<p>Ok, three days ago, I had my paper due. It was the final paper, and it was very complicated one. Required quite a bit of research, math and writing skills.</p>
<p>Just yesterday he sent a class email saying they found similarities to other people's papers. They want me(and others) to admit that I own the work, and thats it.</p>
<p>Obviously it's easy to see whats going on. I am not asking for "Oh you plagiarized, You stole from some blah blah" because that is not what I came here for. I worked on this 24 hours straight so shut the hell up. I have seen other people doing the entire paper for others and if that's not cheating, I don't know what it is.</p>
<p>If you didn’t plagiarize, I don’t really see why you have to “play it smart” - it should be simple to show the professor that you wrote it on your own. Did you remember to cite sources where you did your research?</p>
<p>No, some of the books we were allowed to use were all taken/borrowed from the library. There was absolutely no way I could have finished the paper without having those in time. I had to look over to some of friends notes and finish it otherwise I would gotten zero.</p>
<p>The problem is not only that: but also the library did not have any of those books at the beginning, they got all of those about a week or two before due. The paper itself takes quite a bite of time to finish, so I had to rush it and get some help. But I might just fess up and tell them the truth. That might save me from a zero.</p>
<p>Normally, if you do not cite where you received your research from then it will and should be considered plagiarism. If I were you I would have just turned in the paper with what I had because you would probably fail but not get a zero. Now with the plagiarism accusation which it appears you admit to, you will not only receive a zero at the minimum but likely some sort of academic integrity on your records. It.is also possible that the professor gives you an automatic F for the class if they have a zero tolerance for plagiarism.</p>
<p>Just an idea for the future…my kids generally print out copies of their drafts of papers, marking them up as they edit and revise. This is a good idea because if your work is ever questioned, you have something to show as proof it was your independent work. Even if you end up having problems with insufficient citation, etc., there is proof that any problems in your paper were unintentional–which can be helpful in making your case if you are ever quesitoned.</p>