If he just copied yours word for word then your notes & research will back up your side of the story & not his.
Any notes he may have won't quite jive with the essay he handed in & so will vindicate you.

I hope it goes well hun. No one deserves that kinda interogation *hugs*

I think you need to try not to worry (ok, so that may be easier said than done).

Firstly you've done nothing wrong.

I don't think you're going to have a problem proving that you've done nothing wrong. Everyone has their own style of writing, certain constructions that come up again and again, I suspect that a reading of the essay, and of previous work that you have done and that he has done, will make it fairly obvious who wrote it.

Hand in the notes that they have asked for exactly as they are. If he tries to make some 'fake' notes and rough work, it is hard to make them look real, he's bound to slip up somewhere.

Consol yourself with the thought that someone who would hand in a word for word copy of an essay written by someone else on the same course is nowhere near smart enough to get away with it.

I have nothing to say to help you but I would just like to say what an arsehole. Kick him in the testicles

---

by Teresa
I have nothing to say to help you but I would just like to say what an arsehole. Kick him in the testicles

---

I'd normally wince and protest at that sort of advice but, yeah, kick him in the testicles!

What T said, and also go speak to the Student Union reps

Give his address to me and the boys and we'll pay him a visit!!!!

But in all seriousness Good luck. I hope they break his hands for you

I had this problem when i was writting my dissertation but my tutors knew my style well enough to know it was me.

Is there any way you could prove its you with typing/spelling mistakes or does it link to essays you've written before? even the layout styles.

Good luck luvy

Don't worry about it sweetpea. Just tell the truth like you have. I'd personally kill the git who copied you though. Can they not tell from previous essays your way of writing as apposed to his. Anyway you'll be fine, just hope that guy gets an arse kicking!

Over the last few years a lot of work's been done, primarily by universities, on investigating and identifying plagiarised work. As long as they have reasonably large samples of writing from both of you it's highly unlikely that they would misattribute the work.

Additionally, assuming it was written on a computer, then depending on how you wrote it, and what word processor you were using, a lot of editing information may be held in the document, so in investigating they are likely to want to look at the original file(s). Obviously, this isn't 100%, but it's another factor in determining ownership.

There are of course plenty of ways to plagiarise work, but anyone dumb enough to directly copy a significant amount of work from someone else is going to get caught.

Lastly, certainly in cases of plagiarism (rather than just collusion), the university dosn't need to demonstrate that a particular piece of work was plagiarised, rather that a particular person plagiarised the work. And any time you're going in to a viva, or otherwise having to defend a piece of work, ensure you know it inside-out, upside-down, and back-to-front, also re-read all of your notes and draft versions of the essay -- ensure that you don't just defend the essay, but how and why you wrote it.

That happened to me while I was at uni. We had to write a computer program, a mate couldn't do it so asked to see mine so he could figure out how it worked and basically ripped the whole thing off. When the investigation happened the basically asked how I came to my answer, why I'd written things in a certain way, asked for copys of any notes or sample programs I'd written. My mate insisted he hadn't copied but did admit that he based his answer on my workings. He got away with a slap on the wrist mainly because although he'd copied my basic premise he had added his own work to it.

Go to the counselling service people and tell them all about it, cry if you have to just make sure that crap bag doesn't get away with it!

Also ditto to what everyone says about kicking him in the testacles

Well he's not a very good friend then!

I really hope it all goes well, as other people have said, you're in the right, so you have alot more going for you from square one.

Hope the interview goes alright *hugs*

Oh no that sounds awful! I hope it all works out for you it probably will, these things always seem to work out better than you think.

Your friend'll probably come clean in the end - he might as well, he'll get himself in less trouble if he admits it. Why don't you speak to him and try and convince him? And he insists on dragging you down, then just forget him and let him get whatever punishment they give him.

Ouch! "So called" friend indeed. This may be my evil alter-ego speaking () but I hope a) he gets kicked in the crotch (I sense a pattern developing here... ) b) he fails miserably, and c) if for some reason you decide to forgive the conniving git, slap him. While he's still on his knees in agony!

Anyways, I hope the PTB realise what's going on and give you the all clear, and a good mark too. Having jack experience in this field, I don't really have any advice to give except to say good luck! I'll cross my fingers (tho' it'll be a pain to type! ) but I do confess I'm now paranoid 'cos I really can't remember if I let anyone read my essays...

Thanks everyone

Went and handed everything I had in today, handed three drafts in, the disk it was printed from, my text book with all the bits in that id underlined and i went through my final draft numbered bits and explained why i'd included them. Dont know what more I can do because most of my rough prep work got binned when I moved back home!

P.S his testicles are in muchos danger from my lovely pink pointy shoes and the queue to beat the crap out of him is getting longer by the day lol x



(Edited by Eve 25/06/2004 20:00)

---

by Eve

P.S his testicles are in muchos danger from my lovely pink pointy shoes

---

I lu you lady!

Sounds like you presented a concise arguement (oh, you know what I mean ) *crosses fingers*
Let's hope the auditors (or whoever sorts it) sees the light

Hope it all goes well for you duder! Sounds like you've given everything you'd be expected to and so long as the auditors have any sense you'll be fine, just fine.

WOOHOO, i was found innocent! So I celebrated in style! hehe!

p.s Thanks for all the support!! xxxxxxxxx