By ninjakomodo - 13/11/2012 21:16 - United States

Today, my English professor accused me of plagiarizing a poem I submitted, because she'd read it online earlier that day. The poem was mine; I posted it after writing it for her class, and even after logging into the site to prove it, she reported me to the school. FML
I agree, your life sucks 35 189
You deserved it 2 750

ninjakomodo tells us more.

OP here, just for all of the people talking about self plagiarism, I checked. My university does not have that clause anywhere within the rules. I read through the entire thing and even checked with the legal department. I'm sure they will put it in after this. I have gone to the dean and they have forced the teacher to drop the case and give me the grade I deserved. They also decided, due to suggestion of the department head, that the department head himself will be grading everything that I submit to that teacher for the rest of the semester, and that I will not be able to take classes with that teacher anymore. I'm sure they will be evaluating their plagiarism rules more, and putting in a clause for self plagiarism, but we will see what happens. Luckily, I only have 2 more semesters there before I'm out of that school for good.

Top comments

Sometimes teachers are not as bright as you expect them to be.

What a bitch, I'm sure the head of your department will believe you

Comments

Was this in Stockton Cali? My stupid English teacher is a witch. She answers questions with questions.

Did you post it after you submitted it or before?

She is not a computer teacher, so don't be surprised

You submitted the poem to an outside medium before handing it in to be graded at school. This is plagiarism and before anyone mentions it you can self plagiarize. Usually this plagiarism is not looked for until university level mind you, if you are in high-school then that is one self important teacher you have there.

Self-plagiarism is controversial, and, in general, refers to published works, particularly high-level academic or scientific ones. Taking a poem that you wrote for an English class and posting it on the internet under your own name is a far cry from that. Those are wildly different audiences, one of the signifiers that a case in question falls under fair use and NOT self-plagiarism. If the poem had been written much earlier and OP recycled it for an assignment, then you'd be entering ethically shaky territory, but in this case, OP did nothing wrong. The school administration should concur. OP's teacher just sucks.

probably your poem was to good OP and she would have never produced such quality. don't give up and stand for your imaginative mind!

Might have been wise to wait till after you turned your poem in before posting it online

The school can't do shit. Your teacher is a bitch but you will be fine. You have proof.

doglover100 28

That's not fair. Your teacher isn't the brightest.

Your teacher is an imbecile! Hopefully Simeon win the schools administration isn't as obtuse as she is! Funny that she would run across your poem though, she should have instead given you accolades not been too dim to think you plagiarized yourself!