Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Heather Marshall
238-205 Charlotte Street
Peterborough, ON
K9J 0A2
August 26, 2019

Dr. Stephenson
Associate Dean (Studies)
Queen¿¿s University
Dunning Hall ¿¿ First Floor
94 University Avenue
Kingston, ON
K7L 3N6

Dear Dr. Stephenson:

Re: ENGL 215; Professor Robert May

I recently completed the subject online course.

On July 5th, I submitted an essay (¿¿Essay 3¿) as a Word attachment at 1:47 p.m. The essay was not due until 11:55 p.m. that day, meaning I submitted the paper ten hours in advance of the deadline.

On Tuesday, July 23 at around 10:15 a.m., as I was driving home with my mother, I checked the onq.queensu.ca site to ascertain if my grade and comments had been posted. To my astonishment I received a grade of 26. The essay with TA comments is attached (291859-135349¿).

When I arrived home I ascertained that I had inadvertently submitted an incomplete prior draft and not the completed essay. I then sent the email attached, with the complete essay also attached, to the TA at 1:39 p.m. that day. The TA¿¿s responding email is also attached.

The facts certainly underscore that I did indeed have the essay completed when I inadvertently submitted the wrong draft at 1:47 p.m. No one is going to submit what is so obviously an incomplete draft, without even a title, ten hours in advance of the deadline. Similarly, I submitted the complete essay almost immediately after receiving the 24 grade. It goes without saying that I couldn¿¿t complete and submit the final draft of the essay attached in such a short time span.

I would certainly agree with Professor May that all students must be treated fairly. I have a Nonverbal Learning Disability that necessitates a number of accommodations coordinated through Trent University¿¿s Student Accessibility Services office including: (i) extended time for writing exams in a controlled environment; (ii) use of a laptop for exam writing in that my fine motor skills and accordingly handwriting are very poor; (iii) a reduced course load. The latter accommodation is why I took two full on-line courses this summer, including the subject course. My disability would certainly explain why I attached the wrong essay file in this instance. Your records will show that I applied to the Queen¿¿s Accommodation Office to obtain parallel accommodations for the final exam in this course.

I am an English major at Trent entering fourth year and have consistently been on the Dean¿¿s list. The low mark I received in this course owing to the circumstances outlined above, will be by far the lowest mark on my transcript. I am hoping to go to grad school and am very concerned that this low grade will adversely affect my chances.

Consistent with my July 23rd request to Ms. Martinovic, I would request that my complete final essay be graded, and that this grade be used to determine my final grade in the course.

Respectfully,

Heather Marshall

Encl.