Results withheld / deferred

Hi Gillian! Thank you for your prompt response. The case is closed at this stage or will it be reported to ACCA as well? Although nothing pertaining to this is mentioned in the final letter received and penalty is imposed under regulation 4.4.1 for negligence.

Obviously I can only state my own opinion, however the fact that you are being allowed to resubmit would seem to imply that this is the end of the matter. Academic Negligence is not seen as a 'hanging offence' and therefore you should not worry about it further, apart from ensuring that you do not make the same mistakes next time around.

Hi Gillian, My RAP is under investigation. In our tution class our mentor gave us past passed sample RAP to get familiar with the layout and structure of the report. ACO is saying ideas in my research report are same with one student who also submitted his report in same period, and ACO is saying both of us has the same topic. But both of us has never ever met with each other. Only our mentor is same. ACO is saying only the wording is different but ideas are the same. This happened because we followed the layout and structure of sample report. There is 10% plagarisim in my report. Now ACO is requesting me to send him the sample report on which my report is based. Can you please tell me, is it permitted in OBU rules to use past sample report just to get familiar with the structure and layout of report?

A 10% matching score for a report means that about 750 words are the same, but of course if that is to just one student that is significant [whereas if it were 1% to each of 10 students it would not be and might be more co-incidental]. If there was additional rewording [Turnitin actually highlights where words in sentences have been changed] effectively that means that score really is higher [perhaps half as high again] so say, 15%. Work sharing is never a good idea and reputable mentors do not rely on this to guide their students as there can be issues in sharing work. Firstly there are the ethics - was the student whose work was circulated aware of this and gave their permission? if not then this is deplorable. Secondly if showing a report, a tutor should ensure that there are no connections with a report another student is preparing e.g. the same company or a company operating in the same sector - that way it would be merely giving a student a general overview and idea about what is expected in terms of general layout. Problems come when a previous report is then used as a template as seems to be the case here. That is, the second student takes some of the original paragraphs, rephrases them and substitutes their company into what are essentially the same sentences but for the odd word having been changed here and there, and a bit or reordering the sentences. This is copying and definitely falls on the wrong side of the University rules. So although showing someone a report may not break the rules if it really was for illustrative purposes only, where it has been used to extract content it potentially can be a disciplinary offence. Therefore if you and another student both extracted similar information it is immaterial that you never were in contact with each other - you both have copied some of the original material by the sound of it.

Thank you so much for your reply, I dont know about the other student,because both of us has never in contact with each other, but its true in our class we got sample paper from our mentor. Yes i took the content from sample report and i rephrased it. I am wondering, i was totaly unaware of this that using sample paper and then following the same idea with your own wording is considered as disciplinary offence. I explained to ACO that i used sample paper for ideas, and i also attached that sample paper in the email. I am tense i don't know what will be the outcome of this. I dont know whether i should to send him again an email with appology, or should i wait till ACO reply. Its been a week i did not get reply from him. Kindly guide me.

Obviously I can't predict the result with precision but I would expect them to fail you and make you resubmit a new report. The best thing is to learn from the experience and ensure that your next submission is all your own work then there will be no problems. It is probably the mentor's fault not yours!

Hello, I need help. My rap is withheld and concern is raised regarding common authorship of research report and presentation with work of another student. Please explain what is the issue here and what evidence I need to provide.

Please read about the case of fali03 above. The issue is that the RAP should be all of your own work. It should not be a re-write of someone else's or based on a 'sample` supplied by someone else. Some mentors also offer to write the report for the student saying this is 'normal' and getting the degree is mainly about passing ACCA exams. This practice is disgraceful as the mentors are lying - by not doing all of the work yourself you will be cheating and will not have earned the degree fairly All reports are electronically checked for similarities with previous work that has been submitted using very powerful software that can even identify where changes had been made in rephrasing and rewording. It will also identify passages that have been copied and pasted into reports. Work deferred.usually has strong evidence of similarities with other pieces of work indicating it is not the student's entirely or there is evidence of the mentor writing it or too much copied and pasted material. If it is your own you would have genuine copies of drafts showing how you made corrections and include review comments by the mentor and evidence of a detailed email trail between you. Failure to produce this and students saying they changed their laptop, it crashed etc. etc. will not wash now there is the Cloud - copies don't just disappear as a genuine mentor would also keep copies of their students work. So if you have genuinely done the report produce the evidence to the ACO

hello mam i got similarity of 66% and they refferd my case to ACO . it was an open book exam and it is my first semester ,i do not know about these things actually . what should i do now?

Copying passages from sources does not demonstrate that you understand what you are writing and is considered 'bad academic practice'. Even if the sources are acknowledged and fully referenced, you are still expected to demonstrate that you understand what you are writing by paraphrasing sources and expressing the ideas in your own words. With a score of 66% it means that 2/3 of your work matched the sources you had extracted it from and this means that only 1/3 showed any originality. Although the ACO may decide that you were negligent, you are probably looking at a fail on the grounds of the bad academic practice. The overall conclusion is likely to be that as what you wrote just repeated the ideas of others, it showed little academic merit on your part and you would have to re-do it.

Kindly advise me my result has been withheld and referred to ACO. Author name on my file is abc and say that explain why the document properties have been removed from your submission documents and why the linked files have been removed from the embedded charts in the Research Report and the PPT slides how can i prove the work is mine . i was working remotely with overseas company so my work was anonyms so was advised to change author name to abc . i dont understand how can i prove to aco the work is mine. please advise

Hello maam, I've read through the forum and am curious what extra precautions I can do to prevent my paper from being withheld/deferred, especially regarding the SLS. So far for the research, drafts and conversations with mentor. But for SLS, would typed notes (with dates) about learnings, experience, etc. of mine throughout the course of me writing my paper suffice? If that was typed in Google docs, there is a version history that can be accessed to see the changes and when it was done, would that be good evidence in case of SLS being investigated? Thank you in advance

Your suggestion does sound reasonable. I don't think students would worry too much about plagiarism and the SLS now that the questions have changed. The 2 New questions used since P44 are tailored very much to the individual as they are about your own skills and development (both personally and professionally) and how the process may impact on you going forward (I.e. the first question looks back, the second question projects to the future). There really is therefore no excuse for a mentor to supply a 'sample' of an SLS and no reason whatsoever for a student to share theirs with others so that should reduce the possibility of plagiarism. Just sit down and write an honest account and there should then be no copying issues!

Dear Ma'am, My result have been withheld for documents being produced from identical template and presentation and formats. However, I have used standard charts and headings of Microsoft word in my research report. I have provided screenshot evidence of WhatsApp chat with my mentor containing our discussions regarding charts etc. Furthermore, draft paper work has also been shared. Now it's been 2 weeks since I have submitted this all but still haven't received any reply other than of acknowledgement.

I think you should email your ACO Officer and ask for an update on your case

Dear Admin I got my email last night informing me that the result have been sent over to the ACO I couldn’t sleep, I was restless, all sorts of thoughts came to my mind. But afterwards I understood that I should have finalized my review points with my mentor Anyways i ask for your guidance, as I have drafts of my meetings and communications with my mentor which are on WhatsApp, my final review is through email. I have a lengthy correspondence with my mentor on meetings and even the final review stages. I really think that my referencing was very generic, and along with that most of my research was secondary. I took 11 days to make it, given the time issues I had. Please advise me, I am desperately confused as to what should I do and what would be the implications. Regards,

Dear Tephana or Gillain I really need your guidance My ACO firstly gave the decision based on the 4.4.1 breach and resubmission based on new topic and company. I was relieved, thankful and learned from this mistake. However, as weird as it is, he came back today and is asking for additional information I told him that in honesty I copied a lot of the phraseology from my friend and I admitted to it, gave the evidence of it ( emails and whatsapp convos) Now he asking to give me the ACCA name and number of the person I took this RAP from, I gave him the name, but I cannot get his number as he has bluntly said no and has blocked me from all social media platforms. Further he is saying that he will complain if OBU comes to him for this issue. Now my ACO officer is saying that if I do not get his number, he will refer me to the UCC and ACCA, what can I do, I cannot force this acquaintance to give up his ACCA number, it's not his fault I copied from him.

Mmmmm. I am not sure what is going on their end. The way Turnitin works is that it not only identifies the passages in work that has matched but if that work has been been submitted to the University it actually identifies the student who did it previously (they can actually normally call up the original paper from their system) - so they would know his name and number already. I am thinking perhaps he copied it from someone else previously... in which case Turnitin would have matched his work to an earlier student. The mentor may also have been implemented so perhaps they are trying to build up a case against them. All you can do is try to co-operate and state this and give them the information that you possess.

Mmmmm. I am not sure what is going on their end. The way Turnitin works is that it not only identifies the passages in work that has matched but if that work has been been submitted to the University it actually identifies the student who did it previously (they can actually normally call up the original paper from their system) - so they would know his name and number already. I am thinking perhaps he copied it from someone else previously... in which case Turnitin would have matched his work to an earlier student. The mentor may also have been implemented so perhaps they are trying to build up a case against them. All you can do is try to co-operate and state this and give them the information that you possess.

Dear Gillian, This is is what they replied when I told them about m situation, I could not take it any longer, I told them about my condition with anxiety - " I am advised by our admin office that you are concerned by the request that I made. Let me try to put your mind at rest. What Abdullah did with you (and others I guess) is what has caused your problem and we are anxious to stop him continuing to damage people like you. Did you pay him anything? The decision that I made on your case stands and will not be changed. However, if through your friends you can advise ALL students to drive Abdullah away to void them suffering s you did you will have performed a good deed. Now, please stop worrying " I am shocked that this is such a big issue, Abdullah actually passed in 2014

The fact that you don't think this is a big deal is possibly because you are viewing it through your own cultural lens and taking a very narrow view of things. Firstly UK universities have a reputation to maintain globally and anyone who gets the degree through submitting work that is not their own has quite frankly 'cheated the system' which threatens the integrity of the national education system. For example there are many students out there who make a lot of personal sacrifices [time, money, effort] to earn [emphasis on the word 'earn'] their academic qualifications. It is unfair, immoral, unethical and totally acceptable that mentors, other students and writing services offer to 'help' students by writing the work for students because it means that then the student who submits such work has done zilch to earn the degree apart from handing over money to a third party. It undermines the whole educational system since it implies that you can buy your way to qualifications. Secondly passing off work that is not yours as your own is fraud, and fraud is a criminal offence in the UK and most countries. Students who do this see it as a 'victimless crime' which is apparent by your comment that you are 'shocked that this is such a big issue, Abdullah actually passed in 2014'. No crime is entirely victimless though I will admt you and Abdullah did not PHYSICALLY harm anyone. You have however together conspired by your joint actions, to discredit the BSc Applied Accounting degree and render it valueless [because you tried to buy or cheat your way to it] and that affects those students who have worked hard and earned the award honestly - effectively the message is 'don't bother doing the work just use someone else's, that's the 'smart' thing to do. It is therefore irrelevant that Abdullah actually passed in 2014. In fact Abdullah is, as I pointed out, a 'co-conspirator' and possibly should be quaking in his shoes since degrees can be rescinded. Effectively what that means if a degree is rescinded is that the degree award is cancelled and an employer who seeks confirmation of the degree with the University will be informed that the student does not hold the qualification validly. [Note: as an ACO I can recall several cases I was actively involved in where this was done] So the advice from the ACO is clear - learn from your mistake and encourage others to earn the degree honestly... And the message to others reading this is that whatever you may be told by disreputable mentors and websites that there is no problem using them to do the work for you, you will be committing both a criminal offence and breaking the ACCA code of ethics. [and also on a personal level you will have no sense of achievement that honest students gain when they learn that they have passed] Good luck with your resubmission [which I now hope you will do yourself]