Plagiarizing on Assignment

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

I am a junior taking AP Lit. For an assignment in the class, which was to summarize the novel the class had just read, I used SparkNotes to aid my summary, meaning that I read the SparkNotes summary and then worked on my own–not copy and pasted and changed the wording. However, after I submitted the assignment to turnitin, the website detected plagiarism and I got a zero on the assignment.

I felt so guilty after I saw that zero. I cried several times after finding out my grade, and I also threw up and got stomach aches. Moreover, I feel ashamed that I degraded my character and failed my teacher. I knew that I completely deserved the zero, and I still am not sure why I decided to use SparkNotes, knowing that the assignment would be submitted to a plagiarism-detecting website. This action is truly uncharacteristic of me, but still I did it.

When I went to talk to my teacher about it, I told him honestly what I did and said that I was not trying to come up with an excuse or lie. I asked him what would be the consequences of my action, and he said that my plagiarizing would not show up on my transcript and that he would not email my parents because it was my first ever cheating/plagiarism offense, but if I plagiarized a second time, administration would be involved. But he then said that he would remember what I did.

This offense, coupled with ongoing family problems and bad grades, triggered me to begin sobbing in front of my teacher. He tried to console me, but really, I felt worthless because I had let myself and my teacher down. I had been hoping to get an LOR from him, especially since I seemed to be doing well in his class and I want to minor in English. Also, he teaches senior English as well, so I was hoping to take his class to strengthen my relationship with him. But I know that this incident will cause him to view me in a negative manner. Should I seek another teacher for an LOR, and should I take another English class instead of his? Also, can I do anything to amend my relationship with him this year? Even if I don’t maintain contact with him next year, I really do value his impression of me, and I feel like because of this offense, I can never even look him in the eye again.

2

First of all - I’m so sorry about everything that’s been going on!
Second of all, to answer your questions: If you feel like your overall performance in his class, notwithstanding this incident, still puts you in a positive position with him, please still try to ask him for an LOR! Since he tried to console you and explain to you what would happen after the incident in what you described as a kind manner, he sounds like a decent guy who knows that you wouldn’t normally do something like this if you weren’t under multiple stressors (even if he doesn’t know what they are, I’m sure he’s smart enough to make the connection that your action is largely incongruous with others that you’ve taken in the past) and is willing to take that fact into account.

As for taking another English class - would the subject material interest you as much? Because I feel like, from what you’ve said, he’s an engaging teacher and the material he teaches would help you a lot, especially since you said you’re planning to minor in English. Anyway - this might sound kind of cliche and gross, but in life sometimes there are just some awkward situations you have to deal with, and I think it’s still worth facing that tiny bit of awkwardness between you and him if you take his class next year; what you’ll learn may even outweigh any cons of the class. Plus, taking another class with him again is a chance to prove him wrong and to show him that using Sparknotes is not who you are! You’re showing that you’re not a quitter and you are dedicated to English.

To amend your relationship - turn in good quality work, is all I can think of. Of course, there’s also treating your teacher with respect, but basically - acting like a decent human being, which I think you’ve got down pat already :slight_smile: The teacher sounds like a nice guy, like I said, and I’m sure he knows that you’re human - you make mistakes despite your best intentions. I know it’s intimidating to be around him after what happened, but you sound like a good student and I’m sure that will be how he remembers you years from now, not as “person A who plagiarized on X assignment.”

I hope this helped and that the situation gets better :slight_smile: