um... oops?

[astro_noms]

So for one of our classes, with the oh-so-appealing name "Writing on the Doorstep: Dwelling and Hospitality in Contemporary American Fiction," we had to write four 1-2 page response papers to some of the texts/novels/movies we discussed in class. And throughout the semester, our instructor kept reminding us about plagiarism and the rules and basically "don't do the thing." In our last class, I handed in the last of my assignments, and we all settled in to wait for him to grade them and give us our final marks. Then a few days ago, we got another e-mail from him, saying that despite the warnings and instructions, there were still papers with plagiarism issues, and would the people who did the thing please get in touch with him and "propose a further course of action." But you know, there wasn't actually a list of people, and he didn't get in touch with us individually. I guess he was expecting us all to come and see him to pick up our papers and get our index books signed. So I decided to e-mail him and ask, because I won't be back until the end of the semester, and I'd like to know all my grades before I leave.

And you see where this is going, don't you?

He e-mailed me to let me know he'd get back to me with grades and comments today, but there's an issue with one of my papers, where I totally "misappropriated someone else's words as mine," which is, by the institute's rules, plagiarism. I'm too pissed off with myself to check what the rules for dealing with that are (it's one paper out of four, hopefully it won't mean a failing grade, but I'll probably get a barely passing one instead), and it's 3pm and I haven't heard from him yet, and it's so frustrating, because I did forget to cite the quote, and printed out that version, but then I fixed it and printed out the correct version, only apparently I got them mixed up and handed in the wrong one by mistake. *facepalm^infinity* I wrote back to tell him that last night, but he's just as likely to say "nope, sorry, don't believe you" as he is to give me a break.

So, yeah... Oops. If he decides to fail me, I can say goodbye to qualifying for a stipend. It won't be the end of the world, but oy vey, the whining from my family if I don't... /o\

Comments

[synkkaenkeli]

I hope he'll let you turn the other one in.

[astro_noms]

Nope. But he said that since the quote is largely unrelated to the rest of the analysis, I can write another response paper on a different text and turn it in. Which sucks, especially since I should be working on my translation stuff and packing for my trip and trying desperately not to get sick, rather than writing a stupid-ass paper, but at least he's letting me write something else, so there's that. And it's short, so I'll have it done pretty soon.

[synkkaenkeli]

Man that does suck you have to redo the whole thing. I'm glad it isn't like a 10page paper or something though.

[astro_noms]

Oh man, if it was a 10 page paper, I think I'd just take the fail. I don't know if he's not going to try and be ~~strict and give me the lowest passing grade anyway, especially since "doesn't quite the point" in one of my other papers, but whatever, at this point I just want it over and done with.

[rabies]

Here's hoping he gives you a break.

[timetobegin]

ugh plagiarism. such a tricky topic, and almost never the case of what actually happened.

[astro_noms]

Our faculty is a bit oversensitive on the subject, especially the younger members, of which this guy is one. :\

[timetobegin]

yeah its really hard to have an original thought in frequently studied areas.