So I wasn’t aware that simply showing someone else your completed work was academic dishonesty, I only thought that doing it with the intention of them copying it was (like for example, you took the class before and gave them your paper to use, or something of the sort).
Well, for one of my classes we had to do reflection journals throughout the semester. These journals are to be about personal experiences, which is much different from an academic paper. I kept up with mine, my friend didn’t. She had a whole bunch of notes but not many dates, and needed help sorting hers out before the final when the journal was due. I already had mine done, so I sent her my journal.
Well instead of just viewing my journal to straighten things out in her memory she used the whole document, deleted my entries and wrote hers in their place one at a time. She forgot to delete one of my entries, and it got accidentally left in the document when she turned it in.
My professor discovered it and KNEW right away it was MY work that was copied because what I wrote was very distinctly me, he said he could even tell by the writing style, YET I’m still getting a 0.
In my meeting with my professor when he asked me questions, he said “if your friend had only cited you, then it would’ve been fine.”
So isn’t that my friend’s fault then, for not citing me, if it’s citable work? And if it’s not citable, then why does it matter?
Can someone explain the logic behind this? Or if you’ve been through the same or a similar thing, what happened to you?
I suspect the logic behind it is explained on Purdue’s Academic Integrity site:
"Purdue prohibits “dishonesty in connection with any University activity…(T)he following are a few examples of academic dishonesty that have been discovered at Purdue University.
…
collaborating with other students on assignments when it is not allowed”.
Unless it was defined as a joint/group assignment (and it sounds like it was individual), sharing your completed assignment was the problem.
You didn’t just “show” your “friend” your journal, you sent her the whole thing through email. She then cheated with your assistance. I don’t think people here really need to explain to you the logic here. I think you could think more about what the word friend means.
“Showing” the journal would be to open it up when she was sitting right next to you and saying, “look, here is my journal.” Then she could look at it for a few seconds and then say, “I see, thanks for showing me your journal.”
As it pertains to you, the relevant “intent” was your intention to show her your work.
As it pertains to her, the relevant “intent” was to copy all or part of your work.
Students under stress make mistakes. Even the very best students sometimes do things they later regret. The important thing is how they handle the situation-what lessons are learned-what happens next. The fact that you used a title saying “Friend accidentally copied my assignment” suggests not much was learned. As Publisher states, the intent for both of you is clear. The question now is why you continue to characterize the incident as an accident. My guess is that when you sent your friend your work, you suspected or figured she’d use the information you provided to have an easier time completing the assignment but you did not expect her to blatantly copy it. You figured she’d find ways to camouflage the fact that she was benefiting from your work. But she was careless and got caught. Now’s the time to be honest about your contribution to the fiasco and to avoid similar difficulties in the future.