By zoegirl_455 - 09/04/2014 21:57 - United States - San Francisco

Today, my teacher used an online program and accused me of plagiarism. According to the program, I plagiarized my own last name. FML
I agree, your life sucks 45 985
You deserved it 3 105

zoegirl_455 tells us more.

zoegirl_455 30

Surprised this got posted guess it's twenty times the charm. So yes this fml needs a ton of explanation. The program my teacher used is turn it in. My percentage of plagiarism is 22%. Some of what is highlighted as plagiarism is my works cited and my last name, there's also some parts of sentences that are apparently plagiarized also. The paper was on historical events so much of what is highlighted are dates, names, and events. The things that my teacher said were "word from word from turn it in" were descriptions of historical events and similar things, and they were phrases, not whole sentences. When I looked at the source of plagiarism my words were apparently copied from a website I've never heard of, a student paper that I'm pretty sure is from another state, and a website I did use as a source in my paper and did cite. I did not plagiarize my paper, I spent a whole week writing it and a good portion of my weekend editing it. The most frustrating thing is that many people from my class spit out a paper two hours before it was due and got a higher grade. I am planning to talk to my teacher after school and clear this up. It's pretty ridiculous because in all my 12 years of school I've never been accused of this sooo I'm hoping my teacher will be able to understand. To clear up the meaning of the FML, I was trying to say that my teacher basically used some program on the Internet to accuse me of plagiarism that just highlights anything that is remotely similar to something else, which resulted in a higher percentage of plagiarism. Hopefully this explanation wasn't too confusing and this cleared everything up!

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Top comments

ruckfules85 34

Wtf is going through peoples minds these days. Your teacher needs to get herself together.

213 1

Comments

Spyingcheeseman 8

holy sheeeiit who the hell cares if its to or too. if you know what he is talking about then who cares. this Is FML not Improve your Grammar.com maybe if it was something bigger I'd understand. but to correct the word "to"? come on. chill

Mr10crossing 5

Chill? You just wrote a paragraph complaining about a simple correction.

143 2
loooloool 13

I think you need to chill....

44 0
trulypar 34

I think the correction from "to" to "too" is perfect irony on this subject...after all, this is a writing related FML, lol.

59 1
FML64128 7

Yeah we don't want to foster bad habits because they only get worse. And then who has to put up with the terrible, headache-inducing writing? We do. Just look around, people make corrections on FML all the time. That's not to say you need to jump sometimes shit for a typo, because some people are typing on mobile phones and autocorrect is always a factor. This is a common enough error that we want to err on the side of caution.

20 3
BrotherPhil 35

Grammar nazis are part of the humour here. By the way, your sentences should have started with capital letters.

4 0
ruckfules85 34

Wtf is going through peoples minds these days. Your teacher needs to get herself together.

213 1
TourettesGuyFTW 25

Come on #2, there's only one person named Smith in the US, everyone knows that!!.

80 0
ruckfules85 34

Oh my gosh you're right. Well i guess she is in her right mind.

21 1
thefastnfuryass 14

I knew there's was vodka in her coffee that day!

2 14
Kalipczo 21

I feel like there's more to the story... Your teacher cant possible be stupid enough to accuse you of plagiarizing your own last name.

157 5
17nate 9

Let's not assume... we don't have all the facts yet.

33 1
Jakob2255 12

could. be that that she did not read the reason for plagiarism

22 2
Kalipczo 21

If the teacher is going to accuse someone of plagiarism you'd think they'd print out some evidence first. You don't just accuse for the sake of accusing, plagiarism is a big deal.

32 2
mattjamt 16

95% of schools that use plagiarizing programs use "TurnItIn", in which case, you can be marked for plagiarizing, but unless there is a 20% plagiarism rate for your paper, you are not considered to be plagiarizing. So it's more likely the name was one part, but he got marked for plagiarism on more than just the name.

53 1
FML64128 7

That's not quite true. Turn it in has a variable plagiarism rate to be set by the instructor. The default is 20%, but I can see how someone who might not understand basic math setting the trigger lower.

11 3
chinaski7628 32

I've used turnitin.com for my students and have had problems with it. It's marked my students for plagiarism when they've correctly quoted and cited sources. Also, if too many students write a similar intro or thesis statement, it will flag it. You can change the settings, but I prefer to use my common sense-- if you know your students and their writing well enough you know their writing style. And when in doubt, google the phrase you think they plagiarized. Much simpler.

37 0
Durantye 8

Yeah well kudos to you for being one of the few teachers that don't do the bare minimum. Unfortunately a lot of teachers just do what they have to and some times not even that.

11 0
ItsATwinThing 9

My sister wrote an essay on vampires in film. The teacher accused her several times of plagiarism when it wasn't. He then asked her what certain words meant because he obviously thought she didn't actually know what they meant, well she told him. Some teachers don't know their students well enough to know their writing or what they are capable of.

13 0
baxeh 29

Didnt you know, there can't possible be more than one family with the same lastname...

61 4
Spyingcheeseman 8

your wrong. lots and lots of families have the same last name. My last name is Holmes. But there was Sherlock Holmes (although he was a fictional character) someone had to think of that as a last name. so there is bound to be others. Also. there is a Katie Holmes we all know. and I'm not related to her. look up your last name and you'll see more families with that name.

4 78
trulypar 34

Um, there was sarcasm in the comment...guess ya missed it.

23 0
ihaveasushicat 24

Apparently #29 you've never heard of sarcasm. Even though it's through text it's still incredibly obvious here...

24 0
Nymeria_fml 25

Wow. I think Spyingcheeseman and emily4040 would make a great couple.

3 3
illegalbeagle69 23

Are you going on a trip to the Réunion Island #29?

13 0
Rainhawk94 27

Give #29 a break, its only a lava lamp

6 2
Scynistr 20

Let me give you one of the many keys to the internet.. If something sounds so stupid that you can't believe how stupid it sounds... It's likely sarcasm.

5 0
joselgarciac 9

I'm sorry, I could only focus on your misuse of the word "your".

7 1
BoltTheSuperdog 22

I doubt many people have the name "zoegirl_455".

2 0
baxeh 29

Unless.... #29 was also being sarcastic, and is indeed, the sarcasm master

1 0
oddities 20

Is your last name Smith? Also, what's wrong with your teacher?

31 1
iAlissa 34

Gotta love Turnitin.com! This specifically hasn't happened to me but I've had similar things occur!

3 2
briang959 47

I just found this FML published on another site. Plagiarist. :)

38 7
Mynamewontfi 40

Your teacher is an idiot. I hope you don't get in big trouble over this.

7 2
DocBastard 38

"But I swear my name IS Tom Shakespeare!"

52 4
blackonblight 32

Considering how many ways he spelled his name, Will would likely be yelled at by spellcheck.

7 0
WCARlover 34

Don't you know every single person in the world has a different last name?! Dang OP, the teacher is obviously justified.

25 5
emily4040 18

I know 7 Johnson's none related. I know 5 Smith's again not related. And 15 Bennett's of which only 3 are related. Not everybody has a different last name

1 53
cadillacgal79 32

#20, I do believe she was being sarcastic.

33 0
thrAsHeRr9081 16

#20... Do you honestly believe someone would be dumb enough to really think that?

7 0