Accused of Plagiarism? Read How to Create Your Plagiarism Defence Strategy

Nowadays, Universities are taking plagiarism - using someone else's words or ideas without giving proper credit to the author of the original - very seriously and are fighting against it. In the best-case scenario, teachers may decide to award a 'zero' mark for a paper or a course; in the worst case, Universities may fail the whole degree or expel the student. This article has been written specifically for those students who have been accused of plagiarism, but who believe that they are not guilty. The article offers some advice to such students on how to defend their position. At the same time, it should be noted that the article is provided for information purposes only, as we do not give legal advice. If you seek legal assistance, you should contact your lawyer who would be in a better position to help you.

There is no doubt that plagiarism is a bad practice which not only endangers your own academic standing, but also hampers the process of scientific discovery. In some cases, plagiarism may even lead to legal proceedings if the authors decide that their work is being misused. In the academic context, however, plagiarism is usually viewed not as a legal infringement but as utterly unethical conduct. For this reason, we have prepared a set of recommendations for you to keep in mind should you face plagiarism accusations.

First and foremost, you must NEVER ADMIT Intentional Plagiarism, as that would be suicidal. If you do admit it, your University or College would be able to do whatever they wish, even fail your degree. Generally, there may be two outcomes of the plagiarism detection process. In half of cases, your University will KNOW and subsequently be able to PROVE that you have committed plagiarism. In the other 50% of cases Universities may SUSPECT that you have plagiarised but would not be able to prove it unless you voluntarily admit having plagiarised.

As a rule, Universities can suspect plagiarism based on the following:

a) The language and style of writing you used in the suspected paper differ from those that you normally employ. This is especially applicable to foreign students for whom English is not the first language. Usually, teachers can easily spot the discrepancies, as the text seems too perfect and 'polished' and rich in academic jargon and specialist phraseology. If this is the case, your strategy of defence can be to say that you asked a native speaker to proofread your work before submitting it in order to make it more professional and reader-friendly. This is absolutely legal, especially taking into account the fact that many Universities would penalise English language mistakes. Some even try to say, when caught, that the friend who proofread the paper amended the work and that he or she included some ideas without referencing them. This, however, is a shaky strategy, so you should be careful about using it.

b) The usage of models or resources, which were not taught by your tutor or not available in your library. In this case, your strategy of defence could be to say that you did some additional reading or research and/or have a friend studying in a different University who kindly gave you the otherwise inaccessible materials, books or articles. However, you should always bear in mind that, should the need arise, your tutor or academic commission will certainly be asking you questions regarding the resources that you used to write your paper. You ought therefore to make sure that you can answer such questions by preparing meticulously for the meetings. At least, you should know all the titles used and the authors and what each author said.

However, if it happens that your University can prove that you have plagiarised, there could be several defence strategies, such as:

1) In the process of work, you had several drafts of the paper and, as it turns out, accidentally submitted an incorrect version of the report. You can claim that while the rough drafts were not properly referenced, as they were only written to help you plan the paper and give you the overall guidance, the final version was indeed fully referenced and prepared in strict accordance with the academic requirements. At the end of the day, you are a human being and have the right to be mistaken.


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