Lecturer missed self-plagiarism twice - then reports me when too late to fix it

"Self-plagiarism, or auto-plagiarism, is where a student re-uses work previously submitted to another course within the University or in another Institution."

Maybe if they put half the effort into practicality in their courses and less emphasis on stupid policy making, Ireland would be a better place. I feel your pain!! I've been here before

As with some Uni's, Doing a job RIGHT the first time gets the job done. Doing the job WRONG fourteen times gives you job security.

Its a double standard.

Exactly! As in most Uni/Colleges its a case of do as I say and not as I do.

Neon_Lights wrote: »

That begs the question, how can lecturers feasibly expand on their own papers if they can call out students for self plagiarism. Its a double standard.

But surely all you need to do is use correct referencing and citations and it's OK? I've seen plenty of my lecturers' papers and many of them do indeed cite their own work and that's perfectly acceptable because they have it referenced.

OP, did you have a reference/citation to you previous work included in your thesis? If not, then it was correct that you were called out on it but still unfair that you weren't allowed to just say, sorry, forgot to reference, I'll do that and it'll be grand.

IMO your supervisor was a right unfair gombeen for not chatting to you about it first, instead just heading straight to reporting you. That's very unfair, I'm glad supervisors I've had have both been very reasonable and more supervisors that I know would 100% would not do something that'll have such a drastic impact on you before telling you about it first. Sounds like a right twat.

Did you put in footnotes or refer to previous work by yourself?
I'm not sure it would help..

I so agree! My field is IT as well and, while I liked my course and provides a good foundation, VERY LITTLE is actually applicable to the real world. I came into a job via work experience with the college and thats where the real learning is.

Like you my incident was re-use of some of my own work. In IT courses it is almost impossible to come up with a unique project without re-use of some (in my case, code). Long story short, i changed all the methods to shakesperian and re-submitted it

Dim Hamlet As New Heroine etc etc...

When i was approached about it, i just said ask for stupidity and get stupidity.

liljellytot wrote: »

No i know you didn't mean that - I'm just expecting some people to say 'its your own fault' lol so wanted to explain I know I should have been more vigilant myself from the beginning.

I asked the plagiarism officer could I appeal and they said there was no appeals process for plagiarism. But my boss at work told me that there should be an appeals process for any official decision, by law.
So, I went to the students union, the head of postgraduates and the student experience officer about it. Both the students union and the head of postgraduates simply said 'proper policy was followed'. The student experience officer was really nice and said that there was no appeal process - but that she would set one up for me. So i banged out a 5 page explanation of why I felt they were being too harsh and that they policy is flawed. An appeals board considered it and got me a rewrite opportunity with a 50% cap on my grade.

But they didn't address anything to do with the lecturer/supervisor. And that supervisor hasn't contacted me since... very odd

That's something - at least it's not a zero. Still frustrating though... Have you been in contact with the lecturer yourself? Students aren't always on their list of priorities, and considering he seems like a bit of a tool anyway, he may have forgotten?

Your supervisor is probably a bit miffed about the whole thing, hence the lack of contact. Maybe they could have been more vigilant, but that depends on the degree of interaction both of you had during the write-up.

I realise you know that you've messed up. In explaining the supervisors attitude they're probably upset that you've wasted both of your time by not making yourself aware of the regulations before submitting and not asking if you were unsure. Maybe they could have asked you to make sure everything was properly cited, but ultimately the responsibility was with you on that one. I don't think, 'I wasn't pulled up on it before' is really an excuse.

All that said, its a bit crappy of them not to get back to you and discuss it. Fair play for the persistence in getting the chance to resubmit, it's a tough way to loose marks.

Ficheall wrote: »

Sounds like an excuse to me...

Sometimes excuses are valid..

Standman wrote: »

Sometimes excuses are valid..

That's true! I don't believe that to be the case in this instance, but that's not the point I was making. If the OP can't be relied upon to describe what they're saying in a two page thread accurately, some people might feel that affects their credibility.

OP, can I ask how much you were taught about plagiarism and proper referencing in your undergrad (which I'm assuming was also at NUIG) or once you got to your Masters? I would think this might have a bearing on how they can react to this situation. The reason I ask is that I just finished an MA at NUIG this past summer and coming from an American university where I did my undergrad, I was shocked at how little you guys seem to be taught about how to conduct proper research, citing, or plagiarism; none of the Irish students on my course had ever been told anything beyond 'don't plagiarize' yet had not been told what constitutes plagiarism and when/how it is acceptable to use your old work. In contrast, at most American schools plagiarism is taken very seriously so the proper way of doing things is drilled into us since even one instance of it normally results in expulsion!

I say this because based on my own experiences at NUIG I think you could have a case for contesting their decision. Were you given a copy of the new plagiarism guidelines at the beginning of the year and confirmed you had read it? (we were and were asked to sign something stating we had read it) If not, and you were never taught about it in any detail in an earlier course then I think you could maybe make a case that NUIG failed in their responsibility to ensure you were properly prepared for your Masters. Of course if you were given the opportunity to learn these things (say in a tutorial or something) and just failed to attend them, then it is entirely on you.

If this is the case perhaps you could send the department, student union rep, and whoever else seems relevant a formal letter though email outlining that while you admit you made a mistake, you believe NUIG failed in its responsibility to ensure you were properly prepared for this thesis and therefore shares some of the culpability. Also state that if your supervisor was aware of this plagiarism he had a duty to alert you to it before you turned it in. (After all, what is the point of a supervisor if they don't give you guidance on these things?) Then ask to appeal the decision and suggest a new outcome (perhaps a rewrite capped at 65%?). You will likly have to take some punishment, but I would agree they have been too harsh. One could argue that you should have looked this stuff up on your own but if you were never given a reason to think it was necessary why would you have?

Make sure your argument a good one tho, and word it professionally - it is important that you don't seem like you are just acting like a brat because you were caught. It might also be a good idea to email your supervisor beforehand and politely ask him why he failed to point it out to you the first few times. If he responds in a way that proves he knew about it, that strengthens your case.

If they refuse to allow you to appeal after that, maybe lodge a complaint that there is no appeals process using the Complaints procedure? (http://www.nuigalway.ie/vp/sshr/Student_Complaints_Procedure_Pages_and_Files/student_complaints_procedure.html)

And if all that doesn't work, maybe take a gander at that Independent article and if its relevant send it along to them & suggest that maybe the reporter who wrote that would be interested in your story? Or contact the reporter first and see what they have to say. NUIG not properly preparing its students regarding plagiarism might make a good follow up to the first article ya know