Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 7715
Submitted: May 17, 2021 at 3:57:37 PM
First Name: Elizabeth
Last Name: Russett
Student Number: 20096016
Email: 17ear6@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BSH
Plan: ENSC
Level of Study: 3
Appeal Category Detail: Request to review sanction related to departure from academic integrity
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Stephenson,
I am appealing a sanction that was applied to my PSYC 100 final exam grade. I was given this sanction because the Turnitin Report identified instances of plagiarism in the written answer portion of my exam. Prior to explaining what happened, I just want to acknowledge that I take full responsibility for my actions and recognize how this constitutes a departure from academic integrity. It was an honest mistake and I assure you that I will never allow this to happen again.
On April 14th, I had 3 hours and 45 minutes to complete the exam which was open book. I receive extra time on my exams because of my anxiety disorder, which I have been dealing with since high school. Exams are always a very stressful time for me, but this PSYC exam was particularly stressful as I did not have as much time to study for it as I would have liked. It took me almost 3 hours to complete the 90 multiple choice questions at the beginning of the exam because I was feeling so anxious that morning, and I had to take multiple breaks to calm myself down as a result. By the time I reached the written answer portion of the exam, there wasn¿¿t as much time left as I would¿¿ve liked and so I really had to rush my answers. As a result, I did not re-word my notes (which are from the class textbook) as well as I should have. I also realize now that I should have used a citation to acknowledge that I was using information from the textbook. When I had finished writing, I had run out of time on my exam and thus I did not have a chance to go over my work and realize my mistake.
The sanction that my instructor decided to apply because of my plagiarism is a 50 penalty to my exam grade. I believe that this penalty is too harsh because I have no previous record of departing from academic integrity. In addition, the online open-book exam format is still quite unfamiliar to me and so I am not used to having access to resources like the textbook while writing an exam (and thus not accustomed to having to include citations on an exam). This was a huge mistake on my part, but it absolutely was not intentional, and I hope you will take this into consideration when evaluating my request.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.
Best regards,
Elizabeth (Bess) Russett
20096016
I am appealing a sanction that was applied to my PSYC 100 final exam grade. I was given this sanction because the Turnitin Report identified instances of plagiarism in the written answer portion of my exam. Prior to explaining what happened, I just want to acknowledge that I take full responsibility for my actions and recognize how this constitutes a departure from academic integrity. It was an honest mistake and I assure you that I will never allow this to happen again.
On April 14th, I had 3 hours and 45 minutes to complete the exam which was open book. I receive extra time on my exams because of my anxiety disorder, which I have been dealing with since high school. Exams are always a very stressful time for me, but this PSYC exam was particularly stressful as I did not have as much time to study for it as I would have liked. It took me almost 3 hours to complete the 90 multiple choice questions at the beginning of the exam because I was feeling so anxious that morning, and I had to take multiple breaks to calm myself down as a result. By the time I reached the written answer portion of the exam, there wasn¿¿t as much time left as I would¿¿ve liked and so I really had to rush my answers. As a result, I did not re-word my notes (which are from the class textbook) as well as I should have. I also realize now that I should have used a citation to acknowledge that I was using information from the textbook. When I had finished writing, I had run out of time on my exam and thus I did not have a chance to go over my work and realize my mistake.
The sanction that my instructor decided to apply because of my plagiarism is a 50 penalty to my exam grade. I believe that this penalty is too harsh because I have no previous record of departing from academic integrity. In addition, the online open-book exam format is still quite unfamiliar to me and so I am not used to having access to resources like the textbook while writing an exam (and thus not accustomed to having to include citations on an exam). This was a huge mistake on my part, but it absolutely was not intentional, and I hope you will take this into consideration when evaluating my request.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.
Best regards,
Elizabeth (Bess) Russett
20096016
Academic Plan
Academic Plan: Please see appeal letter above.
Documentation
Professional Letter Detail: NO DOC
Documentation Detail: NO DOC