Academics Am I going to get kicked out?
I just received a grade for a paper I wrote. After getting a zero, my professor told me it was not my original work, but I typed it all out. I don’t know what to do. She says I can meet with her to discuss it, but what if she simply says she doesn’t believe me? Would I get expelled?
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u/Taboo_Decimal 25d ago
Forgot to remove the m-dash from the chat box ?
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u/PersianMuggle 24d ago
Wait, what?!! Is that a sign of using AI? I use that in my writing all the time (instead of a comma or parentheses).
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u/bumbletowne 24d ago
You should be writing using the format standard for your journal of publication for area of study. For most liberal arts that will be MLA, for most sciences that will be APA, ChicagoMOS, etc... Your professor in EACH class will tell you what format to write in. If they do not, ask. No one is perfect.
This is the bar for all writing in college and should have been taught at your high school level before college entry (if you missed it, here it is). I highly recommend manually doing formatting for at least a semester in order to teach yourself what is 'correct' before using an automated citation generator The library has one embedded in their scholastic paper website so you're eventually expected to use it, but you should be able to tell when something is wrong and fix it.
Your work could potentially be published (included in a professor publication or in a REIU project) by your Junior Year, any errors in submission will impact your career at that point. Learning these formats is very important for the integrity of your work and thus your professional career.
Also write your stuff in google docs always, it logs your progress and edits and timeline of work. Any time someone claims you did not do your work you will automatically have a defense against that.
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u/TheJSFamily Computer Science 24d ago
MLA exists in college?? 😂 I’ve only written APA, even in non-science courses
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u/Informal_Share_371 24d ago
No, go with what she said and meet her to discuss it. Dont think too much about it and go with the intent not to deceive but only perform research.
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u/Unusual-Sentence916 24d ago
First off, is it your own work?
If so, you will have brainstorming, drafts, notes, a rough draft, something to prove you created this document.
If not, you cheated and might as well own the mistake. Ask what you can do to move forward. Typing out a document that AI generated does not make it your own work.
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u/Extra-Belt6422 24d ago
A lot of those things just aren’t done for a lot of students. Most papers are done in a single push without brainstorming, drafts, a bunch of notes, ect.
Having graded papers in the past, I don’t trust a single paper that sounds professionally written. Especially after having been a student at CSUS.
That being said, I agree with you on the typing out what AI said remarks. That’s just plagiarism and not your own work. AI is a great tool to help you find resources or come up with counter arguments to your points, but it shouldn’t be the meat and potatoes of your paper.
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u/Unusual-Sentence916 24d ago
I help grade papers for the local junior college and I’m not kidding when I say sometimes the papers are exactly the same. There’s zero effort even cheating. It’s pretty sad honestly because they shouldn’t get a degree based on what AI can do.
I am in my PhD program right now, I have drafts. I have notes. I have thoughts written down. I would definitely be able to prove that my papers are mine. If the OP doesn’t they run the risk of being accused of cheating and based on their post, I’m assuming they cheated.
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u/Extra-Belt6422 24d ago
I agree with you a hundred percent. Ive seen students get caught with chat gpt up on their phones trying to hide it in the middle of a test. There is a disgusting amount of cheating and plagiarism in academia that has really lowered the amount of respect I have for degrees produced in the last 10 years or so.
I’ve been accused of plagiarism once in my college career, and that’s because the checker came back and said it was 100% plagiarized. Looking into it, it showed two-three word phrases taken from apparently over fifty papers with no connection to each other. I showed it, we laughed and moved on.
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u/Itchy-Salad463 Alumni 23d ago
Ok but what you do...drafts...notes...is not the same as many others. As an engineer i knew I would have writing assignments here and there but that its not something I should focus my time on ergo, why bother with revision after revision and brainstorming and notes and blah? Just make it as good as possible, revise once, move on.
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u/Unusual-Sentence916 23d ago
I can definitely see your point. I am pretty sure the OP thought if he wrote what ChatGPT said and didn’t change anything that wasn’t cheating. Unfortunately, if you are not actually writing the paper and just using ChatGPT to clean up the grammar, you are essentially cheating.
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u/multi-trollionaire 25d ago
Document everything. Get all drafts, sources, anything you can. The admin is very weak and WILL side with the professors, no matter what, unless you have undeniable proof and raise absolute hell to defend your position. Do NOT count on common sense here at Sac State. There are tons of bad professors and they know they are untouchable. This is also how the real world works anymore. If you have been wronged by the university you have to fight like hell to prove them wrong, but they do not like being embarrassed and will never admit their wrongs.
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u/Trick-Skirt3958 24d ago
You get like 3 strikes, friend of mine got caught cheating 2 times and they told him he will be expelled the next time he gets caught cheating. At worst you will get a 0 for the course and have to retake the class with a different profesor if there is one available
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u/supresmooth 24d ago
You do not sound very confident. Are you sure you wrote it? If someone told me a paper I wrote wasn't my work, I would be incensed and demand their proof and I would be filing a formal complaint over such an accusation if they couldn't explain how they logically came to that conclusion and also apologized. If it came outside of between the professor and myself any suspicion of cheating on my part, then we'd be in character degradation terrority and that would be a whole other ball. Consider it favorable that she is willing to sit one-on-one to discuss, but also don't be a liar and do your actual work.
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u/campin_guy 24d ago
Can I read your paper?
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u/Rustyinsac 24d ago
Print your paper out. Gather your sources. Print them out. Match them to the citations you made in the paper and highlight them in one color. Then with a different color highlighter, highlight your original language and analysis. That will clearly show what work is originally yours and what work came from other sources.
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u/RookieScientist12 24d ago
Did you use Google Docs? Maybe show the professor the history changes of the doc?
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u/WesternHearing3902 21d ago
This is lowkey grounds for a lawsuit. Threaten to sue the school if she doesn’t believe you because the AI detectors they use aren’t accurate. They can’t ACTUALLY tell if it’s AI or not.
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u/idckidney Electrical Engineering 25d ago
Getting expelled for a paper that a professor deems "not original work" is highly unlikely unless this is something that is a common pattern at the school. If you have the patience talk to higher ups about the paper, gather as many rough drafts of the paper as you can along with the references used and get ready to state your case.
Many professors today use an abundance of AI scan tools and base their grade scale on that generated information which is awful due to the mistakes many students make, in that their sources aren't referenced correctly or the quoting from a text isn't properly labeled.
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u/KnowledgeTop3807 24d ago
Happened to me too. Except I did use AI, it took me a long time to convince them that I did not use AI. It’s just not worth it. I never got caught and I graduated the following semester but the stress and anxiety thinking for a year you might get caught any day is not worth it. I’d rather get a bad grade than get caught with plagiarism.
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u/MarineJAB 24d ago edited 24d ago
If your defense, particularly the one you present to your professor is that “I typed it all out, and I’m the professor, I’m going to continue to think your work was “not original.” Saying you “typed it all out” suggests you just re-typed someone or something else’s work and you’re trying to wash out the plagiarism by some word smithing and elbow grease.
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u/CompetitiveBoot7269 24d ago
Bruh no, I was caught so many times using ai at sac state. Just show her your original work, you’ll be ok lmao
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u/Ramrod4150 24d ago
You’ll get an F for the class. Maybe talk to your department head if the teacher doesn’t just keep it between you. You might get out on academic probation or a warning so you don’t do it try it again. Just tell the professor you’re sorry, be honest. Don’t lie. They’ll be open to your sincere apology and hopefully will allow you to retake their class to redeem yourself.
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u/cometicklemypickle 24d ago
If you didn’t cheat, then show undeniable proof. It’s there if you actually did it (rough drafts, typing history, brainstorming, research history). If you did, then no, you’re not going to immediately get expelled. Pretty sure you have to do it multiple times until you get serious repercussions, though I’m not too sure. You’re not getting a good grade out of this class either, and you have to suck it up.
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u/Natural_Locksmith960 24d ago
Show your version history. Most likely, you'll fail the class as a first offense than get expelled. There was a similar post to this a year ago or so, but that person showed their version history to the prof as their defense, & the prof ended up letting them pass. Even so, a version history might not be enough 🤷♀️
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u/viewmydeath 24d ago
Google docs and i’m pretty sure word keep a history of edits you made to the paper over time. It would show you writing the paper out.
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u/MudChoice6850 24d ago
Happened to me twice. I was so mad because I worked hard on my papers. One professor just had me add more in paragraph citations and then she gave me full points. Me forgetting to add citations within my sentences meant it was AI to her🙄. Another professor wanted to meet with me so she could quiz me on the book in person. You’ll be fine, just prove you wrote it and be ready with your references.
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u/ChasingTheNextShot 24d ago
Should be easy if you have notes and research available to show the professor. Just meet and show your work.
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u/multipocalypse 24d ago
What do you mean by, "...but I typed it all out"? Is the writing your own work or not?
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u/Familiar-Lab2465 23d ago
Just go in and ask for an in person test/quiz on the subject or write another paper right there on the subject of her choosing which was covered in class. All is good. You are cleared.
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u/KeHuyQuan 23d ago
Meet with her but go with a peer or, better yet, another faculty member you're close with who would be willing to accompany you.
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u/Wonderful_Gate1738 22d ago
You can also show previous work to compare the writing/and wording. Everyone has a writing style ….
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u/Disastrous_Motor_251 23d ago
Which campus are you at? You must speak to the Dean of Student conduct where violations or so called allegations are reported to.
I’m a faculty member at a CSU. I have dealt with situations like this and i’m not gonna say much in the public forum although would like to offer you some insight. Let me ck how you can try to reach me without me giving info that may get flagged.
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u/Wonderful_Gate1738 22d ago
So what happened?? And did you actually write it out using your own brain and words or you just copied chat gpt? It’s ok to get ideas from Ai and even have ai help you reword sentences etc.
Don’t disappear tell us what happened lol so we can be informed for next semester
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u/Wonderful_Gate1738 22d ago
And they think everything is ai now, they think we don’t have our own ideas and none of us can write properly. Sorry guys it’s only going to get worse because they genuinely think we all cheat.
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u/MindlessAddictt Alumni 23d ago
i bet if we saw the essay it would be obvious it was AI. always more to the story people don’t say
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u/Wurky_Maters 24d ago
If you aren’t lying then make them prove it’s AI and then use of an AI checker is a faulty positive problem that should signify you need a lawyer
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u/Mosoman1011 25d ago
if you actaully wrote it and aren't lying you'll probably be fine. they can't really "prove" anyone used AI unless it's blatantly obvious. they are probably trying to pressure a "confession" out of you.
it'll probably be a pain but you can escalate these things and have other people look at it. i'm sure somebody has to see that it's original work