Problem with a teacher and an accusation of plagiarism?

Question

In my gr.12 english class we had to write essays on Macbeth. I worked on my essay night and day to finally get a decent mark on a Shakspearean essay and I was fairly proud of the product. I was away when we got the essays back and forgot all about them. When our midterms came out my mark was much lower than I thought it would be and there was a comment on how I received a 0 on my last essay due to plagiarism. I was shocked. I've never once in my life even thought of plagiarism (I want to be a writer/journalist). I confronted her about it and she had printed off an essay that was very similar to mine, however, I had never seen it before (the ABSOLUTE truth). I kept telling her that I didn't and I even had someone who was with me when I wrote it defend me but all she could say was "well the proof is right here". I finally gave up and stormed out. But I want justice-the principal said it was up to me/my mom and the teacher but she isn't siding with me...help!

Apparently they were worded slightly different but it was the same idea. And there was one sentence the exact same. I should her all of my rough notes and everyhting but she's still stuck on the idea. My mom's talked to my teacher and told her the same thing, but nothing else has been done. I'd rather not take it to the extreme with the media, I just want a passing grade and an apology. The teacher won't even look at me anymore let alone say anything to me.

Answer 1

Plagarism need not be intentional.

There is a body of information that schools assign students to write essays on. There is a finite number of ways the essays can be written, because there are finite facts. It only stands to reason that many honest students will write very similar essays based on the same or similar sets of facts that can be researched from standard reference works.

There are various research tools available to educators to run a comparison between any submitted student work and previous efforts to seek out similar efforts, the presumption being that there is no such thing as a coincidence ... if two students submitted substantially the same work, the second one must have copied from the first.

This system means that an infinite number of students will be accused of plagarism. Some of them will be guilty, some innocent. The current system has no way of telling which is which.

For you to prove innocence, you need to arrange through a lawyer for you to take a lie detector test, then use that evidence in a civil suit against the school system, in which your demands are
(1) Your reputation and honor is to be restored
(2) You get back the grade they stole from you
(3) Ths school system reimburse the expenses needed for you to prove you did not plagarize.
(4) If any college refuses your admission, they have to prove it was not because of this, or else pay you what you would have received in a successful career, lost because of their false information on you.

Without your family's support, you may need to wait until you are older, to pay for this. Start saving.

In the mean time, the person who was with you when you were working on your essay. Get that person to a Notary Republic to get a notarized statement from them with respect to the work that you did in creating your own essay. This deposition will be needed at the time of the civil trial. Also try to stay in touch with that person so you not lose track of their latest address.

If during your research you happened to visit public library or any other place not Internet, before the library workers forget you, seek from them written statements that you were in the library on such & such a date, so that you can include that in your proof that you were doing research.

Think back, anyone who might have witnessed any part of your research efforts, get written statements from them of what they witnessed. Have these notarized, to show who was the witness, when they made their statement.

Reason for this is that the court case may take several years to come to trial, by which time many memories become foggy. The notarized statements will help jog key memories.

Box up the notes you used in the development of your essay. In all probability they will be needed in some deposition or testimony as your case moves forwards.

You could also check with Legal Aid, to see whether you can get a Pro Bono lawyer to help you with the lie detector test and filing the papers for the civil law suit against the school system.

Even if Legal Aid is unable to take your case, they can probably inexpensively advise you (maybe for free) on what grievances you have under the law, such as
* Defamation of Character & Slander
* Career & College future sabotage
* Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor (you) by demonstrating that false allegations are acceptable behavior

Then given the list of legal grievances that you have, what are the odds of you winning any of them in any legal matter, and how expensive might it be for you to do such a fight.

Some people may say that a civil law suit against the school system is over-kill, but for your future career, you cannot afford to have this kind of a black mark on your record. This is a career death sentence.

Contact your local news media, and ask for a second opinion on my suggested course of action. I think they will agree that you need the intellectual equivalent of a two by four smacked against the head of the school administrators to get justice.

Answer 2

One of the points you mentioned about studying really hard - does that mean there was a substantial difference in the quality of the current essay to previous work? If yes, that might be another reason your teach was suspicious. However, that's also another point to discuss with her rationally and show her how you did so much better this time because you studied hard.

I really wouldn't think that 'calling the news' is the answer - really most people wouldn't care as there's much bigger stuff going on in the World. Ditto getting a lie detector test. When people storm out or shout they look defensive, and defensive people are often hiding something - I'm not saying you are, but think about how your behaviour looks to your teacher.

Get your reasoning together, ask your teacher to have a discussion about the essay and make a note of all the points you would like to raise. If dealt with rationally, the truth will out.

Answer 3

The simple answer is that, on the assumption that you HAVEN'T actually copied someone else's work then it's up to the teacher to PROVE you have, not you PROVE that you didn't. Innocent until proven guilty, eh? Is it possible that the writer of the other essay copied yours? Is it also possible that you both researched from the same material. Gather together the information that you used to research your essay and produce it as the source of your writing. If that doesn't work ask the Principal if you can have a personal hearing with representatives of the school's Board of Governors and demand that:-

a. You get an apology from this teacher both verbally and in writing and an explanation as to why she, erroneously, came to her conclusion.

b Your essay is marked by an independant assessor who has not seen the work you have supposedly copied.

c Your mark is added to your mid-term score and your position re-assessed.

d The Governors speak to the teacher to ensure that this sort of thing doesn't happen again, or, indeed has not happened before and, if so disclosure of who else has been accused.

e An acknowledgement from the principal that he/she did not handle the situation correctly by suggesting that the dispute was between you, your parents and the teacher.

If they will not co-operate tell them that you have suffered humiliation, accusations of cheating and abuse/loss of friendship from fellow pupils and that you intend to take legal advice to see if you can sue for Defamation of Character and Slander and mentals anguish and suffering and that, if you can, you will seek substantial damages from the School, the teacher, the principal and the Board of Governors together with public apologies from all of them which you will require to be published in the local newspaper. That should show 'em!

Answer 4

How similar? In what way? Use of language, tone, structure? I mean if it was similar in all of those ways I'd be suspicious as well. What are the odds? You must have your notes that you used to write the essay. If you followed procedure--you're a writer--so I'm sure you made up notecards for all of your paragraphs and such. That would be pretty convincing.

Why isn't your mother helping you in this regard. Surely, she witnessed you writing the essay.

I can tell you that most teachers run essays through a program licensed to the schools to search for plagiarism so it is possible it's bad luck. I'd have to see the essays side by side though.

Answer 5

Plagiarism is a very serious charge. (I graduated a year ago with my BA in journalism).
Having very similar wording and one sentence from your essay that's identical to the one your teacher printed out doesn't look good for you.
FYI- when my son (also in high school) is doing his writing, I monitor him very closely, as he loves Wikipedia. I allow him to cut/paste to Word, then require that he use his own words and ideas. He had to do an essay recently comparing/contrasting Emerson's "Self Reliance" essay to something more modern. It was tough for me to read and understand! We discussed it and I played around with some comparison topic paragraphs. Then he read them and used ideas he got from reading my paragraphs. (While he was doing this, I made very sure he was using his work and not mine, or anyone else's.)
You're on the right track by showing your rough drafts and notes. Since the principal isn't any help, go a step higher and go to your district's administration office. Take everything (note cards, research, notes, books, etc.), and explain your side to the dean of instruction, or who ever would be the equivalent.
Do this right away, since it affects your final high school transcript, which affects entrance into college.

Answer 6

Your teacher should have given you a chance to explain. Your parents (not you) should speak to the principal about this.

Did you save your notes and references? Do you have any old copies you printed while you were writing? That's the best way to deal with this.

From now on, I suggest using the "Comments" section in your writing to note to yourself where you found something or how you adapted material. That will help also, and will help when you do your bibliography.

Sorry you must go through this--but definitely stand up for yourself if you feel you are right.

Answer 7

Go to her and demand an apology and a grade if this fails and your so sure you did not plagerise any of it........

Call the news channels and demand this teacher to give you a grade and an apology. She can not accuse without facts. How many times can people actually write about macbeth and it not seem similiar. DO SOMETHING!

This could change your entrance into a college!

Answer 8

Well, if your professor is really settled with the fact that you plagiarized then it would be very difficult to convince him, but if I were you I'd really take the option to rewrite a new paper rather than go with a failing mark.

Answer 9

There's something not right about this.

The teacher should have said something to you if you plagiarized. There are legal things about it as well as school things.

You should have had to talk to the teacher about it, and maybe even more than that. The fact that the teacher did nothing about it other than give you a zero is really weird.

Answer 10

Well your teacher did provide the proof to support her claim, so appreciate that fact. I think by not letting your emotions get the better of you and saying OK...but consider this and show any points of originality that might support your claim that are purely coincidental.