(Archive) Results withheld/ deferred

(@hosa With a 99% Turnitin score there is no possibility that you are going to be able to explain this one away! If you don't respond at all you are looking at a university misconduct committee hearing (UMC) . Effectively that means you will be expelled from the OBU programme and the details passed to ACCA for their further action (disciplinary proceedings). Your best hope is to grass up your mentor IF they were involved. You might then escape with Misconduct and be subject to a penalty resubmission fee if you choose to resubmit. Normally ACCA is also informed in Misconduct cases but as it will just have stopped short of the UMC hearing it normally goes on your student / member record and that is it. ( I think ACCA only instigate disciplinaries if it has actually gone through the UMC). So depending on what has gone on you have a choice - fess up fully and hope you will escape with Misconduct from the ACO or do nothing and you will get Serious Misconduct from the UMC + ACCA action. If there was no mentor involvement in the copying then obviously you cannot implicate the mentor (the mentor may be keeping a low profile because they don't want to be further connected with you)

@imrankhan350 - same advice as with @hosa. If there is mentor involvement fess up and you might be lucky and escape with Misconduct.

If found that misconduct Will it affect my ACCA exam, result can i still continue professional level.?

Your ACCA status is not directly affected. ACCA is automatically informed of all cases of Misconduct and it is noted on your student record. If there is any future question about your conduct in terms of integrity (professional, exams or with OBU) anything relevant on your file can be used as part of any disciplinary proceedings. A hearing before the UMC resulting in a charge of Serious Misconduct being upheld means expulsion from the OBU programme and a potential ACCA disciplinary.

Hey Friends. I am new here. I submitted my RAP for period 32 and got the result withheld. I am too confused. I am sure there is no plagiarism because i checked my SLS and RAP at turnitin software before submitting them. What else could be the reason for withholding my result? I am worried as sick about the issue.

Hi @trephena, Need your help please.

Basically if you know you did your work yourself (and didn't take lots if passages from the internet or from another student) you have nothing to fear. Sorry I am holiday at the moment but will address your issues when I return at the end of the week.

Thanks for ur response. The only plagiarism I have in my SLS and RAP is mostly headings and SLS questions and some exact definitions which I wrote with the exact wordings but i referenced them every time. What else could be the reason for the hold?

Hi @trephena, I have received the introductory email stating that she has been assigned the case and she will contacting me. I would like to know If and how shall I be replying to this email. Thanks for your help.

Did you checked you project through main Tunitin software!? If Yes, then this could be the main reason for hold up. Regards, Ehsan

Exactly! I thought there was a warning in the Information Pack advising against using Turnitin and suggesting writecheck instead? (The way Turnitin works is that every time a document is put through it, it retains that document on the database and then matches it to anything that is subsequently submitted. You will now have a very high matching score as your submitted work will have been matched to your earlier Turnitin version). You do not normally need to respond until the ACO sends you the details of the allegations, however in your case as you presumably have a name and contact details I would email back and say what happened and await their response. This may shorten the process as there may be a a specific procedure for dealing with work checked on Turnitin before submitting.

@Ehsan and @trephena, Thank you for your response. I have checked with the main trunitin software. Its like there is only one turnitin software to check from. If this is the case for holdup, should i be worried?

Main Turintin is not for students, because it uploads the project to the main database, so whenever the marker passes the project in the system there will be similarities. For students it is Writecheck, Turnitin sister website which doesn't upload the project to the main system. If it is due to the Turnitin, then I guess you shouldn't worry at all. Markers will find out that the similarities are indeed from your own project lol. Regards, Ehsan

@Ehsan, I hope this is the case but I remember switching off the repository option. I will email them back tonight and can only hope for the best.

Hello trephena, please can you assist here. I am a OBU period 32 student . I have done the RAP and the SLS entirely by myself but had my results referred to the ACO. Last week I received a letter from the ACO saying the following: "The coursework you have submitted for assessment for the Research and Analysis Project has been referred to me for investigation because of concerns about its originality. Your project was passed through Turnitin and an overall match of 37% over 54 different sources was identified in the RAP. 1. There is an 8% match to work submitted by Abdul Rafay Khan, 2. There are matches to other submissions and to UKEssays. To assist me in investigating these concerns, I must ask you to send me a response to the evidence detailed above. Also, please send evidence to indicate that this project was solely your own work, by way of: 1. Plans and early drafts of your RAP and SLS which demonstrate how your ideas developed, ideally with drafts annotated by your mentor. 2. Copies of emails between you and your mentor. 3. Notes you have made from books and articles used in the RAP and SLS. I appreciate that mail may take some time so I am e-mailing a copy of this letter so that you can begin gathering together your evidence. I am also aware that, like me, you wish this matter to be settled as speedily as possible so must ask that you send electronic material or post this evidence so that I receive it by 27 October 2016". I have the following questions: 1.what is being meant by "match". what is its difference with plagiarism? 2. Can I send screenshot of viber communications with my mentor to the ACO. 3. I have also included website links(showing shortcut of the webpage used) to the sources of information used in my RAP as part of my evidences. Is that sufficient or OK? I really need your assistance in these areas. keenly waiting for your reply. Thank you so much

First can I say this post really belongs on "Results withheld / deferred" as that is the most appropriate topic (where I shall be reposting this in a couple of days)? You should have been sent a Turnitin report which sets out your work that the program has found similar to other students' work as coloured passages (the matches). The report shows each source as a different colour and gives it a number in descending order of how much it featured. So according to the information above then there would have been 37 shades of coloured text starting with red for the largest source then I think it is dark green and bright blue for the next 2 largest used source. Each time a particular source is used the words are in the colour so each time the program found words that Abdul Khan used (known as a match) it will show these in the same colour. I think what OBU are trying to do is see if you put this work together yourself. So earlier drafts, and evidence of research are needed. I think actual emails to and from the mentor are required so screenshots of these might be accepted. Notes will be less reliable as evidence as they could be made up at any time. Your real focus I think needs to on explaining the match to the other student. This can happen if both you and he used material from the same website or it can come from using another student's piece of work and copying. What people don't realise is that Turnitin can identify copied passages EVEN WHEN some rewording has taken place (if your coloured text has odd bits of black text within it this is where it is suggests recording has taken place). The person named is obviously another OBU student so what the ACO can do apparently is then click on your passage and bring up his at the same time and compare them. So you need to explain how come your work and his are the same in places. 8% represents nearly 800 words (and if the reworded bits in black text in coloured passages are added in the percentage could realistically be 10%) so " coincidence " won't normally be acceptable. So how did it happen? However apart from the UK essay element which again suggests copying, the other matches sound like bad or lack of referencing and too much copying and pasting from internet sources. Whereas what you should have done if you see my Golden Rules (No. 10) is learn to express things in your own words. Overall you are probably either looking at malpractice (or possibly Misconduct depending on what else may be lurking in your work - I have heard that spreadsheets and PowerPoint slides of students with the same mentor are examined for similarities and this would not form part of the Turnitin report). Malpractice or Misconduct mean an automatic fail of zero, no feedback and you are likely to have to change topic or company or both for a resubmission (though Misconduct also carries a penalty resubmission fee of GBP 550). However I have heard of worse cases so my advice as always is fess up as this ends the stress - especially if you copied from the other guy (if he had the same mentor it will be presumed you copied from him anyway!). If you can prove innocence then it is likely to be just academic negligence for copying and pasting from sources and the penalties are less severe. Let us all know how you get on.

Thank you very much Trephena. Well appreciated. Will keep you posted on any development.

Again Trephena, The screenshots are conversation I had with my mentor on viber. I also want to send these conversations as screenshots to the ACO. Is it OK to send this as screenshots? Your thought please.

Trephena, My results were witheld in the last OBU period 32 submission. I received ACO letter requesting me to send him all the evidences in conducting my RAP,. I want to send the viber conversation with my mento to the ACO. These are not emails but questions and comments on some aspects of the RAP. I also want to send these conversations as screenshots to the ACO. Is it OK to send this as screenshots? Your thought please.

Yes send anything that supports your case -earlier drafts of the report and SLS, notes on research and any communication with the mentor.

@Trephena Hi, I have received the similar email stating that there is a 5% match with some other RAP but she didnot send me the turnitin report. Shall I send an acknowledgment response for her email? She is expecting drafts, emails from mentor and all The drafts is in word format where I use to change on my RAPs and luckily saved some word files. Shall I send them?

Normally you get a Turnitin report unless the matches are insignificant. Yes send an acknowledgement and query whether you should have a copy of the Turnitin report. Collate your evidence and then send copies of earlier drafts and any evidence of research (earlier bibliography where you listed sources some of which you used and some you may not have used). Normally you would have produced copies of the report at various stages of its development -that's what they want to see.

Hi @trephena, I am sure 5% counts as an insignificant percent. While drafting a response, shall I mention that I have run SLS and RAP on turnitin and the plagiarism is only on the headings only? Or Shall i just email them querying about if they will provide me the turnitin report? Thanks

@shay88 said: Hi @trephena, I am sure 5% counts as an insignificant percent. While drafting a response, shall I mention that I have run SLS and RAP on turnitin and the plagiarism is only on the headings only? Or Shall i just email them querying about if they will provide me the turnitin report? Thanks

@Trephena, Looking for your some guidance please!

If you want the Turnitin report ask for it. Yes 5% of the total would be fewer than 475 words and would normally be insignificant in the grand scheme of things. However if they haven't sent the report perhaps they are focusing on other things like a duplicated Presentation or a templated Excel soreadsheet? Then the case would be extensive use of the work of others 'to gain an academic advantage' - and the 5% would be just another example of this alongside the other files....

@trephena, Thank you for your response. I have my turnitin report, but is it advisable that I shall inform them too that in my turnitin report, the 5 % is only the header and footers that are matching. However still find attached details that are requested. Is it advisable to inform them about my turnitin report? Thanks

Unless the ACO have made an issue of the Turnitin score then just ignore it. If they are saying that there is a 5% match and you have found that some of this relates to the headers and footers then you can point this out in your reply. An ACO case does not always centre around the Turnitin report however. A case may be triggered because the research seems too advanced compared with the analysis part of the report and includes very obscure references for example, so there is a mismatch between the two and looks like the work of 2 people with different abilities (i.e. the research part has been copied from another student's paper). There are different reasons depending on the case and you need to focus on what are the main issues.

There major concern in the letter states that I have a 5% match with another student. If you want I can share the letter with you as well. The only problem I m facing is its all too easy if I just point out that 5% match is just of header and footer in my report of turnitin. I am not sure what other reasons they think since its not mentioned. Plus the details they asked for like drafts and articles notes, I dont have any since I just edited my word file again and again after the mentors comments. I do plan to make all these stuff again which I used for the thesis but I m afraid I dont want them to see that I m trying too hard. Please advise as well. I thank you for all your time and effort you are putting in to help me out.

@shay88 said: I do plan to make all these stuff again which I used for the thesis but I m afraid I dont want them to see that I m trying too hard.

I don't understand what you mean by this??? Sounds as though they suspect something else more than the 5%. Maybe they think it is old work being reused - like I say there could be lots of different reasons for an ACO referral. Most people keep copies of their work at various stages of production or have them somewhere as attachments in their email. It would be unusual to have none at all. When I did my own dissertation I definitely did. I sent copies to my tutor he used track changes and sent it back and then I produced the amended version so there were 3 versions at about 3 different stages so at least 9 copies in total from start to finish Don't you have the email copies you sent to the mentor??

I have that. Infact i have them with mentors comments back and forth and the revisions i made. but would that be enough? I do not have any plans on paper or articles notes. @shay88 said: I do plan to make all these stuff again which I used for the thesis but I m afraid I dont want them to see that I m trying too hard. By this I meant, I know what plans i had, i just need to jot them down on paper and can send them but again its a made up thing which seems pretty useless to me. The most i have is 5 to 6 emails and dissertation with mentors comments and then the revisions. Would that suffice? And you also suggests that I should inform ACO that my plagiarism report has 5% thats all headers and footers. In the letter there is nothing else they are concerned about.