11th grade DD was just charged with academic misconduct which will be on her transcript. She made a citing mistake on a 30 page research paper at a very tough private day school, the charge is unintended plagiarism. It is her first offense, her college councilor and principle will write a letter detailing that this incident was isolated and specific to a very tough assignment. DD is besides herself, sobbing. She is high achieving, high scores and grades. Her original college list is UPenn, Vandy, Emory, Tulane, UVA, College of William and Mary and UT Austin. How do you think a charge of unintended plagiarism will change how her application is viewed, she will write a statement of course. She is devastated and has been sobbing for hours? Are there schools that don’t consider academic disciplinary charges?
Not understanding that much about these things but if the charge is “unintended” and both the GC and the principal are writing letters for her, as an endorsement, why did they write it up at all?
Probably some stats-only moderately selective universities or open admission community colleges.
I think she will he fine - a citation mistake as a HS junior should not impact college admissions. Bring your D a bowl of ice cream (or whatever her treat of choice may be) and tell her to stop crying, learn from this, and move forward.
"She made a citing mistake on a 30 page research paper " Why is she writing a research paper in 11th grade, to begin with?
@NASA2014 In our district students start writing research papers in 6th grade. That type of assignment is not unusual for a junior in a rigorous HS.
^^My kids’ high school (large, public) has a 20 page junior research paper requirement for all English classes, all levels.
Did she just fail to cite one thing or did she fail to cite a major idea which wasn’t hers? Were the guidelines for citation very clear ahead of time?
I don’t understand why a school would put “Academic Misconduct” on a transcript unless it was actual quoting without citing, or very close rewording of a large section, ie intentional plagiarism.
Agree, my kids wrote research papers like that at they age. Bottom line, she should probably add more match and safety schools to her list, a broader range than she might have previously considered.
I’m going to say, I’d guess the rules for citing were very clearly laid out and she didn’t follow them if they called her out for plagerism. Was it actually “a” citing mistake? And I don’t see how “tough assignment” plays into it - I assume her classmates did not make the same mistake.
I honestly think that the principal and counselor at her school could answer your question about the impact better than most posters here.
Obviously OP’s questions relate to the repercussions of the unintentional plagiarism on her record, which I’m hoping would be minimal. But with admissions so competitive, I’d be worried that schools might consider it a blemish to use as a separator.
What’s much more troubling to me is that a high school deems a simple citing error as something worth including on a student’s permanent record. Lower the assignment’s grade by a full letter - okay. Give a failing grade on that assignment - seems harsh, but that’s a message that won’t soon be forgotten. But to consider that academic misconduct - come on.
@intparent DD says there were lessons on citing but she still mistakenly cited a secondary source as a primary. It was a sloppy mistake with big implications. You are correct the tough assignment part should not be a factor. I think lack of maturity played a role in planning and she was operating on 3 hours of sleep a night for two weeks. Intent is not in question. I don’t know if others made the same mistake, she chose a very ambitious topic which she emerged herself in. Her school is giving her the opportunity to rewrite the 30 pages over the summer so there will not be academic implications. I’m not trying to absolve her wrongdoing, it’s just a very unfortunate outcome.
obvious x-post.
“the charge is unintended plagiarism.” Not “wilful.”
“college councilor and principle will write a letter detailing that this incident was isolated and specific to a very tough assignment.” Doesn’t this sound like they’re backing her up? Are they assigning some discipline?
I agree we’d need to know what the error was. Some kids just forget a citation, some do it wrong. Even with instructions, this is a junior, a large project, it “could” be a simple mistake.
Sounds like the school has a firm policy that someting needs to be charged and then reported on the Common App. Keyword: isolated. If the GC writes a glowing letter, I suspect the colleges will put this in the right perspective. (I know they do, with many forms of trouble.) They take plagiarism seriously, but it sounds like the high school does think it’s just a mistake.
What about the teacher?
Thing is, now she’s crushed. Do make sure to expand her list, but help her find her balance right now. A lot of those colleges are reaches and she needs to understand her chances were never guaranteed and not second guess herself. It will help if she knows enough about them, to make a bang up application.
@karen0 I find your daughter’s school’s behavior extremely confusing. She “cited a secondary source as a primary” source…and they are charging her with PLAGIARISM? But…that’s not what plagiarism is.
Plagiarism is trying to pass off somebody else’s ideas or words as your own.
Unintended plagiarism sounds like a student thought if he/she had paraphrased, they did not need a citation, or something along those lines. That is how I would understand that if I were an admissions officer.
I am a tenured English professor and I teach ENG 101 on a regular basis. I cannot imagine taking someone to the honor and conduct board over citing a secondary source as a primary source. I have also been on the honor and conduct board, and I would never have found someone guilty for citing something incorrectly if they had in fact cited the source.
Right now, I think your daughter needs to take a deep breath, but when you have had time to find your footing, I would try to ascertain whether the word “plagiarism” or “academic dishonesty” is going to be on her record. Those words are not going to do her any favors, particularly not at ultra selective colleges which reject 9 out of 10 candidates like Penn.
Wow. Citing a secondary source as primary does not sound like “Academic misconduct” or plagiarism to me. Recently, my D21 cited a source which was actually quoting another source. I told her she needed to find the original source and cite that, but her teacher was fine either way.
My heart goes out to your D, and I agree with @doschicos that she should talk to her counselor about any impact. May she feel better in the morning!
It can include mis-using citations.
Like @BookLvr, I’ve also taught college, and I also have never heard of calling a mis-citation “plagiarism”. It is, indeed, a sloppy mistake, but I wouldn’t do any more than take some points off for sloppiness.
If, indeed, what you D did was cite a secondary source as a primary source, and she is being accused of plagiarism, I would fight this. This is NOT plagiarism by any definition of the word, and it is most assuredly not academic misconduct. If this is what happened, she should not have a charge of plagiarism in her transcript, period.
@BookLvr The charge may indeed be academic dishonesty, we just got the outcome this evening. She goes to one of the most demanding schools in the country where more than 60% of the class goes Ivy+, the standards are demanding and soul crushing. DD is going to add many more safety schools. She is crushed, furious at herself. As a former trustee of the school, I am holding back from intervening. She will end up going to college, most schools on her original list will be off the table. The punishment surely does not fit the crime, but right now I need to have confidence in my DD that she will make the best of a terrible situation. She’ll likely end up doing very well, at a college that is a tier or two down from what she was expecting, maybe she’ll finally be able to have more fun.
Sounds like a horrible school. 
So happy I grew up in a less punishing time. It’s odd to me that we now seemingly have rampant grade inflation but any minor offense becomes major one.