Petition Letter
Dear Associate Dean,
I am appealing to reverse a grade of 0% applied to my PSYC 100 final exam, written on April 14, 2021. This grade was assigned with the accusation of breaching academic integrity by plagiarizing from another student. First and foremost, I must assert that this accusation is false. I have always been an honest and conscientious student throughout my entire academic career. I have never practiced nor been accused of plagiarism. It would be against my personal and academic values and attitude towards education. It is clear to me that this accusation was applied as a result of automatic similarity index by TurnItIn, a program which automatically detects similarity between a student??s paper and other sources (like the internet or other students?? submissions, as well as exam questions, which in this case were quite lengthy).
Part of the PSYC100 final exam was multiple-choice questions, and the other part was written long answers. Once submitted, the long answers were processed through TurnItIn. According to TurnItIn??s automated scan, my similarity to other Queen??s University student papers is 55%, and 6% similarity to online sources and other universities. The Undergraduate Chair in Psychology, Dr. Norris, brought this investigation to my attention and emailed me the scanned paper with the similarity index by TurnItIn. I reviewed the scan and immediately recognized that the majority of the similarities TurnItIn detected are the long answer questions themselves and not my personal writing. The only other similarity detections are either individual common words, or context taken directly from the question (names and examples) and specific PSYC100 terms and parts of definitions. Although Dr. Norris allowed me to provide this explanation, I was still given an automatic 0% on my final exam, and was told that the above explanation was not adequate because my submission had overlap with another student's. Since I was not given another opportunity to respond, I wish to state here that any overlap is coincidental and the result TurnItIn flagging course terminology. (Please see attached email chain which documents these communications with my timely and thorough responses). I have always respected and appreciated the academic integrity regulations taken so seriously at Queen??s. I am honoured and proud to be a Queen??s student. My diligent efforts and results both in this course and all my others demonstrate this. I can share with you my final grades in my other courses. I received an A+ (HLTH102), an A- (FREN107), an A (FILM110 final assessment), and an A- (RELS163). For PSYC100, the exam grade is worth 40% of my total course mark, and though I passed the exam, I have been automatically given a 0%, resulting in course failure and jeopardizing my eligibility to qualify for majors. This false accusation could have very long-lasting, severe consequences to my career and life, which is why I must strongly appeal it.
I have also learned from this experience that TurnItIn is highly sensitive. In the future, I will ensure I have time at the end of a submission to do a careful review of my wording and not include the exam questions in my written answers. Also, when I use technical terminology, I will be sure to put it in quotations and include a paraphrased definition in my own words. I am hoping you can sympathize with how this being my first year at university, I am still adapting from my high school-learned skills, especially as relates to exams. Since major plan selection occurs from May 16-27, 2021, I hope to hear from you in the coming days. As I am sure you can understand, this situation has caused me significant stress and concern. I look forward to an immediate resolution so that I can complete my major qualification and selection.
Thank you for your understanding,
Ami Berkowitz
I am appealing to reverse a grade of 0% applied to my PSYC 100 final exam, written on April 14, 2021. This grade was assigned with the accusation of breaching academic integrity by plagiarizing from another student. First and foremost, I must assert that this accusation is false. I have always been an honest and conscientious student throughout my entire academic career. I have never practiced nor been accused of plagiarism. It would be against my personal and academic values and attitude towards education. It is clear to me that this accusation was applied as a result of automatic similarity index by TurnItIn, a program which automatically detects similarity between a student??s paper and other sources (like the internet or other students?? submissions, as well as exam questions, which in this case were quite lengthy).
Part of the PSYC100 final exam was multiple-choice questions, and the other part was written long answers. Once submitted, the long answers were processed through TurnItIn. According to TurnItIn??s automated scan, my similarity to other Queen??s University student papers is 55%, and 6% similarity to online sources and other universities. The Undergraduate Chair in Psychology, Dr. Norris, brought this investigation to my attention and emailed me the scanned paper with the similarity index by TurnItIn. I reviewed the scan and immediately recognized that the majority of the similarities TurnItIn detected are the long answer questions themselves and not my personal writing. The only other similarity detections are either individual common words, or context taken directly from the question (names and examples) and specific PSYC100 terms and parts of definitions. Although Dr. Norris allowed me to provide this explanation, I was still given an automatic 0% on my final exam, and was told that the above explanation was not adequate because my submission had overlap with another student's. Since I was not given another opportunity to respond, I wish to state here that any overlap is coincidental and the result TurnItIn flagging course terminology. (Please see attached email chain which documents these communications with my timely and thorough responses). I have always respected and appreciated the academic integrity regulations taken so seriously at Queen??s. I am honoured and proud to be a Queen??s student. My diligent efforts and results both in this course and all my others demonstrate this. I can share with you my final grades in my other courses. I received an A+ (HLTH102), an A- (FREN107), an A (FILM110 final assessment), and an A- (RELS163). For PSYC100, the exam grade is worth 40% of my total course mark, and though I passed the exam, I have been automatically given a 0%, resulting in course failure and jeopardizing my eligibility to qualify for majors. This false accusation could have very long-lasting, severe consequences to my career and life, which is why I must strongly appeal it.
I have also learned from this experience that TurnItIn is highly sensitive. In the future, I will ensure I have time at the end of a submission to do a careful review of my wording and not include the exam questions in my written answers. Also, when I use technical terminology, I will be sure to put it in quotations and include a paraphrased definition in my own words. I am hoping you can sympathize with how this being my first year at university, I am still adapting from my high school-learned skills, especially as relates to exams. Since major plan selection occurs from May 16-27, 2021, I hope to hear from you in the coming days. As I am sure you can understand, this situation has caused me significant stress and concern. I look forward to an immediate resolution so that I can complete my major qualification and selection.
Thank you for your understanding,
Ami Berkowitz