<p>Yeah, I was a bit blind-sided when I received the email from my professor. I set up my meeting during her office hours on Tuesday and I have taken big steps to provide evidence that would acquit me altogether or at the very least prove that I didn’t intend to plagiarize (charges I vehemently deny, accident or not). I reached out to my former employer, requesting written permission to use that specific chunk of text and I also printed out paperwork that explains what falls under the “fair use” law. One thing I would like to do before Tuesday is to get a 3rd party opinion from an on-campus professor/adviser to bolster my defense. I want to walk in there, have her present the 2 lines of evidence from my job description and be able to make her feel bad for putting me in this situation. Who should I reach out to on campus for an outside opinion (an adviser, professor, etc.)? I will be sure to post follow-up when the situation is resolved.</p>
<p>It’s fair use. But if you are on good terms with your company, ask them to confirm it is fair use.</p>
<p>If you are given a job description, it seems more unethical to change it to something else than to use that exact job description.</p>
<p>“not intending to plagiarize” is bullcrap, most people do not intend to plagiarize but do.</p>
<p>However, the circumstances are rather specific, and it is fair use. I would escalate it if the professor insists on pursuing it.</p>
<p>The only other thing I can say is, if I assigned doing <em>a</em> resume as an assignment, I would think it is unfair for the student to give <em>their</em> resume, because in theory they’ve been working on it for years. Thus, it was not done specifically for my class. <em>IF</em> you asked the professor, and she said “fine, you can start with your own resume”, that is different.</p>
<p>I would not stress “heck, I didn’t even do it, it was my mom helping me” because THAT is technically plagiarism, having someone else do your work. However, as a professor, I would agree that perhaps at the time you forgot that she helped you.</p>
<p>Hopefully this situation won’t occur again. </p>
<p>Whoa. Make her feel bad? Wrong approach. As I said to an earlier poster you are exhibiting your youth by making a mountain before you know if it is a molehill or a mountain. You should not be reaching out until you know what the prof has in mind. It is entirely possible that when you explain what happened, everything will fine. One step at a time.</p>
<p>Rewrite a resume? And for what purposes should that be? To be creative and “reinvent” the wheel? </p>
<p>The OP cleared the use of the current resume, and got approval. This issue of plagiarism is pure nonsense, and unless there are other issues to be discussed, the conversation with the teacher should be a non-event. </p>
<p>If I were the OP, I would stop the bleeding and merely go to the meeting and hear about the issue that seems to bother this (rather silly) teacher. There is no reason to present a “defense” before knowing what the problem is. </p>
<p>And we wonder why our education system is being criticized? Exercises such as writing a resume belong in the career development office and should not be part of a bona fide course of higher education. But then again, that is what seems to happen at a business school. </p>
<p>Why make her feel bad? Why not approach this as an honest dialogue? Life doesn’t need to be a fight and she will ultimately be giving you a final grade. </p>
<p>Of course I’m going to reflect the degree of escalation that she takes it to if need be. I don’t have classes all next week because of a change in our schedules, so the only time I have to be on campus next week (an hour long commute) is to meet with her. This course is a fluff course, but since my campus is so diverse (Georgetown), students who use English as a second language tend to understandably struggle. At first, I was more afraid about the circumstances because I wasn’t sure about the seriousness of what I was being accused of, but after the fact, I’m pretty offended and see this as a major inconvenience.</p>
<p>“I’m pretty offended and see this as a major inconvenience”</p>
<p>You said earlier that you set up the appointment. You could have told the teacher that you weren’t going to be on campus next week due to the schedule change and asked if you could set up an appointment for the following week.</p>
<p>OP: Don’t be offended or act like this is a major inconvenience. The professor may simply be following required protocols. Go in to this with eyes open and try to understand why this even came up. Going in with a bad attitude will not be a good thing. You want the professor to understand that this was an honest mistake (or not even a mistake), so you should at least try to understand the prof’s position. And if the position is ridiculous and she won’t budge, I would take this higher. But until that point, you need to proceed cautiously. Much better to have her simply accept the work rather than having to redo it or having to have a fight.</p>
<p>PurplePlum This was a resume and she was told she could use her own resume. She did the job she described. How is it plagirism to say she washed dishes if she washed dishes? That is where some of this gets silly. Does anyone use quotes on a resume? </p>
<p>As described, I don’t believe this meets common accepted plagiarism standards, and that it would be violated in numerous other cases at a college or university. To be specific, I would expect that if other resumes and vitas (from students to staff to faculty to administrators) were run through a checker, you would commonly find such violations wrt to job listings/duties.</p>
<p>Schedule a meeting with the professor at earliest mutual convenience. Let the professor know ahead of time in writing
that you disagree and don’t understand the assessment of plagiarism on the resume assignment, given that the matches of concern related to specific listing of duties as detailed by the employer.</p>
<p>Make your primary points at the meeting and work at having open dialogue. Quite often some kind of agreement will come out of this. If no agreement appears likely, then ask both at the meeting and in written follow up for the specific definition of plagiarism she is using.</p>
<p>Then request the next formal step in your college’s student grievance procedures. E.g., this most likely involves a layer with the dept chair. Ask that as part of that an evaluation of whether the definition of plagiarism being applied to you is a standard that would be widely accepted relative to resumes and curriculum vitaes, such as those posted at the university. </p>
<p>If need be, respectfully ask that the grievance process the taken past the dept level and have a hearing at the hearing at the Dean of student’s office or level.</p>
<p>While perhaps inconvenient, none of these meetings need to take more than, say a half an hour each.</p>
<p>I"m not sure I would seek out a 3rd party prior to meeting with her. And trying to make her feel bad would make you as dumb as she is. If she insists that it is plagiarism and you end up with some kind of punishment, you might talk to the college career office about how to find appropriate wording for a resume and cover letter (wouldn’t tell them the situation, just ask for that help). I guarantee you they will send you down this path. Which you can then use when appealing to an authority above your professor if you need to.</p>
<p>But if you go in acting like a jerk, she might push this further just because she can.</p>
<p>Whatever you do, don’t try to make her “feel bad.”</p>
<p>No matter what, she has the “power” in this situation. She is not “right,” but she can make this drag on and on if she wants. it’s silly, yes, but it’s a good lesson, anyway. Before you are the ceo, you will have the occasionally tedious boss. </p>
<p>Be gracious in victory, always. It’s a good thing to remember for the duration of your career, as well. Good luck. </p>
<p>OP, whatever you do, don’t go into the meeting with a chip on your shoulder. Go in respectfully and repond politely to what she has to say. For all you know, she may just want to meet with you ask questions for clarification. Having said that, you should be prepared to assert your points. Again, just be aware that if she is aware of what copy right protection is, that your assertions about permission to use the language probably won’t matter. You did not republish or distribute someone else’s copy protected work with out permission–you are being accused of plagiarism, which is using someone else’s wording without giving proper credit. Two different concepts. She may not see this distinction and that is fine and your permission to use the language may help you. However, having your former employer’s permission to use the text may not matter to her because she may see it as you presenting someone else’s work or product and claiming it as your own, which is what plagiarism is, as far as I understand it. This differs from a potential copy right violation of republishing a <em>properly credited</em> passage from a copy protected novel with out the original author’s permission, for example. Though as I said, she may not see this distinction, which will help you.</p>
<p>Again, I agree with others in that I would imagine it is quite common place for people to borrow wording from job postings in resumes. And it does seem quite extreme that you would be accused of plagiarism for this. But please don’t go in to your meeting all outraged. See what she has to say and respond accordingly. Let her define the issue and respond appropriately.</p>
<p>Heh, what is funny is that the student is an accounting major. In public accounting this kind of “plagiarism” is rampant. When you are preparing a proposal in response to an RFP, what is first thing your senior or manager asks you to do? “Dig up last year’s and change the dates!” When you are doing resumes or past performance, what do they want? “Match the language in RFP or RFQ as closely as possible!” The old joke is that CPA (Certified Public Accountant) really stands for Cut Paste and Assemble!</p>
<p>To me, this is not only not plagiarism, it is good professional practice. Hiring managers and agencies do not always read every resume; they scan for key words. If this was a research paper or a creative project then I would say the plagiarizers should get the chair! But in a resume?? Using the same wording and language as the employer is not just OK, it is the smart thing to do! That’s what they want! Professors like this should actually look at the output of their plagiarism checker software and not just the number.</p>
<p>(Though I agree with everyone above – be gracious, kind, and polite. Do not make the professor feel stupid even though this is a stupid, stupid thing to do to someone. That is a lesson not just for college but for after college as well. As Lord Tywin Lannister says, “When you beat someone, reach out a hand and help them back up. If you kick them while they are down, they will never give in to you again!”)</p>
<p>It’s paraphrased a bit, but it is one of my favorite quotes and something I try to live by. We learn a lot about how to be a ‘good sport’ when we lose but it’s important to be a ‘good sport’ when you WIN too. In the latter case, it’s good idea if only to keep people from gunning for you later!</p>
<p>What is interesting, is that I just read an article about writing resume’s that result in interviews. The author said to use the exact terms that are in the job description of the job you are applying for. The thinking was that most resume’s are filtered by a computer program before it ever makes it to an HR person. So for a resume, how unique can you be really?</p>
Good luck. </p>