<p>Last week, I turned in a paper for one of my assignments in class. This paper is worth about less than 10% of my grade. Although I cited the source within the text and mentioned that the quote was not mine, I forgot to include a work cited page. This professor returned the paper to me and said he wanted to see me about my citation and I am extremely worried. </p>
<p>I got a good grade on the paper (I received an A+) but I cannot understand why he wants to see me after class. Do professors give out good grades to students they believe plagiarized a paper? Has this happened to anyone else?</p>
<p>maybe the professor just wants to help you understand proper citation form…it may be that he sees that you intended to properly attribute your source but didn’t do so completely/properly and he means to help you so you don’t get in trouble in the future.</p>
<p>I feel like it’s probably going to be obvious you just forgot the works cited page and didn’t mean to take credit for another persons work, since you did use in text citations. He probably just wants to make sure you don’t make that mistake again. He wouldn’t have given you a good grade if he felt you plagiarized, he would have likely failed you.</p>
<p>I think you are safe because of the grade and especially since you cited the source within the text you didn’t show intent to cheat. Let us know…</p>
<p>You did not just plagiarize a paper. By including a citation and expressing that the quote wasn’t yours you do not in any way meet the definition of plagiarism, which is "“use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work.”</p>
<p>You didn’t cite it the way your professor wanted so yes, he can dock you some points for it, but in absolutely no way did you plagiarize anything.</p>
<p>Okay, yesterday, I talked to the professor about the paper I wrote. He mentioned that I cited the source wrong and he wanted to know where I received it. I showed him the book and explained to him my mistake as he quietly skimmed the pages. As it turns out, he wants a copy of my final paper to show his other students for the fall semester class. Also, he wants to read the book I cited because he might make his other students read it inside of the Spring 2010 class. So… it ended up being okay. </p>
<p>P.S. He mentioned that he only reports students who do outright plagiarism (e.g. copying and pasting from wikipedia) and not citation mistakes like mine. WHEW!!</p>
<p>my professor let me turn in a draft of my final paper for my seminar last semester a couple weeks before it was due so she could look it over and comment before the final draft, so my citations were literally just page numbers in very poorly constructed footnotes since I was expecting to do the paper over again. Turns out she liked it enough to give it an A and not require a final copy even with the horrible citation work. All this to say that as long as you aren’t blatently plagiarizing and make an effort to cite your sources, professors for the most part (though perhaps not english professors) care more about content than about prettiness.</p>
<p>Professors don’t give A+ to papers they suspect of plagarism…It is obvious you weren’t trying to cheat, he will probably just remind you of a certain format or something. Don’t worry. If it was a big deal he would have sought you out and made a big fuss.</p>