All my teachers know me as an A student, but here and there I obviously plagerize. Anyway, I now got caught plagiarizing a 5-line paragraph from the internet (my literature teacher is really bored and she looked up on google). The rest of the essay was written by me.
She sent me an email asking me to explain it. She also put the website's link.
What should I say to her...?
2007-01-29 06:35:19 · 24 answers · asked by Pro90 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Other - Education
I had the same thing happen to me once. It can be really tempting to use the internet for papers. What I said was that I had a writer's block (which I did) and I found something on the internet that helped me focus the rest of my paper. I was sorry that I didn't put it in quotes or site my source. She understood and I was required to write an additional essay to make up for it. In the end I learned my lesson and learned how to write a paper from only the resources given to us in class.
2007-01-29 06:43:55 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Well, you got caught. This isn't exactly something you can deny. If it's an applicable excuse, you could just say you forgot to cite it.
If not, just be up front about it, and maybe you won't piss her off enough for her to look up other things you plagiarized.
And for heaven's sake, plagiarism never pays off in the long run. (Situations like this aside.) The paragraphs that you're not quite sure how to word are the same ones that you actually learn from!
2007-01-29 06:44:34 · answer #2 · answered by answerator 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As an A student you have credibility that will go a long way to mitigating the damage done here.
The first thing you need to do is understand how important your reputation is. If you were a C student this situation would be much worse. What does that mean to you?
It should mean your reputation is GOLD. And protecting your reputation is gold. Re-evaluate what you did wrong and WHY it is wrong. Learn from it. THAT is what your teacher wants to see. You are an A student. And in that your teacher sees potential. She wants to see that potential fulfilled (it's why she is a teacher).
Be dead honest with her. Painfully honest. Go beyond simple honesty. Tell her you considered saying that you had just forgotten to add quotation and reference. Tell her you decided not to because you realize that would be a dodge and there are deeper issues you need to come to terms with.
Evaluate why you are an A student. Are you an A student because you work harder at it, or because it's just easier for you? If you work harder at it you must have a reason to work at it. If it is just easier then you have a gift. A gift you shouldn't squander by taking short cuts.
Seriously consider how what you did does not benefit your goals. If you can not see how it is not worth the risk or is not contrary to your goals, literally ask her to help you with understanding it. Again, she wants to see your potential realized. She wants to help you grow. Looking past this "event" to the long term repercussions of the activity is a start at that growth. If you focus solely on this time and the immediate fall out you may get by with a slight or great hit to your reputation. If you ask for help understanding the larger issues then you enlist her support and that has an opportunity to improve your reputation while incidentally improving your life. That is only if you truly are willing to learn from it.
Your grades are important. Your reputation is more important. Your grades reflect your scholastic reputation when there is no one there to speak for you. Ultimately however your grades are a measure of what you have learned. What you are learning at school is intended to help you in the future. What you learn is FAR more important than your grades. The companies I have worked for have been filled with people who got good grades and degrees and went no where with them because they only got good grades. They didn’t learn enough. Your degree, ultimately, will be a credential that gets you through a gate to an interview and hopefully a job. It stops there. What you have learned while acquiring that degree, and what you are motivated to learn in your job position will determine the rest of your success.
The point here is to look beyond the accomplishment of immediate goals to the acquisition of skills, knowledge and habits that will continue to fuel your success well into the future. If you can truly make this your focus, it will show.
Finally, when the time comes to get the repercussions for what you have done, remember this: If you have more potential, the discipline handed out to you may be more strict and more painful than what is administered to others. That sounds rough, maybe even unfair, but its common, especially if people are truly interested in helping you. For people with aptitude and talent the greatest detriment to their success is lack of challenge. If you go through school with everything being easy you will not learn the determination to tackle those things that truly challenge you. And if that happens you will never realize your true potential and that would be truly sad.
2007-01-29 07:23:57 · answer #3 · answered by paradigm_flux 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
DO NOT CONFESS IN AN EMAIL!
It's a permanent copy which can go in your record. Talk to her directly, tell her the site in question WAS your source, but you forgot the address after writing down the quote while at someone else's computer and couldn't find it again. Apologize....it'll never happen again.
...and remember, college profs DO search the internet....if you're lucky, they'll only give you an F for the paper, if not....bu-bye.
2007-01-29 06:53:38 · answer #4 · answered by Michael E 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Be honest. Admit you copied that paragraph and neglected ot cite the website as one of your sources. You might ask for help with how to cite it correctly on your next paper so your teacher will think it was just you not knowing the correct format and not you trying to cheat. Be very careful from now on. She might accept that once but not twice.
2007-01-29 06:40:57 · answer #5 · answered by DLM 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I'd say that, these days, the internet is a resource no different to a reference book. Point out that the rest of the essay is your own work.
(But perhaps, next time, you should include a reference to where the quote came from).
2007-01-29 06:39:53 · answer #6 · answered by Matthew H 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Tell the truth. As a teacher myself, we hate liars. Ask if you can resubmit the paper and apologize. I make students write an additional paper on professionalism as well.
2007-01-29 06:45:47 · answer #7 · answered by ladymsn 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Tell the truth. Lying always makes it worse. Besides, your already an A student. One paper won't affect your grade that much...
2007-01-29 06:40:18 · answer #8 · answered by la la la 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just tell the truth, you're already caught. Just accept that now you must deal with the consequences.
2007-01-29 06:43:11 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You said it my friend.....You are caught and that's it...
Better to apologize and not get yourself in deeper justification....
Try to make her sympathize with u since u r an A Student...
Be honest...
2007-01-29 06:44:15 · answer #10 · answered by FOREVER AUTUMN 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋