So I have a little situation - gen chem lab

[Isisfusion]

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So I am in the midst of finals week and I receive a note from the gen chem lab director. He wasn't there when I went to his office, so i left a note with my email. A couple of hours later, he sends me an email that says that I have falsified my lab data.

Now, here's the thing. I did two trials of the lab. I recorded the first trial on my lab notebook - upon which they keep the carbon copy - and mistakenly recorded my second trial (which I used to answer the questions and such) on an earlier page that happened to look like the page I was previously writing on.

He's given me a zero for the lab and I don't want to be punished for an honest mistake. Do I justly deserve that grade?

 

[loveoforganic]

Justly? No. But I think you might have a hard time proving to him otherwise. It's definitely worth a shot though.

 

[175961]

probably not. but we cant help you. talk to him. fight the power!! stick it to the man!!!!!

 

[pharaoh88]

I definitely sympathize with you here but you want to be as careful as you can with this. It sucks to lose points in Gen Chem lab for something you didn't do. However, if you challenge this, there is always the chance that the prof will go a step further and report you to the university for academic dishonesty. Then you have an academic judicial record and a rough time of getting into med school.

 

[sindadel]

I don't even understand your explanation so work on it if you do decide to bring it up with the prof. One zero in a lab is not going to tank your grade so if you decide to talk about it, make it clear that you are not asking for a re-adjustment of the zero, but it is important to you that the prof understand how this mistake happened.

And let it be a lesson to you to have immaculate labbook technique.

 

[flip26]

Were the explanations given to grading at the start of the lab clear that this would be construed as a violation with this penalty? If so, suck it up and let it go...otherwise, you may have a case.

Regardless, this was a self inflicted wound. Man up.

 

[Van Chowder]

agh!!! Gen chem lab was suh a crock in my neck!!! AGH!! Is youre grade going to suffer substantially because of it ? A--->B? or B--->C? if not I wouldnt stress it..

 

[Isisfusion]

Very frustrating.

 

[witness23]

to be honest, when I was a TA for lab, I just told people to make their data up cuz it was just a pain in the ass for them to get the experiments right

those who took my silly advice usually failed at making the data up too

 

[JJMrK]

Sounds pretty ridiculous.

 

[scrambizle]

You should talk to your adviser and develop a plan. Make sure to copy your whole notebook so you can bring it to your hearing. You deserve due process, and there will probably be a faculty member helping you with your defense.

Sucks to make an honest mistake and get blamed like this.

 

[URHere]

I would suggest trying to make a statement about what happened sooner rather than later. If there is a committee you can bring your story to (dean of student affairs, retained copy of explanation email to professor, even your personal advisor if no one else is available), and you explain yourself now, I think the formal committee is far more likely to believe your story when you tell it again in the fall, especially if all of the details are the same. No one would be able to accuse you of spending your summer thinking of a way to clear your name, and if nothing else your chances of having the report dropped may improve.

 

[austinap]

Are you sure that you're telling us the whole story? As a lab instructor of several years, I find it hard to believe that lab teacher would turn you over to an academic committee 1. without having talked to you about it first (or at least giving it a reasonable try) and 2. for only having data that disagreed with your lab notes that he has.

It's a huge pain in the ass for your instructor to deal with an academic committee, so it's almost always viewed as a last resort and for fairly serious infractions. It's almost extremely common for people to 'accidentally' write down their notes somewhere other than their notebooks. Here's what comes to mind for me: either your results looked nearly identical to another students, or the results in your lab writeup were nearly perfect but the data you turned into him were ****e.

 

[NoMoreAMCAS]

to be honest, when I was a TA for lab, I just told people to make their data up cuz it was just a pain in the ass for them to get the experiments right

those who took my silly advice usually failed at making the data up too

I made up data for most of my labs, especially those where the experiments took an extended period of time, or I was going to be graded on results.

Labs are absolutely pointless and should be dropped from the pre-req's.

 

[CoolWhipp]

I made up data for most of my labs, especially those where the experiments took an extended period of time, or I was going to be graded on results.

Labs are absolutely pointless and should be dropped from the pre-req's.

Sad but true.

 

[loveoforganic]

Are you sure that you're telling us the whole story? As a lab instructor of several years, I find it hard to believe that lab teacher would turn you over to an academic committee 1. without having talked to you about it first (or at least giving it a reasonable try) and 2. for only having data that disagreed with your lab notes that he has.

It's a huge pain in the ass for your instructor to deal with an academic committee, so it's almost always viewed as a last resort and for fairly serious infractions. It's almost extremely common for people to 'accidentally' write down their notes somewhere other than their notebooks. Here's what comes to mind for me: either your results looked nearly identical to another students, or the results in your lab writeup were nearly perfect but the data you turned into him were ****e.

My lab professor did the same thing to a friend of mine. He said my friend went back and wrote something in his notebook after the fact to try to score some more points (didn't happen), and he was reported for academic misconduct. He was a dick, as I presume this person's teacher is!

 

[Isisfusion]

.

 

[Isisfusion]

So it turns out everything was just a misunderstanding. He saw my real data and took that and I ended up getting the A I should have gotten a while ago.

 

[DRIN]

So I am in the midst of finals week and I receive a note from the gen chem lab director. He wasn't there when I went to his office, so i left a note with my email. A couple of hours later, he sends me an email that says that I have falsified my lab data.

Now, here's the thing. I did two trials of the lab. I recorded the first trial on my lab notebook - upon which they keep the carbon copy - and mistakenly recorded my second trial (which I used to answer the questions and such) on an earlier page that happened to look like the page I was previously writing on.

He's given me a zero for the lab and I don't want to be punished for an honest mistake. Do I justly deserve that grade?

How exactly is writing on the wrong page falsification of data? And how did he know you wrote on an earlier page of your lab manual. Do they require you turn it in and they compare the carbon copies with every page of your manual?

 

[JJMrK]

So it turns out everything was just a misunderstanding. He saw my real data and took that and I ended up getting the A I should have gotten a while ago.

Good stuff. Glad to hear it. 👍