Although it sounds like you've already been writing letters and talking to administrators with no success. It honestly sounds like you screwed up big and the school's response is no exaggeration. It probably won't help you much, but I have heard my own professors talk about how plagiarism is much more prevalent among foreign students. You may be onto something with your comments about your culture doesn't respect intellectual property (what you are stealing when you commit plagiarism) with the same ferocity that American culture does.

Looking to the future, this will be really hard to overcome for medical school admissions. Academic dishonesty, especially grossly blatant offenses like yours seems to be, is like a death sentence. You may need many years of "rehabilitation" before any school will even consider you, no matter what your GPA or MCAT scores are.
 
He sounds like a pretty terrible professor, but you still plagiarized.

I'm just sort of echoing what others have said, but it does seem that your school overreacted a bit.
 
At my undergrad, if I remember correctly, if you were caught cheating or plagiarising, no matter how "minor," the professors went out of their way to get you expelled (the school policy was very harsh, but I don't think it outright expelled you).

I'm sorry that you are in the situation that you're in, but your school's/professor's policy regarding plagiarism should be outlined fairly clearly in the student handbook/syllabus. Generally, my impression is that there's no "first-time warning," etc. It's a zero-tolerance policy, at least at the places I'm familiar with. It could be different at other universities.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
jennifer1585 said:
I didn't even remember how much I copied.
Click to expand...

You keep stating that this was "only" a draft, but it was also something you turned in to a professor to be read and critiqued. Yes, we all get sloppy when working on drafts but by just cutting and pasting without quotation marks or some indication that the section isn't your own work, you run into this problem--in retrospect, you don't remember what lines are yours and which are not, and definitely don't remember where the citation came from...so chances are you would have ended up continuing to plagiarize the passage in the final draft.

jennifer1585 said:
So far, I didn't get it. I didn't kill someone or hurt someone by plagarism. But my future seems to be completely ruined by it. Such a serious lesson in my life. I guess I will never forget it in the rest of my life time.
Click to expand...

The reason this is bad news for medical school is, as others have posted, it puts your academic honesty and credibility in question...which in turn calls into question your ability to provide safe and competent patient care. This time it was failing to cite someone's work, but who knows what it might be next time? Saying a lab was normal when you didn't actually check? Saying you checked for a physical finding when you didn't? Cutting and pasting from someone else's note? Such errors can be cause for residents to be fired (and doctors to be successfully sued)....but much more importantly CAN kill or hurt someone in your care.
 
Sorry, but plagiarism is plagiarism. You got caught, and now your going to pay the consequences. I wouldn't use the excuse that "you did it because you were stressed to finish." pretty much admitting guilt at that point
 
jennifer1585 said:
To LuciusVorenus,

I think my case is more seriously than what you just said. But I didn't copy the entire paper. I did copy several sentences. But that was done because I was under stress for finishing the paper. And I was not treating plagarism seriously enough.
*Snip*
Click to expand...

Sounds like you intentionally tried to cheat your way through the assignment. It wasn't a language barrier, or a lack of knowledge regarding how to cite sources, but rather an intentional attempt to deceive. This is probably why you got such a harsh punishment.
 
So sorry OP, I can only imagine how you must be feeling.

Unfortunately, in response to one of your earlier questions, this sort of a response is not (in my experience) uncommon here in the USA. Every school I've ever been to has had a zero tolerance policy for plagiarism - so even if it's your first offense, or you think it is minor, or you think you didn't understand - that was grounds for expulsion.

I agree with the others above who said that it seems like the administration really did consider your case and take into account your background. So I'm not sure what any appeals would do at this point.

I also don't think that you're completely out of the running for med school, but I do think it will be a longer road. If you keep up good grades and present a nice application package in a few years you might be able to discuss this incident as something you learned and matured from.
 
jennifer1585 said:
So far, I didn't get it. I didn't kill someone or hurt someone by plagarism. But my future seems to be completely ruined by it. Such a serious lesson in my life. I guess I will never forget it in the rest of my life time.
Click to expand...

Jennifer - I am sorry that your school has such a strict policy. Each school is different on how they treat first time offenses, so I am surprised it isn't written in policy somewhere.

I would not count your future in medicine as finished because of this. I do believe that the US is much more strict about plagiarism, and you could explain that you were still learning the policy and understanding it when you got caught and suspended. If this is your first class in the US, this would be extremely understandable. I know people who have returned to school after being out for 20+ years and have been shocked about how hard plagiarism rules are nowadays... not even remembering citing anything in the past. If you have been in the US longer, using the excuse of being an international student and not understanding plagiarism rules would be... less exceptable... and sounding more like a whiny excuse.

Regardless, if you still really want to go to medical school, I would recommend taking ethic classes/courses during your suspended year and really develop a strict honor code. One that you can talk about in your application to medical school and explain how you learned not to cheat/lie/steal from this experience and have grown as a person. You might also want to one day in the future join your universities ethics/integrity committees. I do not believe one academic violation should ruin a career. especially when you do learn from your mistake, but you will be at a disadvantage when you apply to med school.
 
It will be difficult for the OP to ever get accepted to a US medical school. A real long shot in my opinion.
 
searun said:
It will be difficult for the OP to ever get accepted to a US medical school. A real long shot in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Yes, but I think it has more to do with English proficiency than a plagiarism offense.

Don't get me wrong - I could never go to college in a foreign country. I have no doubt its very difficult.

But OP - I'm sorry about your predicament. But based on your post and your difficulties in your course you need to work on your English. I have to admit, I think if I were your professor I would stop answering your emails too. Its not the professor's responsibility to rehash his entire lecture via email every week for a student who has difficulty with English.
 
Hi alwaysaangel,
Thank you very much for your suggestions.

You are right. I know my proficiency of English is bad. I didn't bother professor for each lecture. I tried to email him as less as possible, only once a week or over 2 weeks. I knew my English is bad that's why I was taking this course to learn how to improve. He is a part-time professor. He has another job, which is his major work. He only teach part-time in the school. I tried to bother him as less as possible but he is always changing his syllabus. I felt like I have more questions for his syllabus than the material he taught in the lecture.
 
Avoidthetiger said:
Jennifer - I am sorry that your school has such a strict policy. Each school is different on how they treat first time offenses, so I am surprised it isn't written in policy somewhere.

I would not count your future in medicine as finished because of this. I do believe that the US is much more strict about plagiarism, and you could explain that you were still learning the policy and understanding it when you got caught and suspended. If this is your first class in the US, this would be extremely understandable. I know people who have returned to school after being out for 20+ years and have been shocked about how hard plagiarism rules are nowadays... not even remembering citing anything in the past. If you have been in the US longer, using the excuse of being an international student and not understanding plagiarism rules would be... less exceptable... and sounding more like a whiny excuse.

Regardless, if you still really want to go to medical school, I would recommend taking ethic classes/courses during your suspended year and really develop a strict honor code. One that you can talk about in your application to medical school and explain how you learned not to cheat/lie/steal from this experience and have grown as a person. You might also want to one day in the future join your universities ethics/integrity committees. I do not believe one academic violation should ruin a career. especially when you do learn from your mistake, but you will be at a disadvantage when you apply to med school.
Click to expand...


Avoidthetiger,

Thank you so much for keeping me be positive. Those suggestions are very precious to me. I probably will have to give up my dreams for medical school now but thank you so much for the help.
 
jennifer1585 said:
Avoidthetiger,

Thank you so much for keeping me be positive. Those suggestions are very precious to me. I probably will have to give up my dreams for medical school now but thank you so much for the help.
Click to expand...
Don't give up your goals based on our (internet people) opinions. The only way to see if you can get accepted is to apply.
 
Avoidthetiger said:
Jennifer - I am sorry that your school has such a strict policy. Each school is different on how they treat first time offenses, so I am surprised it isn't written in policy somewhere.

I would not count your future in medicine as finished because of this. I do believe that the US is much more strict about plagiarism, and you could explain that you were still learning the policy and understanding it when you got caught and suspended. If this is your first class in the US, this would be extremely understandable. I know people who have returned to school after being out for 20+ years and have been shocked about how hard plagiarism rules are nowadays... not even remembering citing anything in the past. If you have been in the US longer, using the excuse of being an international student and not understanding plagiarism rules would be... less exceptable... and sounding more like a whiny excuse.

Regardless, if you still really want to go to medical school, I would recommend taking ethic classes/courses during your suspended year and really develop a strict honor code. One that you can talk about in your application to medical school and explain how you learned not to cheat/lie/steal from this experience and have grown as a person. You might also want to one day in the future join your universities ethics/integrity committees. I do not believe one academic violation should ruin a career. especially when you do learn from your mistake, but you will be at a disadvantage when you apply to med school.
Click to expand...

:thumbup:

Follow this advice very closely. It's your only chance at saving your application.
 
PressPforPi said:
Don't give up your goals based on our (internet people) opinions. The only way to see if you can get accepted is to apply.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your encouragement, PressPforPi.

English is already a big barrier to me. I tried really hard but my communication skills still need to be improved a lot. I am a non-traditional student and came from non-US country. For more than two years, I have been taking courses here and worked really hard. I almost never sleep before 12 am in the midnight. I never had any course in my transcript with the grade lower than B, either here or in my home country. I never had any institution actions against my behavior. I was a very good student and got the fellowship with the excellent grades. However, I never expect I would end up in this situation. I am not young now. I believe it may be time for me to give it up since I really don't have much time to left for myself and my family. I cannot keep investing my time, energy, or even health into something which may not possibly potentially happen in the future. I have been pushing myself too hard so maybe it caused this situation. Maybe it is time to quit now...
 
jennifer1585 said:
Thank you for your encouragement, PressPforPi.

English is already a big barrier to me. I tried really hard but my communication skills still need to be improved a lot. I am a non-traditional student and came from non-US country. For more than two years, I have been taking courses here and worked really hard. I almost never sleep before 12 am in the midnight. I never had any course in my transcript with the grade lower than B, either here or in my home country. I never had any institution actions against my behavior. I was a very good student and got the fellowship with the excellent grades. However, I never expect I would end up in this situation. I am not young now. I believe it may be time for me to give it up since I really don't have much time to left for myself and my family. I cannot keep investing my time, energy, or even health into something which may not possibly potentially happen in the future. I have been pushing myself too hard so maybe it caused this situation. Maybe it is time to quit now...
Click to expand...

How old are you exactly?
 
Thank you again for everyone's help.

I have a last confusion: When I was at work, I made the slight for my boss. My boss presented it in front of a group of people (includes me) without putting my name on the slight. Is it like plagiarism? Same thing happened when my boss's boss presented our group's work. He cut and pasted the slights from my previous presentation and added them into his, without any notification to me, and presented it in the public. Will it treated as plagiarism as well?

Many people at work steal other's ideas or work, then present them as his or hers own to get the full credit. Will those kind of things be tolerated and treated as a common sense? I was surprised to see it is so common but people still like doing it without any ethics restrictions...
 
jennifer1585 said:
Thank you again for everyone's help.

I have a last confusion: When I was at work, I made the slight for my boss. My boss presented it in front of a group of people (includes me) without putting my name on the slight. Is it like plagiarism? Same thing happened when my boss's boss presented our group's work. He cut and pasted the slights from my previous presentation and added them into his, without any notification to me, and presented it in the public. Will it treated as plagiarism as well?

Many people at work steal other's ideas or work, then present them as his or hers own to get the full credit. Will those kind of things be tolerated and treated as a common sense? I was surprised to see it is so common but people still like doing it without any ethics restrictions...
Click to expand...

Your boss paid you for those slides by giving you a salary. They are company property. If he took them from another company's website and used them, that would be copyright infringement.
 
LuciusVorenus said:
Your boss paid you for those slides by giving you a salary. They are company property. If he took them from another company's website and used them, that would be copyright infringement.
Click to expand...

Thanks again, LuciusVorenus.

This make sense. I think I was totally confused about everything with plagiarism now...
 
If you use someone else's ideas, words, thoughts, etc without giving them credit for it, it is plagiarism. When in doubt, cite.

Obviously, it's too late for that now. I don't want to be mean but I really don't think professors have to "warn" you or give you a lesser punishment because it is your first offense. Plagiarism is kinda a big deal in college.

You said in a previous reply, " I did copy several sentences. But that was done because I was under stress for finishing the paper."

I don't think it matters what the circumstances were. Please don't try to come up with excuses for your actions (i didn't know better/i forgot/i was under pressure/etc). Just be mature, accept what has happened, and try to learn from it.

At my university, you get an X on your transcript for whatever class you were found to be committing academic dishonesty (plagiarism, cheating, etc). Depending on what you did, they can also suspend you or expel you. So this punishment is pretty common amongst colleges probably.

As for medical school, you will probably have to explain what happened. As for the time you are suspended from your college, can you take classes somewhere else? Or finding some sort of volunteering/research/job that you can invest your time in? That way, at least it doesn't look like you spent a year laying around doing nothing if/when you decide to apply to medical school.
 
Avoidthetiger said:
Regardless, if you still really want to go to medical school, I would recommend taking ethic classes/courses during your suspended year and really develop a strict honor code. One that you can talk about in your application to medical school and explain how you learned not to cheat/lie/steal from this experience and have grown as a person. You might also want to one day in the future join your universities ethics/integrity committees. I do not believe one academic violation should ruin a career. especially when you do learn from your mistake, but you will be at a disadvantage when you apply to med school.
Click to expand...
This is pretty lame advice. It's like suggesting that that the convicted sex worker be sure to sit in the front row of church every Sunday. Even if pursued with sincerity, it's unlikely to be taken seriously.

OP, are you saying that your school never communicated anything to you about academic integrity or an honor code? It's not like it's something that applies only in writing classes.
 
Why is there so much sympathy in this thread for someone that appropriated another person's work? I wasn't aware that theft wasn't a big deal in other countries. You shouldn't go into a class with the assumption that plagiarism is ok and then continue with that assumption when the professor doesn't spell it out. Your punishment is light, at least you will be allowed to return. Completely justified.
 
the punishment is reasonable, at my UG you would be suspended for a year for doing something like this, first offense.

i still think this is a troll thread though, x9000
 
OP I have the feeling you aren't too bright either (if you aren't a troll). Based on the quality of your writing on here, the part you plagarized probably stood out like a sore thumb. The professor was probably so amazed that your incomplete English suddenly turned into a prolific essay that he decided to take another look at it...
 
Musclemass said:
OP, are you saying that your school never communicated anything to you about academic integrity or an honor code? It's not like it's something that applies only in writing classes.
Click to expand...

To Musclemass,

School never communicated to me about academic integrity or any honor code before I took this class. But I did find out on the website afterwards.

School has open enrollment. Everything is instructed by professors in the classes.
 
Last edited:
kcin said:
Why is there so much sympathy in this thread for someone that appropriated another person's work? I wasn't aware that theft wasn't a big deal in other countries. You shouldn't go into a class with the assumption that plagiarism is ok and then continue with that assumption when the professor doesn't spell it out. Your punishment is light, at least you will be allowed to return. Completely justified.
Click to expand...

Thanks kcin,

From this thread, I see people's attitude towards it. Initially I didn't understand why the school punish me so badly. Now I think I know. Thanks.
 
My advice,

1) It sounds like you clearly violated your schools policy. It doesn't matter if you knew you violated it or not.
2) Make sure your put quotes on EVERYTHING, and cite EVERYTHING. It's really easy. Even if you just paraphrase something still put a citation at the end. You will find many academic papers have a citation after nearly every sentence. This is OK
3) Your response should not be "I'm guilty, I'm sorry" or "I didn't know it was wrong" Both of those are pretty week.
4) I think your best bet would be to persuasively argue that you really did mean to put those last few sentences in quotes and assign them references. Say that it was not made clear that the rough draft was a real "assignment". That you just thought he wanted to see that you had been putting some work in, and it was OK to turn in something incomplete. Insist that you knew the honor code, and had every intention of complying with the final paper. The misunderstanding was about the expectations of the rough draft.

Best of luck
 
jennifer1585 said:
Thanks kcin,

From this thread, I see people's attitude towards it. Initially I didn't understand why the school punish me so badly. Now I think I know. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I can sort of appreciate where you are coming from. Some countries probably don't emphasize academic honesty as much as they do here in the United States. When you come from a different culture, with different rules and expectations, it can be confusing when you find yourself in another. As a result, you likely didn't appreciate the severity of what you did until it all came crumbling down on you. The school should have made explicit what their expectations were. In every academic institution where I attended, especially in a class that required a written work, academic honesty was emphasized and made explicit, even though we have heard the same speech many times before. We were, sometimes, even required to sign or acknowledge written policy on the matter. It's serious business here in the US, and as you experienced, the penalties are stiff.

However, while understandable, your ignorance is likely no excuse, and that is what I suppose the board decided. Your school must have a zero-tolerance policy. If that is the case, it seems that they would have (or should have) made some effort to make their policies clear to you and other students. If that is the case and you did as you say, then it seems likely your penalties were reasonable. I would argue, though, that because of your background and that you weren't aware of the policies (or may have had some difficulty understanding it), this first offense should have been a warning, instead of what you received, even though it was justified by our standards. Most of us have been hearing about academic honesty since grade school. You may not have received the benefit of that. Even though what you did was clearly wrong and in violation of the honor code and other policies, your school may have an obligation to also make it clear what those policies are and to ensure that you acknowledge them and understand them. I would fight the board's decision based on that point. Since this is a life-altering event, I'd get legal counsel involved and try to reverse the decision. It's worth a shot.

Good luck.
 
spicedmanna said:
I can sort of appreciate where you are coming from. Some countries probably don't emphasize academic honesty as much as they do here in the United States. When you come from a different culture, with different rules and expectations, it can be confusing when you find yourself in another. As a result, you likely didn't appreciate the severity of what you did until it all came crumbling down on you. The school should have made explicit what their expectations were. In every academic institution where I attended, especially in a class that required a written work, academic honesty was emphasized and made explicit, even though we have heard the same speech many times before. We were, sometimes, even required to sign or acknowledge written policy on the matter. It's serious business here in the US, and as you experienced, the penalties are stiff.

However, while understandable, your ignorance is likely no excuse, and that is what I suppose the board decided. Your school must have a zero-tolerance policy. If that is the case, it seems that they would have (or should have) made some effort to make their policies clear to you and other students. If that is the case and you did as you say, then it seems likely your penalties were reasonable. I would argue, though, that because of your background and that you weren't aware of the policies (or may have had some difficulty understanding it), this first offense should have been a warning, instead of what you received, even though it was justified by our standards. Most of us have been hearing about academic honesty since grade school. You may not have received the benefit of that. Even though what you did was clearly wrong and in violation of the honor code and other policies, your school may have an obligation to also make it clear what those policies are and to ensure that you acknowledge them and understand them. I would fight the board's decision based on that point. Since this is a life-altering event, I'd get legal counsel involved and try to reverse the decision. It's worth a shot.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Thank you spicedmanna!

Thanks for understanding my situation. I guess I never knew how seriously it is before it came. That's why I am feeling I am in deep depression now. Ever since I was informed about the decision, I keep having nightmare, easily forgot things and made mistakes which I never made before. I have ever think to go back to my home country because it seems my life here has already been ended by this decision...I felt I was so hard to adjust myself back to what I was before. I even consulted with therapist. Because it is such an embarrassing thing, I cannot talk to others around me. I have to take it by myself and I feel I am too weak to handle this by my own. Thank you so much for a lot of help and suggestions you guys gave me. Best luck to you as well.
 
Plagiarism was a very serious issue in the states. My family moved to the states when I was 13, so I had education both in the U.S. and in a foreign country. I understand that your hometown may not stress about plagiarism enough at school, so you thought plagiarism was not a big deal. However, I learned about plagiarism in middle school here. In high school, I know a girl who plagiarized twice and allowed her friend to copy her work once; as a result, she got expelled from high school. Kids here learned about citing and paraphrasing when they were really young. Due to the culture and education in the states, many universities have zero tolerance for plagiarism. I know someone from my school also got suspended for a semester due to plagiarism. Instead of being pessimistic, he spent that semester doing research. He applied to medical schools this cycle and got accepted into a pretty good school. It is still possible for you to fulfill your dream. Don't give up and good luck!
 
jennifer1585 said:
Thank you spicedmanna!

Thanks for understanding my situation. I guess I never knew how seriously it is before it came. That's why I am feeling I am in deep depression now. Ever since I was informed about the decision, I keep having nightmare, easily forgot things and made mistakes which I never made before. I have ever think to go back to my home country because it seems my life here has already been ended by this decision...I felt I was so hard to adjust myself back to what I was before. I even consulted with therapist. Because it is such an embarrassing thing, I cannot talk to others around me. I have to take it by myself and I feel I am too weak to handle this by my own. Thank you so much for a lot of help and suggestions you guys gave me. Best luck to you as well.
Click to expand...

Your depression is understandable. Few of us have the resources to handle what you are dealing with right now. If you have the financial ability, I'd strongly consider legal counsel that specializes in things like this. You don't have to try to handle this on your own, against a large institution, such as your school. I wouldn't give up with a good fight. Get a good lawyer on your side. You may have a leg to stand on that you didn't know you had. I recommend exploring this angle, if you can, even though these sort of cases are typically beyond the legal system, given that it is handled on an institutional basis. At least see if you have a chance to fight it based on your circumstances.
 
Disinence2 said:
My advice,

1) It sounds like you clearly violated your schools policy. It doesn't matter if you knew you violated it or not.
2) Make sure your put quotes on EVERYTHING, and cite EVERYTHING. It's really easy. Even if you just paraphrase something still put a citation at the end. You will find many academic papers have a citation after nearly every sentence. This is OK
3) Your response should not be "I'm guilty, I'm sorry" or "I didn't know it was wrong" Both of those are pretty week.
4) I think your best bet would be to persuasively argue that you really did mean to put those last few sentences in quotes and assign them references. Say that it was not made clear that the rough draft was a real "assignment". That you just thought he wanted to see that you had been putting some work in, and it was OK to turn in something incomplete. Insist that you knew the honor code, and had every intention of complying with the final paper. The misunderstanding was about the expectations of the rough draft.

Best of luck
Click to expand...

Disinence2,

Thank you so much for your suggestions. The major confusion I had for this course is that the syllabus is not clear. Professor keep changing the schedules and he seems to be very flexible with everything. I guess that is why I had wrong impression that the first draft will not be treated seriously. Even though he will make comments on it and return it back to us for revision, so ACTUALLY he was treating that seriously. When school reviewed my case, they only took a look at the syllabus and they thought it was clear...maybe I was the only one who misunderstood everything....
 
Musclemass said:
This is pretty lame advice. It's like suggesting that that the convicted sex worker be sure to sit in the front row of church every Sunday. Even if pursued with sincerity, it's unlikely to be taken seriously.
Click to expand...
You are comparing apples to oranges.

IMO, I believe the majority of students have cheated at least once in their lifetime at some point during their academic career. Most of them won't get caught. I don't think a one time offense should bar you from getting into medical school, and I do believe joining your school's integrity committee after learning your lesson is a good-faith gesture for when you apply to med school. I believe the majority of individual's who have been caught once will indeed learn their lesson and never repeat the behavior (but some students are idiots and do continue to try to cheat their way through an education). But if you would prefer to ostracized a cheater like you would a former prostitute attending church, trying to reform his or her behavior, feel free.
 
Avoidthetiger said:
IMO, I believe the majority of students have cheated at least once in their lifetime at some point during their academic career.
Click to expand...
Are you from the same foreign place as the OP? I don't agree, unless you're thinking about elementary school and not college.

Avoidthetiger said:
I don't think a one time offense should bar you from getting into medical school, and I do believe joining your school's integrity committee after learning your lesson is a good-faith gesture for when you apply to med school. I believe the majority of individual's who have been caught once will indeed learn their lesson and never repeat the behavior
Click to expand...
Zero-tolerance policies are very common for undergrad/grad/professional schools, etc. No school wants to deal with cheating incidents. With an excess of qualified med school applicants, there's no reason to consider someone with a history of cheating. YMMV

Avoidthetiger said:
But if you would prefer to ostracized a cheater like you would a former prostitute attending church, trying to reform his or her behavior, feel free.
Click to expand...
Oftentimes prostitutes are victims of circumstance and do what they do as a last resort. Emphasis on the word victim. I'm inclined to be more sympathetic to someone like that than to someone who has a choice but cheats anyway.
 
Cheating is undoubtedly rampant, at least at my university. (and I suspect it's a nat'l problem too - I've read several articles about it)

I neither condone or participate in it. I do, however, remember many an organic lab report that my peers turned in that they had just gotten from someone else that took it the semester before and fudged the numbers a little. This was just one example that was fairly commonplace.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

W
Appeal Letter Signed By Faculty?
Replies
5
Views
790
WeOutHereWaiting
W
P
Plagiarized off of
Replies
9
Views
1K
Phillyroll9
P
M
Question about plagiarism IA. I appreciate your help
Replies
26
Views
3K
mmmtaste
M
combap
Institutional Action First Semester Freshman Year
Replies
15
Views
2K
combap
combap
R
  • Locked
  • Question
IA back in 2019...am I doomed?
Replies
34
Views
3K
gyngyn
gyngyn
Top