Medical Accused of Plagiarizing Lab Reports- What's my next step?

[lord999]

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Hello! My professor in a lower level life science lab course has accused me of plagiarizing my lab reports. The turnitin match levels for these three papers were 18%, 31% and 15% with the last two matching to the same student.

I did not reference anyone's text when writing these texts though (the class is so easy you don't even need to)


The problem with their claim (in my eyes) is for the first paper (18%) the match is 99% sources, meaning that I used the same sources as another student and cited them properly. There's nothing there in my opinion. Now for the last two, which included results sections. The overwhelming majority of the content matches were statements that everyone was expected to write. Examples of these statements are as follows:

"the null hypothesis was" "the alternative hypothesis was" "the standard deviation was" "the average was"



Additionally after reviewing it the dean is claiming that the texts appear to 'flow similarly' (?) which genuinely doesn't make sense to me as the lab reports are highly structured, meaning they tell you what the order of the lab report must be in:
Introduction: Introduce the topic and its relevance in life and bring up relevant cited examples, define a knowledge gap, and state hypotheses.

Materials and Methods: State the subjects being tested as well as where they are being tested. Then describe the procedure in detail so that it could be replicated.

Results: Simply state your results.

Discussion: state why the results are relevant, what they might show, state your inconsistencies and possible reasons for them and cite relevant examples.


The bulk of the matches are in the materials and methods and results sections for the last 2 papers, something that I had little control over. Additionally my school uses CPR (calibrated peer review) which makes grading more-so a checklist than actually requiring quality work. Final kicker could be that ~700 students every quarter (and two summer sessions) have been writing these three lab reports on the EXACT SAME 3 experiments for over a decade


I met with the dean, explained my thought process, she took some notes and it's been 7 weeks since then. So now all she has to go off from that meeting is her notes. The professor is telling her that he is most concerned with the lab report that is 31% (although that lab report was just hypotheses, materials and methods, and discussion) the 15% one was the only full length lab report we had to write.

Here's what I believe is most ridiculous: the professor is claiming that he expects these highly structured reports to have match ratings of 0% (it was my impression that 31% isn't even that bad for a 650 word 1.5 page report)

I've thrown out most of the information, I just want to hear what your advice is and what anyone would recommend for me. I'm battling severe anxiety as I know that them finding me guilty severely impacts my option for all professional schools, not just medical school. It's been 12 weeks since the professor reported it (whole summer of worrying). Typing this out has made me feel better, and if anyone has read this far, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for your time.

Well, there's something that doesn't seem quite right, as I'm aware of how turnitin deals with what is called "form language", and either your reports are extremely short, or there is something else going in, because if 18% of a report is sources, that's basically very little written in the body.

Nevertheless, you're going to need to fight it, but honestly, in cases with higher matches, the similar reports are printed out and are compared to each other. For those within the same bench who are partners, that should be expected to some extent.

That's the second and more troubling problem. If the overlapping text is that substantial, it cannot be just two, it's probably most of the class. What's being left out is if more than just you is being accused (if the explanation is what you say, this should be a significant percentage of the class if it matches). If not, then there is something you are doing that is getting exceptionally flagged that is not being discussed here. Having overlapping sources or overlapping language would not concern me that much in a form report, but there must be something to raise suspicion.

I cannot believe your professor realistically expects 0% if source check is part of the analysis. This is something that should be readily apparent with most standard labs with citations (you should expect significant overlap for an undergraduate class), however, turnitin can be set to ignore bibliographical information. It's a flag to set with an assignment.

I know there are other people going through this aswell, it seems he just submitted anyone that was above 30% similarity. I think my problem was I wrote it with my mind numb, I simply just followed the guidelines, and didn't really add any "sparkle". The main thing that I am concerned about is them arguing that the texts 'flow similarly'. In all honesty they do, but my argument is because of the class's history and structure that they do flow similarly. I think for them what raises suspicion the most is the fact that two papers matched to the same student (from a previous quarter). the whole thing just feels murky.

Also on the topic of him 'expecting 0%' that is something he word for word told the dean that was investigating it. He also misdirected her by telling her that I was warned for plagiarism in an email, and then later said that that was incorrect.

In any case, your response means a lot more to me than you can understand. I genuinely appreciate your time and words of wisdom.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Does your school have an advocate system for you when it comes to honor code hearings? You need to see what the process is for recording those meetings. I have also had to deal with potential plagiarism as a professor in my past. The turnitin similarity percentage is a guide but is not sufficient by itself to show plagiarism. When I had a questionable percentage match score, I would go back and compare against documents. I did tag someone for plagiarism as it was clear to me that the writing was a cut-paste job with text I found on a website. I then documented the website and the text of the student for review by the honor council who thus communicated the complaint to the student.

So I would certainly say compile your counterarguments, and use the advocate if one is provided for you (or if not, a lawyer).

As of right now, I'm going to hear back from the dean in the next two days. She can either decide to drop the case based on insufficient information or send it to the student conduct committee for a formal hearing. If she does the latter, I'm going to hire a lawyer and prepare to defend myself to the best of my abilities.

I think the nature of what they're arguing isn't like word for word plagiarism. They're saying that I used someone else's papers as a "starting point" for mine and that's why there are matches and similar 'flow'. I'm arguing that the matches are things that everyone is expected to have and that the course's history and structure definitely warrants the level of matches and flow that they are concerned about.

I'm obviously hoping to not even have it go before the committee since school is starting soon, but if it does I will have to prepare.

Thank you so much for your time and response, I wish you all the best in the future.