Why I Have (and Will Continue To Be)
Mouse
The Lighter Side of Pessimism Join Date: 2002-03-02 Member: 263Members, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
The Lighter Side of Pessimism Join Date: 2002-03-02 Member: 263Members, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
<div class="IPBDescription">strangely absent</div> A few weeks ago I handed in a research report for my chemistry class; normally not a big deal, but the special thing about this report was that I wrote it in its entirety over a period of two and a half days (roughly 30 hours), no drafting, no research beforehand, just a vague idea of a topic. By the end of the 30 hours I handed in a 1334 word, 7 page research report on Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP).
When our marks came back I didn't get mine, instead I was taken out the back by the teacher and told that both he and the Head of Department didn't believe it was my own work. It was too good. When I say 'too good' I don't mean "here sonny, have a gold star" 'too good'; I mean he said it was at a second year university quality (I'm in my final year of high school) and at least twice as good as anything else submitted for that asessment piece.
On top of that, I made the mistake of not referencing it properly. Almost immediately I realised that I had been setting myself up for something like this; I always do assignments at the last minute and I rarely draft, preferring to revise as I write.
After I got home Dad made a call to my chemistry teacher to back me up, that I had in fact been working on it for 30 hours. After that conversation my teacher told me that he was passing it around the entire science department to check for structural flaws etc. I heard no more about it for about two weeks, then on the last day of school my chemistry teacher said he still didn't believe it was my work and that the only way for me to prove it was mine was to disassemble it over the holidays and submit a new document to him when school came back that showed my thinking for each section of the research report.
And on that note
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->What I’m going to do in this document is disassemble my earlier research report on the chemical Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP). Firstly I’ll briefly identify the topics that each section deals with; from there I’m going to go over the document in more detail and attempt to summarise my thoughts while I was writing it, in this section I will also reference the document as accurately as possible.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
PS. I'm currently on a B in chemistry
PPS. bye bye holidays <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->
When our marks came back I didn't get mine, instead I was taken out the back by the teacher and told that both he and the Head of Department didn't believe it was my own work. It was too good. When I say 'too good' I don't mean "here sonny, have a gold star" 'too good'; I mean he said it was at a second year university quality (I'm in my final year of high school) and at least twice as good as anything else submitted for that asessment piece.
On top of that, I made the mistake of not referencing it properly. Almost immediately I realised that I had been setting myself up for something like this; I always do assignments at the last minute and I rarely draft, preferring to revise as I write.
After I got home Dad made a call to my chemistry teacher to back me up, that I had in fact been working on it for 30 hours. After that conversation my teacher told me that he was passing it around the entire science department to check for structural flaws etc. I heard no more about it for about two weeks, then on the last day of school my chemistry teacher said he still didn't believe it was my work and that the only way for me to prove it was mine was to disassemble it over the holidays and submit a new document to him when school came back that showed my thinking for each section of the research report.
And on that note
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->What I’m going to do in this document is disassemble my earlier research report on the chemical Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP). Firstly I’ll briefly identify the topics that each section deals with; from there I’m going to go over the document in more detail and attempt to summarise my thoughts while I was writing it, in this section I will also reference the document as accurately as possible.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
PS. I'm currently on a B in chemistry
PPS. bye bye holidays <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Comments
One of two things really.
1) Burn the school down. No really, they deserve it, I don't think you'd be convicted. Bahstids.
2) Okay this option is serious: quit high school, get your GED, go straight to college, don't look back. It IS an option. What you're dealing with is not the reason I had to take that option, but it is a much better one than slogging it out for those bloody-minded shitheels.
I faced similar dilemas in my English classes a few times. Why can't education systems get it in their thick freaking heads that not everyone is an idiot out to plagerize? Guilty until proven innocent...
Good lucky Mouse fighting <b>the man</b>.
[edit]
Do not listen to 007Bistromath. A GED is not the same as a high school diploma, there is no way in hell you will get into a good college with just a GED. Anyone who thinks a GED is equivilant to a high school diploma is just fooling themselves. Even my **** brother who could never even earn a GED knows that.
[/edit]
Take it as a sign that you have a real knack for chemistry. Possible genius?
Edit, I just realized I ended the quote properly unlike in my papers...
Basically you had to pick an aspect of chemistry and a chemical and cover basic reactions, synthesis and possible future advances involving it (I think, I'm just going off the headings in my report).
I bet if you added on three more words, this wouldn't have happened.
Edit, I just realized I ended the quote properly unlike in my papers... <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
You forgot quotation marks though HAFAF <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
That is NOT true. It can slow your progress on the path, but it will not stop it. If you can't go straight to a good college, you can go to a community college and transfer to one, which is what you should be doing anyway, since that saves you a buttload of money for doing the same thing.
That has got to suck a lot. Looks like you handed in something that was definitely 3 words more worth than you say.
Seriously, how did you do that? Did you just write that out of your mind?
If you did, I guess I know why, because I was put on the same thing about English. Practically, I'm trying to keep a low-profile now not to arouse any teachers attention. <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Bah, school. If there's one reason I study in them, it's to get out ASAP.
At the end of HS, nearly every class I was in, the teachers would let me sleep because they knew I had the material down cold without even reading up on it half the time.
Amusing note: this girl in my class handed in something like 4 drafts, the two of us had a debate about it in english, her argument was that she wanted to get it right, my argument was that I'd rather get it right the first time. Look where that got me <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif' /><!--endemo--> .
Ah well, my self imposed lunch break is over. Toodles.
They will not, of course, do it.
This is actually a good thing, because these days, you will win if you sue them.
[edit]For anyone (Mouse or othewise) who needs help properly citing sources, here's a couple links that may help. <i>Be advised</i> that the Modern Language Association (MLA) and Columbia styles are only two of <i>many</i> styles used by different teachers. It's the student's job to ask his/her teacher which style they should use for a project.
With that warning said, here goes:
The MLA actually charges money to buy their style guide handbooks because they are updated constantly and they're frankly thorough as hell. They do have <a href='http://www.mla.org/style_faq' target='_blank'>a FAQ list on their homepage</a> that helps a little. If you need more info beyond that, it's better to shell out the $20-30 for the actual handbook, rather than relying on random Googled pages about MLA format and hoping they're accurate and recent. Would you rather spend $30 now, or hours arguing with teachers? Thought so.
The <a href='http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos/idx_basic.html' target='_blank'>Columbia style</a> is more easily accessed online, but my experience so far is entirely with MLA and I can make no further comments on other styles.
Hope this helps people.
Why don't you (politely) ask them to prove you copied it? They're the teacher, they're the ones who are supposed to check these things.
I bet if you added on three more words, this wouldn't have happened. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
You know....I think he's right!
-----
I kind of had the same thing happen to me, but they did not let me re-do anything and just gave me an F on the assignment. It brought my 95% in english down to a 83%. I got a 100% on my english final and that only brought my grade up to 86%....I was royally screwed. I complained to the school and they said that I was trying to convince them to let me cheat the system....Blah. I hate school.
Goodluck with your assignment.
They will not, of course, do it.
This is actually a good thing, because these days, you will win if you sue them. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
You do realise that Mouse isn't American I hope. Our education system works a little differently.
just three more words and they probably wouldn't have given you any schmidt about it :o
Oh. Well, sorry, you're screwed, burn it to the ground and call it a day.
You are right, you know you're right, they should be applauding you instead of trying to bring you to the ground. Giving in to them just shows them that you are wrong.
Suggest how to prove that it's not fake, don't just go around doing 10x more work for their lazy arses.
It's an unjust system, if you're not going to fight it, who is?
Edit: Also, nice work on doing a good assignment for High School.. I know most of us can't be bothered for that crap, seeing as you can get decent marks for crap work anyway. Can you upload the assignment for us? [Make sure your name is on it, as well as date etc blah blah so anybody googling to check if you're a plagueriser, will just get your uploaded work and know that its you.. or you could scan the pages into images, even more secure]
err I see it's done already -- I'm a little behind. I still hope you demand justice.<!--emo&:angry:--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/mad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&::tsa::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tsa.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tsa.gif' /><!--endemo-->
I made the mistake of not referencing it properly.
<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You should get used to referencing. A lot of University profs will just fail your assignment for not referencing... besides, if your teachers think that you write University level papers, you are all set... I've seen many people misrefer their sources in college, and they <b>suffered</b> for their foolishness.
just three more words and they probably wouldn't have given you any schmidt about it :o <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
You're late.
I'll agree with everyone as to not take the crap, but that'll probably get you in more trouble. Get back on the forum matey!
<!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->
First things first, this is by no means public slander, to my knowledge he has only shown it to his collegues and I have ownly told my close friends (and you guys). Additionally, I am nowhere near the school's best student as far as grades go, I am admittedly intelligent, but I wouldn't even consider grouping myself with the academics.
Despite what you guys appear to think, I have nothing against my Chemistry teacher for unwittingly crying wolf. He is one of the best Chemistry teachers I've ever had and is an all around cool guy. In fact I would even go as far as to say that I'm somewhat glad he pulled me up on this assignment as it has highlighted problems in the way I go about getting my work done.
That said, when I hand in this follow up report, I intend on asking for full marks and if he'll act as a reference when I go on the scholarship trawl.
My only complaint about the school system that stems from this incident is that you are never taught (as far as I recall anyway) how to reference properly in highschool.
<!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->
First things first, this is by no means public slander, to my knowledge he has only shown it to his collegues and I have ownly told my close friends (and you guys). Additionally, I am nowhere near the school's best student as far as grades go, I am admittedly intelligent, but I wouldn't even consider grouping myself with the academics.
Despite what you guys appear to think, I have nothing against my Chemistry teacher for unwittingly crying wolf. He is one of the best Chemistry teachers I've ever had and is an all around cool guy. In fact I would even go as far as to say that I'm somewhat glad he pulled me up on this assignment as it has highlighted problems in the way I go about getting my work done.
That said, when I hand in this follow up report, I intend on asking for full marks and if he'll act as a reference when I go on the scholarship trawl.
My only complaint about the school system that stems from this incident is that you are never taught (as far as I recall anyway) how to reference properly in highschool. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Your kinda supposed to pick that up in english class... I've been forced to referance stuff for years and I definately remember being taught it... every year... repeditively.