Denise’s Academic Misconduct Case Study

Denise’s Academic Misconduct Case Study

 

Question 1

The decision to grade her 0 as well as placing Denise on disciplinary probation for academic misconduct was right. Denise fails to cite and reference the website FREE-ESSAY.COM where she sourced some material presented in her paper. Therefore, she is guilty of academic plagiarism as she presented the words of another person as her own for academic evaluation without proper acknowledgment.

Question 2

The professor was responsible for Denise’s decision to plagiarize since the professor did not guide the students on how to avoid plagiarism when writing the academic essay.

Denise would have appropriately cited and referenced all the sources she borrowed her content from if the professor would have guided her rather than her less informed friends. Denise’s unawareness of plagiarism is seen by her asking Larry on the issue after completing the paper. The professor was her organic chemistry lecturer who assigned the class the research paper and gave Denise a 0 in the course as an academic consequence of breaking academic plagiarism rules. The professor should have discussed with Denise as well as the entire organic chemistry class on ways of avoiding plagiarism when writing research essays.

Larry is responsible for Denise’s misconduct as he fails to correct her after she inquired from him regarding the issue. He sides with her and even motivates her actions as an appropriate decision to give her a break. Larry contributes to Denise scoring 0 since his misguiding advice led Denise to believe she had not done anything wrong, but she would have otherwise corrected the error before the submission deadline if Larry gave her the right advice. Larry should have advised her to correct the errors by properly citing all the sources she used to avoid plagiarism.

Susan is responsible for Denise’s misconduct since she is the one who directed her to visit the website FREE-ESSAY.COM without clarifying to her on how to cite and reference the website while presenting the paper. She contributes to Denise receiving grade 0 as the website she recommended her to use exactly what led to the misconduct case. Susan should have also mentioned to Denise to include citations and references of the website in her final paper if she quotes any content from FREE-ESSAY.COM.

Denise’s father is responsible for Denise’s plagiarism since Denise aimed to achieve high grades to impress him. As a strict man, Denise’s father expected high standards and grades from her, which pressured her to the point of depression. Denise chose to hurriedly undertake the research paper to get extra credit, which would boost her grade meeting her father’s demands. Denise’s father contributes to Denise scoring 0 since she lives a demanding school and work schedule to uphold the morals taught by her father. Resultantly she does not give enough time to her studies and assignment, which contributes to her misconduct and poor grades.

Question 3

Denise should have consulted the lecturer prior to beginning the research paper and find out the rules regarding academic plagiarism and ways to properly cite and reference the sources used in the essay. Following the realization of the misconduct and the subsequent consequences. Denise should have requested the lecturer to allow her to revise the error and resubmit the essay with proper acknowledgment of any other person’s ideas presented.

Some of the resources that could have assisted Denise to avoid academic plagiarism are online material, including academic journals explaining how to cite and source academic research essays appropriately. With the situation now over, Denise should tell her parents of her probation and the reason for the same. Also, she should not give up but rather conduct research on citing and referencing any borrowed content while writing academic papers during her period out of school.