You won't believe this!

[spinningmind]

Hi everyone! I think this may be my first time posting here. Anyway, you won't believe what happened to me. At college, one of my instructors falsely accused me of plagiarism and gave me a zero, which lowered my over-all grade by a whole letter! When I found out about this, I was so upset that I sort of overreacted a bit. I ended up throwing a pen across her office (she thinks that I was trying to hit her with it, which isn't true.) She thought my paper was plageriazed because it was too advanced, I handed it in at the last moment, I used vocabulary that was too advanced, and I overreacted when I was accused. I apologized to the instructor for overreacting but she didn't accept my apology. Instead, she told me that I was "childish" and "disrespectful." I finally was cleared from the plagiarism charge and given the grade I deserved. But this was only after three weeks of intensive meetings with the instructor, the dean, etc. Worst of all the instructor has now threatened to try and get me in trouble for the pen incident. I keep asking myself why crap like this has to happen to me. My parents think it is because we're in Nebraska. What do all of you think about this?

[gypsysway]

I don't think I've ever been to Neb. so it must be something else. I always wondered why I always seemed to be the one in class that would end up in to it with teachers, ever since I can remember. Most the time in strange ways too, like you described. I can picture myself in your shoes at that point..lol....I've had teachers scream at me on the top of their lungs with their finger pointing at the door to get OUT!! Man I peed a lot of teachers off. Most of the time because I was right and being sarcastic about it. Not just with teachers, relationships, also. I have had people people think that I was going to jump them or hit them, because I get excited and talk with my hands. Seems many years later, I still have people get the wrong intentions because of how I handle things or my tone of voice. It can be hard sometimes, trying to bring yourself down to their level, and relalize they don't understand you, and your actions, Most people don't. Just take a deep breath think about what is givin them the impression they have, and address it. Then explain to them the way you can be sometimes and maybe you can be on even ground again...
'

[HighFunctioning]

Originally Posted by spinningmind

Hi everyone! I think this may be my first time posting here. Anyway, you won't believe what happened to me. At college, one of my instructors falsely accused me of plagiarism and gave me a zero, which lowered my over-all grade by a whole letter! When I found out about this, I was so upset that I sort of overreacted a bit. I ended up throwing a pen across her office (she thinks that I was trying to hit her with it, which isn't true.) She thought my paper was plageriazed because it was too advanced, I handed it in at the last moment, I used vocabulary that was too advanced, and I overreacted when I was accused. I apologized to the instructor for overreacting but she didn't accept my apology. Instead, she told me that I was "childish" and "disrespectful." I finally was cleared from the plagiarism charge and given the grade I deserved. But this was only after three weeks of intensive meetings with the instructor, the dean, etc. Worst of all the instructor has now threatened to try and get me in trouble for the pen incident. I keep asking myself why crap like this has to happen to me. My parents think it is because we're in Nebraska. What do all of you think about this?

If you have a diagnosis, does your professor know of it? If so, do you believe there to be any connection with that incident and the diagnosis? It would seem that the burden of proof would be upon the professor, but she obviously doesn't think so. Proof in such an instance would be a copy of the text in which your work was copied from or closely derived from. However, I have no information specific to your location. This reminds me of some of my programming courses where my programs would get marked down severely as they were too advanced and I hadn't "did what I was told, only what I was told to do."

[spinningmind]

To answer your question, no I haven't told the instructor that I am ADD. I told one of the administrators involved but later I thought that might have been a mistake. I would never consider telling the instructor because I'm sure she would use it against me. In one meeting, she and another adminstrator kept telling me that I needed to work on my self-control. This was really annoying because even if this is true, the meeting was supposed to be about my unfair grade not my ADD. This instructor never did find any proof of my plagiarism, yet she still will not believe that I really did write the paper. She tried to intimidate me into giving a false confession. And has pretty much tried to do her best to make me feel like a loser.

[Coral Rhedd]

You must realize that teachers are very suspicious about plagiarism because they get deliberately plagiarized papers frequently and they also get accidentally plagiarized papers. Either way, it's a problem.

To avoid getting in trouble:

1. Always keep copies of any drafts and, if you want to write your best paper, always do a second or third draft.

2. Understand that not just words should be attributed but also ideas that are not your own. Use proper citation in your papers.

3. In order to be perfectly safe, it is good to keep a Works Consulted page whether or not you need to turn one in.

4. If you use more than five words in a row that are other people's words, use quotation marks and proper citation.

5. You do not say what class you were taking but there are handbooks that help you understand proper citation. Use MLA for English and APA for social studies.

Now that you know you write well enough to impress/amaze/fool the teacher, it will help if all your essays are consistently good. Teachers usually only get suspicious when new writing far exceeds previous writing.

Your teacher was out of line to accuse you of plagiarism without proof. You were out of line to throw a pen at her. Make sure you put your apology in writing and get some help for your temper. College students should know better than to throw things at instructors.

This incident has nothing to do with Nebraska.

[stanzen]

Years ago, a highschool history teacher accused me of plagerism. He said my term paper was too good to be written by me and that the references I used were a couple of years old. What did he expect from a highschool paper? Also, he noted that I had not taken out any books from the crappy, useless school library. As if there weren't real libraries around!

I didn't plagerize the paper.

He investigated me because I embarassed him in front of a visiting teacher. As usual, I couldn't keep my mouth shut. I've always had a talent for hitting a raw nerve and inappropriate moments. He never revealed this reason, of course, and I never apologized about my impulsive mouth (probably should have).

In any case, I've experienced this kind of thing, a lot, like gypsysway. Something about my behavior annoys, but I'm attacked for something unrelated to my behavioral quirks.

In any case, you apologized for throwing the pen and acting out. You did no harm and you didn't plagerize. You're no loser.

But, your instructor is free to believe what she wants. Might even be worth your while to ask her if there was something else bothering her before the plagerism incident.

Cheers,

[spinningmind]

I think I need to elaborate more on my situation. First of all, this was not a research paper. This was just an essay that I wrote in a literature class. I did not use any sources because it was all my own opinions that came straight from my own head. The teacher never did have any proof other than one coincidental sentence that had the same word in it. The reason she couldn't find any "proof" is because I really didn't plagiarize. The reason why I don't have any other drafts of my paper is because they aren't necessary for me. I know they help improve some people's papers but not mine. Some of you reading these posts may not believe me but that's okay. I'll prove my innocents, when I become a professional writer. And for those of you who genuinly believe me, I thank you for your support.

[vegansoprano]

I understand about drafts - I don't use them either. But you probably make a few revisions to your word processing document and you can save each of these separately.

Bottom line is that you're innocent until proven guilty and the prof has to have something more than a hunch to go on to convict you of plagiarism. But you do have to be in control of your emotions. Wait till you're out of the room and throw pens across the restroom for the rest of the afternoon, but it's never good to break professionalism in the presence of a less-than-understanding prof.

If you have a supportive individual affiliated with the school (a therapist, psychiatrist, or academic support counselor), it might not be a bad idea to lay all your cards on the table. But it's your choice. I haven't told any of my profs about my dx and right now I don't plan to (even though the profs who probably should know are both truly decent people whom I would fully expect to be supportive), so I can understand where you're coming from.

[Coral Rhedd]

Originally Posted by spinningmind

I think I need to elaborate more on my situation. First of all, this was not a research paper. This was just an essay that I wrote in a literature class. I did not use any sources because it was all my own opinions that came straight from my own head. The teacher never did have any proof other than one coincidental sentence that had the same word in it. The reason she couldn't find any "proof" is because I really didn't plagiarize. The reason why I don't have any other drafts of my paper is because they aren't necessary for me. I know they help improve some people's papers but not mine. Some of you reading these posts may not believe me but that's okay. I'll prove my innocents, when I become a professional writer. And for those of you who genuinly believe me, I thank you for your support.

Learning to spell innocence will help you toward your goal.

I was not saying that you had plagiarized. I was offering advice on how to insure that any future accusations are ones that you can prove baseless. I am a published writer. I know many other writers. When we are young and innocent, we think we don't need to do drafts. When we are older, we get wiser.

Now that you know your position with this particular teacher, you know what you have to do. However, teachers speak to other teachers and they tend to believe each other. Take steps to make certain that your reputation will be protected. You will also learn more by doing your own revision than you will ever learn by any other person's critique -- including your teacher's.

BTW, I was also falsely accused of plagiarism when I was a high school student. I fought it too. And I won.