I'm being accused of plagerism:(?

Question

I wrote a two page paper and my teacher called me telling me she wanted to have a meeting about my paper. She said my introduction seemed to be a higher level than the rest of my work. She searched on google and found that 2 sentences out of the two pages I wrote were similiar to an article on the web. She said it wasn't blatant but I should have cited that part. She went on to say that the part I plagerised was something I didn't even need to put in the paper, that it was irrelevant. Because it didn't seem like I was cheating on my entire paper that she was giving me the benefit of the doubt and I just had to rewrite the paragraph instead of giving me an F on the entire course. I admit I probably made a mistake and I should have cited my source. It was an honest mistake I had no intention of plagerising, cheating by using one sentence is stupid, 99 percent of the paper was mine. They are going have this put on my permanent record. I really feel like this isn't right.Should I protest?

Answer 1

Should you protest?

You admitted it--you didn't cite it. You made a mistake.

Don't fight us--rewrite the paper and learn from this. What's there to protest? That your prof was unfair? From where I standing, it's amazing that you didn't fail the class.

Answer 2

I'm a bit confused: Did you say that the lines found by your teacher after a Google search really WERE borrowed from the source she found, and you did use that quote and did not cite it? If yes, admit up front that you DID do it. Call it a mistake, and rewrite the paragraph, using your own thoughts, as she suggested. I don't know why they are being so harsh about the permanent record.
I would ask the teacher this: Aren't students ALWAYS accidentally saying something that sounds a lot like something already stated by somebody else in a publication somewhere? If yes, then students are being accused all the time when they are not guilty. Who in the world can say ANYTHING that hasn't been somewhat similarly expressed by someone else in a written document?

Answer 3

I'm not sure if you use apa or mla but in apa if you take over 5 words you have to cite it. Honestly by her telling you to rewrite the paragraph is kinda fair. She could have been an complete jack *** about it and made you rewrite the whole paper. It is not fair that they put it on your permanent record the same thing happened to me once the teacher said that the paper sounded to good to be mine. I think you should protest it having it put on your record and you should also request that the teacher apologizes to you for insulting your intelligence as if you where not able to write a good paragraph without cheating.

Answer 4

I think its a little extreme all because of one or two missed citations, but at the end of the day, whether it was intentional or not, it still was plagiarism.

Just be more careful next time when citing your sources and learn from this experience.

The outcome could have been much worse and having this on your record doesn't effect anything, unless you make the same mistake again.

Good luck.

Answer 5

Sorry honey but they really are cracking down on the plagerism gig. I they've been teaching it to me since 2nd grade for goodness sake!
So ouch, you made a mistake. But look on the bright side: your teacher is giving you a break compared to my school, and it's not even college yet! A girl in my very class plagerized one sentence in her report and got a zero on the whole paper, which brought her grade down a considerable amount. Let it go. If it comes up later, be honest and explain the story. And some more advice, if someone from a school or job you want brings it up, don't blame it but anyone but yourself.

Answer 6

Schools are very stricts when it comes to cheating.

If you are sure that there is no other instances of plagerism in your other work, submit it to your school's administration as proof that there is no more plagerisms. Show them that this instance was an isolated event. Show them that you are not a cheater, but that this was isolated and a rare even which will not occur again.

Remember that they can decide to listen to you or not. Even if they listen and do the research on your prior work, they can still deny your request that have that removed from your record.

Answer 7

Well you admit that you did plagerise the two sentences. Even though it was only two sentences, you still plagerised. What are you going to protest? You were the wrong one.

Answer 8

This is the definition of Plagiarism:

The unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own .

What you did may fit into the definition. I think putting it into you permanent record is harsh. It could follow you to college. Yes, I feel you should protest.

Good luck!

Answer 9

well it depends on if the sentences were exactly like the ones on the internet, if they werent its technically not plagerism, i would protest but im not a very outspoken person or w/e so me speaking out on something like this, my teachers would kno that it was an honest mistake n that it wasnt on purpose. idk if u r outspoke or not but, if u prostest on alot of other things like this, more then likely they wont believe u n u wil get ur punishment of rewriting the paper

Answer 10

Absolutely, does the teacher have something against you. I wonder how long it took her to find those exact sentaces on web. If this is a first time offence and you did not mean to do that, then fight.