here's the situation: I am being accused for Plagiarism by my professor, when I did not plagiarize?

Question

What can I do to prove to this professor that I did not plagerize, she does not have any proof, only speculation.... I need help

Answer 1

Ask her to let you write a short essay in the same style -- under her observation. You could probably do it during office hours. If you can show her this kind of writing is your natural style, then she will have to accept it.

However, she probably has good reasons for suspecting plagiarism. I've read that a lot of young people have no idea what plagiarism is -- they just copy bits and pieces off the internet and smack it into a paper. They don't realize that you have to change the wording into your own words before it can be yours -- and if you take an idea from someone, you have to quote them -- identify where you got the quote.

I think at this point of the year, she's probably seen other papers by you -- has your style differed a lot from the previous papers, or does she suspect that all of them are plagiarized? Can you tell her where you got your facts? Better yet, show her? That way, she can see the difference between your source material and what you wrote.

Plagiarism is a hot topic these days, and I think even some professors aren't quite sure where the line is. You need to know where her line is because she's the one giving the grade. If you crossed her line without knowing it, apologize and ask if you can re-do it.

Answer 2

I'd call it cheating rather than plagiarism: what you did is to submit work that you did not do independently as though you had done it independently, and that's cheating. So, incidentally, is helping someone to cheat, so your friend is potentially in trouble too. Since I assume you didn't tell him what you just told us before he used the word "plagiarism," I can see why he'd use it, though. He meant that you either copied the line itself or the idea for the line from someone else and you didn't make it clear where you got the exact characters or the idea that let you write it yourself in your own characters. That's what plagiarism is: using someone else's words or ideas or the results of their work without properly citing the source. The professor thought you used a written source, not a live source. The reason it's different than what he does is that when he helps you he knows who helped you and how much. He's not being misled into thinking you did the work without help because he knows he helped you. If your friend helped you but you haven't told the professor who helped you or how much, then he doesn't know, and since you are expected to do your homework yourself with no assistance, submitting the program without acknowledging the help you got means misleading him (or trying to mislead him) into thinking you did the work on your own. Edited to add: And of course he was asking you to do things you haven't been shown how to do. I get that that's not how K-12 education in many places operates any longer (this is not the place for me to rant about that), but it is how you teach if your goal is to produce graduates who can apply what they have learned to new situations.

Answer 3

Get a copy of the original that the professor is accusing you of plagerizing. Compare the two. You must do your homework on this one...this is a serious thing. Do your homework. Is she just verbally accusing you...has there been a complaint made about plagerizing this document? I'd say, get your butt covered. No one can prove guilt on a speculation...or we'd have no unsolved criminal cases in this country. Good Luck.

Answer 4

I have a paper due soon where I will need to run it through turnitin.com Apparently it catches plagiarism. Maybe your professor did that and that's where the accusations come from. If not, try running it through there and then talk to your professor about it. It will be more concrete than mere speculation.

Answer 5

Go back and look through your work again.if you didn't plagiarize he wouldn't waste his time making empty noise.There are at times your write some ideas you think are your own but sometimes they things you read or saw somewhere but have turned them into your own words.You must cite your quotations.Plagiarism also involves seeking help from your colleagues or even seeking help from yahoo answers.people around here include professors,students,doctors,employers and others.informations your take or give are not private.Go back and do the necessary corrections.Don't let this situation create problems between you and your professor.You might need his recommendation someday.

Answer 6

I've always felt it was up to the teacher (I'm a teacher) to prove plagiarism, but I do know teachers who have a different policy. They tend to look at word usage. If you're using words and they don't think you know what they mean, they'll assume plagiarism. You might talk to her and offer to define any words in the passage she thinks you stole. Ultimately, though, I'm afraid it's going to be up to her to determine what proof she'll accept.

Answer 7

Well tell him to look up a line of your paper on Google or Yahoo, and show him that you didn't plagarize. If you did plagarize from a website, your paper would come up as one of the top choices.
Next, show him your bibliography, and the books that you used. Show him the passages that you used, and show him that it is not plagarism. Good Luck. True work conquers all, so i am proud of you not plagarizing. Just keep trying and then your proffesor will realize that he is wrong and you are right.

Answer 8

Try to keep your cool!! If she is only speculating tell her to find where she thinks you got it from especially if you've footnoted your sources. Then if still not going to accept as your work go to the dept. head or higher if u have to.

Answer 9

The onus is on your professor's end. I would just make sure that I had all my works cited (and copies of them) and previous drafts too.

Good luck!

Answer 10

print out ALL your sources and show your professor. Highlight the parts you used in your paper.