If you have received notification that your result is deferred pending an ACO investigation, it is as well to remember that a significant percentage of results are withheld initially. There can be many reasons why, so you should not panic unless you know that you have been involved in copying, collusion and serious plagiarism (the Type 2 sort as indicated in the FAQs on our OBU Forum Homepage).
Although you are desperate to know how you did, any university is equally desperate to protect its reputation and standing and cannot risk conferring a degree on any student whose work is open to question. This means that if there has been the slightest hint that the student has infringed the rules or the work they have presented may not be their own then it must be investigated further. All of this takes time as the number of cases at the end of the marking period apparently could run into several hundred. So although it is disappointing and frustrating that you are ‘left in limbo’ pending the outcome of a preliminary investigation, provided you have done your research and analysis yourself and written your work then you should not worry unduly. It may take a month or so but ultimately you should find that the investigation has been satisfactorily completed and your will get your result.
However if you have attempted to cheat and your results are withheld then it is likely that the University is “on the case”.
As the Forum Moderator I have in the past received ‘begging letters’ from students asking for my help and advice, as too late in the day they realise, when they are caught that they should not have cheated. I am usually sympathetic to most student problems but this is one where I am not prepared to go as I have repeatedly warned students that they must do their work themselves. Any underhand method to secure a degree is reprehensible, so my answer now is: “You got yourself into this mess, now get yourself out of it!”
For anyone out there who is feeling smug because you think you have been so smart to outwit Turnitin
(a) you may be in for a nasty surprise (there are more ways than just Turnitin that are used by universities to discover plagiarism and collusion) and
(b) how come if you are that smart you couldn’t do the work for yourself in the first place?
Please see my article on the Academic Conduct Office (ACO) on our OBU home page for further information.
Trephena – OBU Forum Moderator
Other Accountancy Qualifications
Results withheld / deferred
Hello Ms Trephena
My ACO has awarded a 0 penalty on my Skills and learning statement and has said that she won’t be informing UMC or ACCA. It’s also stated in the email that I can resubmit the SLS if I am eligible.
Could you please help me out with this? How do I know if I’m eligible or not? And will I have to pay the resubmission fee?
Eligibility to submit:
(a) are you still within the 10 year ACCA registration period at 1 November 2019?
(b) have you submitted fewer than 3 times?
If the answer is yes to both of those you are eligible to resubmit in P39.
If part of your submission was failed (even if it is only the SLS) and you need to resubmit the full resubmission fee (GBP 380) is still payable (this is because most of the fee is for administrative costs)
Hi Trephena
Thanks for your guidance on this.
However, I did not receive the Turnitin report from the ACO. Do I have to wait till she sends it or do I request for it?
Also for the moment I have the initial drafts of the report with mentor comments, the mentor meeting minutes, the emails and whatsapp conversations with the mentor and screenshots of distribution of google forms to gather primary information. Would these evidence be sufficient?
HI Trephena
Thank you for the clarification. However, I have one more question - my ACO has not said anything about my RR, she only mentioned my SLS (which received a 0 grade after investigation). Does this mean I have to mail her or OBU to find out whether I've passed the RR?
Also, would I have to re-submit the PPT slides as well as part of the SLS?
Hi Trephena,
I had sent an email to the ACO mentioning that I do not know the students mentioned in her letter and I requested for the Turnitin Report.
The ACO did not send me the Turnitin report. However, she had replied saying that her main concern is the nature of similarities in the SLS as there are sentences identical to the other student work and this doesn't seem to be a coincidence (Does this mean the match in my research report is not significant?)
Then she has given the sentences that match in the SLS in the email body itself. I have looked through the similarities and noted that these were similar to the sample SLS I referred.To express the same meaning I had taken sentences from the samples and rephrased them with few additional words. This is what the ACO holds as being a match.
However, I can confirm that it was only the sentences that match but the research work for the project was done 100% by me. I have evidences of the data collection, mentoring minutes, amended reports to show as reference.
I am not sure how to respond further to the ACO in this regard. Please help me on how to respond to this.
I am replying as I was an ACO Officer for several years.
You mention 'samples' - do you mean the exemplars from OBU itself? If yes, you should point out that your sentences were influenced by the exemplars - although I would point out that is not an excuse for plagiarism just a means of explaining that you did not copy from the other student.
If however the 'samples' were provided by your mentor then this is something reputable mentors do not do i.e. share student work as it is not ethical.
Either way you should explain the background to what happened
Thanks Gillian on the clarification.
The samples are some projects taken from known people at my old workplace which I used as a guide to do the project. My mentor didn't give me any sample project. Plus I did refer to some exemplars as well.
Will it be ok to respond to the ACO saying that I did refer some sample projects obtained from some known people at my old work place. However, my mentor didn't give me any sample project. Then to attach evidence to show that all research was done by me?
Yes it is always better to be truthful as the outcome will usually be less severe.
The evidence that you did your work yourself is normally in the form of emails and their attachments to/from the mentor showing how the work developed.
(When I was an ACO students who had copied or not done the work themselves would come up with every excuse in the book as to why did not possess these (I heard it all computer crashes, sold the laptop., deleted the emails etc.etc. The fact is as a mentor myself I know these excuses do not stack up at all, and between them either the student or mentor would have some of these - it is beyond the bounds of credibility that there is no trace at all of the draft versions of the work).
Thanks Gillian
I do have the initial drafts of the report with mentor comments, the mentor meeting minutes, the emails and whatsapp conversations with the mentor and screenshots of distribution of google forms to gather primary information. Would these evidence be sufficient?
Yes they should be adequate if there are drafts with appropriate mentor comments and email etc. (As I said above it is only suspicious where there is little or no evidence of the existence if the drafts) Great stuff! Send it off as the sooner you supply it, the sooner the case can be concluded
Hi Gillian,
I responded to the ACO officer explaining the matches arose due to me referring sample projects. She replied saying that she has concluded that I was negligent in the academic work, with plagiarism. As it is a breach of Student Conduct regulations 4.4.1 she has imposed a penalty of fail grade for the work. She has permitted me to resubmit the same project with corrections.
I have the following doubts in relation to this,
1) Does this mean she won't be informing this to ACCA?
2) When I am resubmitting should I change all the wordings in the research report and SLS or should I only correct the places where the similarities occurred?
3) For the resubmission should I pay the increased fee of £600 or the normal fee of £340?
Academic negligence is about the lowest penalty the ACO awards.
1. It certainly will not go any further as a first offence
2. I don't think that you will have to do much in terms of the report, although a few amendments and a little additional material is usually not a bad idea (as long as you stick within the word count). However I would advise you to completely re-write the SLS ensuring you use your own ideas and words
3. You will pay the normal submission fee (in fact from P39 onwards this is £380)
So fairly good news on all points -which is why I always say it is normally more advantageous to own up quickly about the truth of what happened
Thanks for the clarification Gillian.
With regard to the research report I do not know which parts of it matched with other sources. As such I am not sure which part of the project I should be changing.
Do I have to request for the turnitin report from the ACO so that I can identify the places where the matches arose and change the report accordingly?
It would be helpful for you to have the Turnitin report so request this. You should then see the passages that were considered to be slightly plagiarised (negligent academic practice tends to indicate that the copying was unintentional).
Once you know which passages are similar you can then ensure these are rewritten and I would suggest that you also revise some other parts (usually there are few reports that can't be improved somewhere). Don't look at samples as the more original content in your work the less there is an issue with plagiarism and accidental copying).
Hi Gillian
I had requested for the Turnitin report from the ACO. However she replied that she is unable to send the full report. Instead she sent me only one page of the SLS, to indicate the matches.
In the absence of the Turnitin report I am not sure which parts of my project looked similar to others. As such do I have to completely rewrite the research report and SLS?
Hello,
Please my result was withheld and sent to ACO. Before submission i did plagarism check using writecheck and got a score of 18% for my RAP report while scanmyessay scored it as 5%. The SLS scanmyessay scored it as 2%. I am wondering what i could have being flagged for? I didn’t copy and paste and make quotes with references, anyone with ideas of what to expect so i am prepare with an immediate response.
Thanks guys
IT may be similaries with reports from you and students with the same mentor. You will just have to wait until the ACO contact you. As I have said before: innocent students have nithing to fear. As an ACO I recall a student whose SLS was 80% identical to another student's, still protested his innocence. However as his general grammar in his report was poor but in his SLS it was perfect I decided that he couldn't possibly have written both
Thanks GillianM, i would keep you posted when i get the letter from the ACO
Hi Gillian
I was a student who submitted the project for period 38 and had my result withheld. The ACO however concluded it to be academic negligence and requested me to resubmit the project.
However, recently I got an email from OBU with my feedback report attached which indicated that my research report has been passed and has been awarded Grade 'A'. It is only my SLS she has failed due to similarities with other student SLS. As such OBU confirmed I am only required to resubmit the SLS again.
I just wanted to clarify from you when I resubmit the SLS should it be a completely new one or can I just amend only the phrases which are shown as copied in the Turnitin report my ACO sent to me?
First off - congratulations for getting a Grade A!
Think about this - you obviously drew on another student's SLS wheres the whole purpose of the statement is that you should be self-reflecting on your own personal development and learning experience.
So if you sit down and think about your own strengths and weaknesses and your own skill set that developed as you researched collated, analysed and evaluated the information and consider the challenges that you faced in achieving your report objectives and how you addressed these and how this will all affect your future prospects - and then write about these honestly, you will have solved the existing problem!
Hello GIllianM,
I finally got contacted today by the ACO, the Turnitin report on my SLS showed 35% match! To be honest I never knew the SLS was to be referenced or exact words placed on quotation marks. I have been going through the guides and saw emphasis on the RAP but never on SLS hence my attention to details was on the RAP. How do you think I should be present myself in my response. Tnks
Hi Gillian
Thanks ?
As per the turnitin report the ACO sent me there were only few paragraphs which were a match to another SLS.
I have redrafted my SLS for resubmission with the same experience as before SLS but have expressed the experience in different way.
I’m afraid whether it will be ok. Is it possible for you to review my new SLS together with the turnitin report and advice me if the new one I have drafted is ok to submit? It will be a great help if you could do this .
@writesammieq - if your SLS has a score of 35% this means that about 700 of your words match to other students' SLSs. This would normally only happen if have seen other people's statements - I am confident that none of my own students' SLSs would show many similarities at all because I never let them see any previous students'statements or provide so-called 'samples'. So probably the only thing that would be the same would be the actual questions to be answered so about 80 -100 words overall.
Referencing has nothing to do with it -copying phrases and sentences from other students is what it is all about!
@ash05- Possibly - but can't your own mentor do this for you?
Hi Gillian
My mentor did review it but he only commented on whether the SLS is in line with the requirements specified. However, he did not do much of a comparison between the new SLS and the turnitin report.
Since I have redrafted my new SLS with the similar ideas I am afraid whether it will again show a match and result in my submission being withheld.
As you have been an ACO officer, I trust you have much more experience in reviewing this. I would be glad if you could compare my new SLS and the turnitin report and advice me if that is fine.
Please let me know how I can forward you the documents for your review.
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you -been busy with my mentees
The key is to look at your new version and the previous Turnitin report. It is a bit of a slog comparing the two even if you have access to Turnitin - (which I no longer have). The matching score normally will always be high with a resubmission . Even then n fact it is not so easy with a resubmitted piece of work to check what matches with the first submission (which will normally be ok) and what was highlighted in the first Turnitin report as being matched elsewhere (which is not ok) - though normally they will show as different coloured text. So what I am saying is that even the next marker won't find it a walk in the park....
Ideally a newly written statement is the best way to go as any matches will be minimal. But if you have substantially rewritten the problem areas and there wasn't a particularly high score first time around you should be all right. Good luck!
Hi Gillian
I have a query please
My project has been referred to ACO and they concluded the investigation starting "This is a breach of Student Conduct Regulation 4.4.1 and I have imposed a penalty of a fail grade for this piece of work. If you are eligible you may re-submit your RAP. You are permitted to resubmit the same project but with corrections."
So does this mean I only have to resubmit RR
and resubmission statement?
Could you please advice on this?
Also would they provide me the feedback on this project?
Thank
Having given a fail for 4.1.1. you won't receive feedback as they have decided that there is evidence it is not all your own original work. So therefore they cannot tell you what you must do to improve it except rewrite it with corrections I.e. removing copied content and providing your own commentary
If you got a Turnitin report that will show which sections were lifted from elsewhere and those are what need to be corrected. As you were awarded a fail fir your whole piece of work that means you have to resubmit the lot.
Hi Gillian
Initially my ACO also imposed a fail grade for my project under Student Regulations 4.1.1.
However, after few months they sent me an email saying after decision of ACO please find the marker feedback report for my project. This feedback report indicated my RR has been passed but only my SLS has been awarded fail grade.
When I inquired from OBU whether I need to resubmit only my SLS they confirmed that only the SLS needs to be resubmitted.
Just wanted to clarify with you whether this scenario can happen where the ACO awarded fail grade and then sent the feedback report indicating only SLS has been failed and not the RR?
I m not sure what you are asking me here as it is not clear what your question is so, I don't know if I have answered it....
Most ACO cases involve either made up data where a student says they have carried out a survey but it is obvious the data is fabricated or work that has been copied.
Turnitin the checking program will flag up passages in either the report or SLS which have been matched to either other previously published material or another student or both I.e involves some copying.
In your case they obviously thought the report was relatively untainted (some matching is inevitable, it is a matter of how much), but the score was ok. As it was not judged to be copied it was therefore passed. However they obviously felt the SLS had too high a matching score and failed it. To get a pass overall you need to pass both the report and SLS section so it will be recorded as a fail if your SLS is failed but the report passed - however once the SMS is passed your overall grade will reflect the original report grade.
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