<p>So I stayed up all night writing a research paper like wesley, a couple weeks ago. After it was done, I didn't put any parenthetical citations ( I did a Works Cited) because, well I was tired and I just wanted to sleep. IT was 3:30 AM btw.
So today,my teacher told me that not putting any PN citations in a paper is plagiarism and could count as an academic honesty violation. ANd I was like, but I put a works Cited and so on.
THe gist is, she's letting me hand it back with citations for i don't know, whatever amount of credit and she's not writing me up. I believe this is very generous.</p>
<p>But I still feel terrible, I generally have very good relationships with the ENglish teachers and I hate losing her esteem. And ashamed. Because I didn't really express myself well in our conversation, I was thinking about writing a letter of apology. But, I</p>
<ol>
<li>don't know if it would make the situation worse</li>
<li>Don't know if it would make things more awkward and</li>
<li>Need someone to read it from an unbiased point of view because I don't know if it sounds, not-apologetic enough or stupid or trite ........ the list goes on.</li>
<li>Wonder if I'm over obsessing and making a mountain out of a molehill and should literally just stop being an idiot.</li>
</ol>
<p>I don’t have any real advice but I’ve been there and it sucks; I always feel the same way. I think “good” students aren’t used to teachers not approving of something that they’re doing, so it’s always really jarring, but in the scheme of things it’s not a big deal at all. Teachers have dozens of students and deal with issues every single day, it’s not as if she’s going to bed thinking “God, I can’t believe nil desperandum sunk so low…”. </p>
<p>Last week my English teacher caught me doing math homework in the middle of class and called me out on it- really not a catastrophe but I felt guilty and terrible until I realized she had basically forgotten about it approx. 17 seconds later. I’m sure it’s the same in your case.</p>
<p>I think writing a letter would just make it into a bigger deal than it is. I would just say “Thanks so much for letting me redo this, it was an honest mistake” etc etc as you hand it to her.</p>
<p>…I feel you, I had to stay up till 2:30 writing a paper and it took me like 45 minutes to properly cite. Gahhh.</p>
<p>I’d say a letter would just blow up what shouldn’t be a big issue. Explain that you are sorry but were very tired and so did not put in the parenthetical citations (did you use quotes) and only had time to do a works cited. I wouldn’t worry about it; you’re being overly sensitive (I say this not to be harsh. I’m overly sensitive about criticism, esp. from teachers, a lot. I think many high achievers are guilty of this.)</p>
<p>I taught college for many years, and I agree completely with rebeccar. </p>
<p>I suspect the teacher isn’t disappointed in you at all; she realizes you made a mistake, and is giving you the opportunity to correct it. Correct it quickly and without any extra fuss. Writing a an apologetic letter is completely unnecessary and - frankly - it may make you look insincere . . . like you are more interested in grade-grubbing and being in her good graces, than in actually learning from your error. Just thank her when you hand it in.</p>
<p>And relax - as long as you fix it and don’t repeat it, she’ll never think about this incident again.</p>
<p>@porkperson: Actually, the teacher is being more than fair. Having a list of sources isn’t sufficient. If something comes from another source, you MUST do more than just list the source at the back of your paper. You must identify the material clearly in the paper either by a parenthetical notation or by a footnote. Otherwise, you are guilty of passing off that material as your own work.</p>