By Anonymous - 10/11/2009 06:43 - United States

Today, I got a paper back that was given a zero for suspected plagiarism. Everything I wrote was my own thought and analysis. My instructor basically thinks my paper is smarter than I am. He won't listen, even when I explain my thought processes throughout the piece. FML
I agree, your life sucks 46 685
You deserved it 2 736
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Top comments

shekhar 0

Not simply in America or Hungary, the situation is worse in India. In India, reading or writing is not the culture of the youth in majority. I always had teachers who became teachers perhaps because they did not have anything else to do. All my papers, essays and critical reviews were questioned because my writing was "like that of an expert" (Putting it in words of one of my teachers in high school). But I always proved to convince my ideas and as I had good academic results always, so that didn't turn out to be such a larger issue for me. OP accept my heart felt empathy.

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Comments

rhfincr 0

Don't waste your time with him. Profs can be dicks, i know i was married to one for a long time. if the prof admits he or she was wrong he or she is going to lose face. Go stright to the dean of students and ask for a hearing. Tell the dean you are willing to put your paper through any anti-plagerism software, turnitin, global reference, any one of them. if it passes nothing your prof can say can disprove its your own words. Then nail him or on his or her review... and try to never take a class with him or her again... their also very petty and vindictive... you might end up with a C but thats better than an F... Good Luck

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browningNRA2 0

sucks for you, i use plagiarism all the time and am never caught. Get good.

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perdix 29

Stealing from one person is plagiarism, stealing from many is research.

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russianspy1234 11

Heres your problem, essay grading isn't concrete, so even if you win, he can regrade the essay, and say its still an F because it sucks.

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DrRick 0

This happened to me as a college sophomore, around 1967. I carted into the professor's office a large box of books to prove that almost every paragraph was properly sourced and attributed. It's hard to prove innocence but I succeeded and he changed the grade to "A". In the end, his only excuse for the "F": "I didn't think any of my sophomores could write that well." What a jerk.

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TheTruth1428 0

FYL. You need to go over that teacher's head and complain to someone else. I don't think they're allowed to fail you for "Suspected Plagiarism" I think you could convince a superior that they'd have to prove it's actually copied and not your work.

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ohJeeznotme 7

Depending on the teacher/professor they can be strict on plagarizing. If you did not properly cite your sources in the required format (MLA, etc) then missing a citation can also be considered plagarism. It is up to YOU to prove that you can acknowledge your sources and yes - even reading something and rewording it without citing it can be seen as plagarized because it was NOT your unique idea to begin with. Regardless, go over his head and prove to whomever it is you need to that this is your work and that he is being an asshat. Like someone else already said participating in class might actually earn you some more acknowledgement by this teacher because he will see that you are capable of thinking for yourself.

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polico_wolf 0

you dont understand. They made it up THEMSELVES all they could citizite would be "my thoughts" (which happened to have been explained to the prof).

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boone_fml 0

YDI for plagiarizing. Unless you are an expert in the field you need to cite sources. If you did cite sources, YDI for not doing it right.

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akorpija 12

Talk to the head of your department bud, that's complete crap.

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grrrarrrg2 2

Seriously, like others have said, go to whoever is in charge at your school. Give them the same argument you gave him. Tell them you want him to prove its plagerized. If he pulls this shit again file a complaint. Make his life hell!

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loadie951 0

There a website you can go to prove your paper is not plagerized. Its called turnitin.com, an instructor I had for english made us submit all our papers so there was no way anyone could have plagerized. Check it out.

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