Re: Academic Advice (Professionals only Please)
From: Darrell Grainger (darrell_at_NOMORESPAMcs.utoronto.ca.com)
Date: 08/05/04
- Next message: Andrew Thompson: "Re: iterate through methods"
- Previous message: Robocop: "Re: Academic Advice (Professionals only Please)"
- In reply to: Robocop: "Academic Advice (Professionals only Please)"
- Next in thread: John C. Bollinger: "Re: Academic Advice (Professionals only Please)"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]
Date: 5 Aug 2004 15:39:57 GMT
On Wed, 4 Aug 2004, Robocop wrote:
> Dear Folks:
>
> >> PLEASE REPLY I WOULD REALLY BE THANKFUL <<
> I would extremely appreciate your advices, as it would help me make my
> decisions. Please spare some time to read the following.
> Here is what happened with me. We had to do an assignment worth only
> 2%. In it we had to make 7 classes one of them is below.
> After spending hours I completed the entire assgn. and I had a little
> bug in one of the class given below, so I decided to go to a forum.
> There we discussed the problem and one person gave the code GIVEN
> BELOW. So I ran it with my other classes and it worked, when I looked
> at the code written by the person from the forum I quickly realized
> what the _mistake_ in my code was and what changes it needed, as that
> mistake was pretty much "trivial" and mediocre; I didn't bother to
> correct that mistake in my code and I sent the code from the forum
> given below as according to me it was no big deal as no one was ever
> going to SEE the code and mark it and also the implementation of the
> method in the code given by the person in the forum was pretty good
> and no. of lines were few compared to MINE so I favored that code and
> NOT mine . Moreover, the code was ONLY going to be marked by a
> "TESTDRIVER" AUTOMATICALLY based on the OUTPUTS of the methods.
> If you look at the code below (from the forum) and the one after it
> (MINE). BOTH the codes will give SAME OUTPUTS if tested by the
> TESTDRIVER, so it doesn't matter which code I used.
> I've ALSO POSTED THE "method" (at the bottom) in the class written by
> me which compelled me to take OUTSIDE HELP.
>
> Now I am charged with >>>"ACADEMIC DISHONESTY"<<< I don't know what to
> do now. I thinks its just laughable to be charged for such simple
> thing; also me being a first year student, I don't think its fair.
Did you hand the other person's code in and mislead or openly claim that
it was your code? If you did then you where being dishonest.
If on the other hand you openly stated what you have told us here. If the
school was aware you were using someone else's code then you were not
dishonest.
> FOR 2% THIS MUCH? I have to lose 5% now because of this.
> There were 7 classes and just due to ONE METHOD which accounts to
> about 0.2% of the entire assignment.!!!
>
> SO, for thing of 0.2% I've to LOSE 5%????
No, you would not lose 5% for something really worth 0.2%. You would lose
5% for being dishonest. You seem to be failing to see things from the
school's point of view. They want honesty.
If an employee came to me and said, "I found this piece of code in the
Internet and it does exactly what we want. I am going to use it rather
than re-invent the code." I'd be okay with that (assuming the code was not
copyrighted). If on the other hand an employee was getting solutions from
the Internet and claiming to have created them, I'd have a problem with
that. I want to know I can trust my employees.
> I could have avoided this whole thing had I known that "we have to add
> the name and the address of the reference" from where the segment of
> the class was taken from. But being a NOVICE I wasn't aware.
Live and learn. Everyone makes mistakes. The important thing is to learn
from them. If you attempt to fight this you will probably have to prove
that no one made you aware of the rules. Did you receive them and fail to
read it? The university I attended put this information in the book used
for picking your program and courses. The fact that I signed up for
courses meant I had the book with the codes. I would not be able to claim
ignorance on the issue of plagiarism.
> >>I think the Professor has OVERREACTED reading the CONVERSATIONS that
> I had with the people in the FORUM and the few things I said about the
> INSTITUTION.
>
> SHOULD I GO FOR A FORMAL HEARING IN FRONT OF LOT MORE PEOPLE TO PROVE
> MYSELF INNOCENT OR SHOULD I ACCEPT THE CHARGES AND PLEAD *GUILTY* AND
> ACCEPT 5% DECREASE IN MY OVERALL RESULT???
You have to do what is best for you. What are the consequence of a formal
hearing? I have seen someone who was obviously guilty of plagiarism deny
it to the Undergraduate Secretary. Without an admission of guilt it had to
go to the Dean. The Dean talked with the student and still no admission of
guilt. It went to a formal hearing. The student was found guilty and
kicked out of school. If he admitted guilt to the Undergraduate Secretary,
he would have received a zero for the assignment and lost 5%.
This case was different. He attempted to purchase the answer to the
assignment and had already been expelled from one program for a similar
offense. Still, things could be worse for you if you fight it and lose.
You have to see what are the consequence for you fighting this. If you are
going to lose nothing then fight it.
I snipped the code examples. The point the school is trying to make is not
how different the code you submitted was compared to the code you created.
It is the fact that you lied that is at issue. If you fight this you will
have to a) prove you did not lie or b) prove you did not realize what you
did was wrong.
- Next message: Andrew Thompson: "Re: iterate through methods"
- Previous message: Robocop: "Re: Academic Advice (Professionals only Please)"
- In reply to: Robocop: "Academic Advice (Professionals only Please)"
- Next in thread: John C. Bollinger: "Re: Academic Advice (Professionals only Please)"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]
Relevant Pages
|
