Academic Misconduct Accusations
Hello - I am a graduate student at LU, working on some classes through one of the many online programs they offer. I've had an assignment flagged with a high similarity score by Turnitin and now have been given an Academic Misconduct violation, causing the assignment to be graded 0%, and ultimately failing me in the class.
My professor wasn't helpful during our initial meeting about the Turnitin score, and she immediately sent me to the Academic Integrity Office for an appeal. This appeal was promptly denied, stating my content was too close to original source material, despite the fact that I did not, nor have I EVER, copied someone else's work. Furthermore, I am an online student - I don't even have access to other students in the first place! After going through the Turnitin report in great detail, I found only 7 sentences and phrases that are listed as "plagiarism" by Turnitin. The majority of these sentences DO have the source listed in the sentence or have appropriate APA citations at the end, so I am confused why they're flagged. Ultimately, I don't know how I've gotten this score and would love help on the percentage breakdown of this score, seeing as how the Office of Academic Integrity is of no help and neither is the professor. I can't get a hold of anyone over the phone or by email, my professor is dismissive, and the Turnitin report breakdown doesn't make sense to me.
Has anyone else experienced this? How did you appeal/what did you specify in your appeal? Did you reach out to anyone on top of the Office of Academic Integrity? I thought about going up the proverbial food chain.
I plan on making a second and final appeal in the coming days, especially since I will completely fail this class if this paper is finalized with a 0%. This whole ordeal has been exhausting and stressful when, frankly, I have done nothing I am accused of. Meanwhile, I am sure other students are copying/using AI with no repercussions.