So I have a seminar class where I just listen to engineers talk about their major. After each lecture I am required to write a one page essay answering the 4 same questions. 1) Why I chose that lecture (given 2 choices, one engineering and one science)? 2) What did the presenter talk about? 3) Did you like the presenter? 4) What did you learn?
Being industrial engineering major and wanting to focus on my difficult classes. I went ahead and generalized each question since the presentation all follow the same outline. This allowed me to make minor changes to each assignment and then submit it.
Since I did this I am accused of multiple submissions.
So my questions are
Is this academic dishonesty?
If so what is the best solution to fixing the problem?
What if you went back and wrote original posts about each presentation without the duplicate content? You could take the new versions to an appointment with your instructor and apologize.
It the assignment is to hand in a paper each week, it makes sense that you would need to submit a different paper if you want to get a grade each week. Any student can go ahead and hand in the same assignment over and over again but you shouldn’t expect credit beyond the first submission. Sounds like you are not interested in getting a good grade – that is OK. Is the idea that you are trying to get a D and you are getting an F instead?
I got a 95, 100, 100, 97 respectively on each assignment. So it wasn’t like the professor didn’t like how i answered the questions. So i have a hard time see how this is cheating. Being a math person. I see it as creating a formula to get the assignment done in the fastest and most efficient way possible.
I have a meeting with her on Monday March 2. So i guess I will find out. I just hate to be arrogant if this is really cheating and should just plead guilty.
This doesn’t seem like academic dishonesty to me. It’s still your work. You haven’t plagiarized anything. You haven’t taken any content from anyone else, only from your old assignments. I agree; you just used the same formula.
Thanks, I’ve read my schools policy and it looks like I meet with her to plead guilty or not guilty. If guilty I accept the sanctions and receive a Z designation for the course. If i plead not guilty I am scheduled a hearing in which i argue why I am not guilty.
Reusing old assignments (even past assignments from a different class, at some places) is considered a form of academic dishonesty by most places, unless the professor explicitly allows it. It will vary by professor and school, as will everything, but it is definitely considered a form of academic honesty by many. It is assumed that you will do original work for every assignment, unless you are given permission to do otherwise. To do otherwise without permission is dishonest. Whether your school or professor considers it academic dishonesty is another matter, but the accusation definitely has merit.
Presumably your assignments contained much of the same info from week to week. Perhaps the problem is with the grades 97, 100, 100 etc. Instead of the grade for dishonesty for the entire semester, suggest that you are willing to have the grades after the first week lowered to a D or F. Then start to do them each week with original discussion and get a bunch of As to offset those few Fs.
I don’t know if this is right or wrong but I am also curious. I looked up definitions of plagiarism and every one says that it must be another authors work. While I can see the problem a teacher would have with this, I see the formula side as well. If the information about each speaker is being provided uniquely and adequately, why is this an issue?
To the reusing old assignments argument: Is this not the same assignment with a variation? If a class has 4 projects of X type with Y differences, why should someone have to come up with 4 different X’s for their Y’s when one X clearly demonstrates they understand the material format and the different Y’s each exhibit material understanding.
@PengsPhils: Regarding your claim that every source out there says that plagiarism only involves another author’s work, a simple Google search for “self-plagiarism” demonstrates otherwise.
To get credit for this assignment each week, it seems like you were supposed to write about each week’s presentation. Unless the presenter and presentation were the same every week, you would need to write a new response each time.
Academic dishonesty is not just plagiarism. Plagiarism is one form of academic dishonesty. Another situation that could be considered academic dishonesty would be working with other students on an assignment when that is not allowed by the professor, even if all of the students write their answers themselves. That’s not plagiarism, but it could still be considered academic dishonesty. Or looking up answers on a test when this is not allowed is clearly a form of academic dishonesty, but it’s still not plagiarism. The professor accused the student of “multiple submissions,” which the professor clearly considers a form of academic dishonesty. The OP was not accused of plagiarism.
I think the problem is here:
It depends on the extent of “minor changes,” but in my opinion, that is not enough to consider it a different response. Even if the assignment is the same, the response still has to be unique, unless the professor says otherwise. The presenters still changed, so the responses should have changed significantly enough that the professor doesn’t consider it reusing an old assignment. It sounds like they only changed slightly and that essentially it was the same response submitted over and over again.
And to be honest, if you are so swamped or have so much trouble with writing that you can’t find the time to write a one page response to a presenter, then you have much bigger problems.
Thanks, baktrax. I think I understand it now. I will plead ignorance.
It not that I was swamped but I just found the class pointless and took the easy way out (which is a very lame excuse looking back now). This will be a good learning experience that will help me in the future.
In your career, you will also be confronted with pointless projects, meetings, procedures and whatever. It’s best to learn not that you need to take them seriously and do what is expected.
DO NOT use the explanation that you’ve posted here (taking easy way out because the class is pointless). That -even though it is most likely true - would only come off as arrogant and defensive. Just plead guilty to not putting in enough effort.