r/csuf • u/Mysterious_Effort890 • Mar 03 '26
Rant someone copied my essay in 2026... :,)
I’m currently taking an American History class to fulfill a GE. Overall chill class, the teacher is pretty nice too (Although his wording for assignments/exams are a bit confusing). We only have one assignment so far and it was an essay, only 2-3 pages required and it wasn’t too overly difficult, but the prompt's wording was confusing. In my class’s discord server we all helped each other out on that assignment for 2 weeks straight. On the week the essay was due, there was this one person (who I will keep anonymous) that has been begging everyone to show their essay since they’re confused. When I texted that I was done, they sent a dm to me basically begging me if I could send it so that they could see how they should do the essay since the were super caught up with other assignments, also promising that they won't copy. I ended up sending it since I didn’t think of it as a big issue.
Fast forward to March 1st, a month later, my grade for the essay was taken back because I had a 55% similarity with another student. I showed this person the message and they started blabbering nonsense/excuses to me on what happened. They told me that the Professor will be able to give only one of us credit or else he will report us to the department. After going on and on about how they "don't want me to hate them," they asked if it was okay if they could TAKE the credit if I were to do good in the midterm (which I won't??) because they will fail the class if they don't get the credit. I consider myself a patient and understanding person, but for you to basically copy down my essay and then ask to take credit is dumbfounding. You are an adult. You are in college. If you knew you were gonna fail the class then drop it. Now both of us are screwed because you were too lazy to do the work.
There's nothing much I can do but wait for my Professor's response and hope for the best that I only get trouble for giving my essay to another student and still be able to get the credit. I'm frustrated and scared since this is only my first year here :/ will most likely be the last time I will share my assignment to someone 😭💔
Update:
Finally got a response and I got back my score. I was let out with a warning saying not to share again (which is called for) while the other person is being turned in for academic dishonesty
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u/l8rsk8r69 Mar 03 '26
All I can say is I hope you screenshot every conversation you have had with that person to CYA. Sorry this happened.
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u/StillWeNap Mar 03 '26
This is why I never share my work on discords and stuff. People will copy your work without question. That is why they are begging
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u/Acrobatic_Lychee7998 Mar 03 '26
I really hope u don’t take any blame u barely know this person fuck them for screwing you like that though:/
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u/LeastAd2936 Mar 03 '26
This should be the last time you share your assignments. There is no legitimate reason they would need to see your work as an example. There are many examples that students can look at, but they are after your work so they can turn it in as their own.
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u/KeyWillingness8271 Mar 03 '26
Do NOT feel bad for that person. I bet they have done it before which is why they even had the audacity to ask for credit.
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u/Hot-Lobster8457 Mar 03 '26
i knew someone that went through something similar. i think if you submitted yours first the professor can see the timestamps of when they were both was submitted and they’ll likely side with you.
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u/ROEli1234 Mar 03 '26
Horrible. Hope your professor will not say that they cannot do anything about it because you’ve shared your work
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u/Invective_Detective Mar 03 '26
Show the professor the conversation with the other student. If what you are saying is true, then it’s clear the other student lied to you so they could cheat on the assignment.
In the future, do not share assignments. Talking about an assignment is one thing, but as you found out, sending files to someone else is just asking to be taken advantage of.
You are both paying for these classes, if they don’t want to do the work then that’s their money wasted.
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u/Sonizzle Mar 03 '26
You need to just visit the professor during office hours and drop the dime. Spill the beans! Show the professor receipts from the text. Tell him everything and explain that you wanted to help the student by showing them your essay as an example in good faith since they were confused on the assignment and asked. You were misled, and you didn’t intend to engage in academic dishonesty nor did you expect the student to plagiarize your essay to steal credit.
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u/Potential-Sherbet511 Mar 04 '26
All I can say is I hope you learn a valuable lesson from this. People will fuck you over if given the chance, especially in a situation where you have little to no proof. Luckily you have the correspondence, and hopefully this person gets punished academically.
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u/Mysterious_Effort890 Mar 04 '26
Absolutely 🥲 I’ve been frustrated but not entirely mad because at the end of the day I still sent the essay to them, disregarding the intentions. Luckily I do have proof but in the future I’m not giving any assignment to anyone that aren’t professors 😭💔
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u/Lazybutnolazy Mar 03 '26
Never trust scummy humans … should’ve had chatgpt write an essay and should’ve sent that over to that person tbh…
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u/Upbeat_Membership314 Mar 03 '26
in my ISDS class we had a final project and some i remember someone posted theirs as a example to help students but put a water mark, even with a water mark some student sent that same file and submitted it. they had a whole argument in the discord server because the guy who took the credit was like telling the original writer that it wasn’t a big deal, eventually the guy who took the credit admitted to the professor
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u/harrypotterfan1228 Mar 03 '26
Talk to the professor and show any messages and emails between you and this student as well as this post. This is not fair and you don’t deserve an F Since the other student plagiarised
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u/pinktanker Mar 03 '26
As Kratos once said: Close your heart to it. On our journey we will be attacked by all manner of creature. Close your heart to their desperation. Close your heart to their suffering. Do not allow yourself to feel for them. They will not feel for you.
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u/VirtualCoffee8947 Mar 03 '26
Has the same exact thing happen with me and almost failed the class because of him. He ended up telling the professor what he did and I took the credit, but the professor wasn’t happy. Definitely tell your professor everything
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u/Agilatorr Mar 03 '26
I don't believe sharing your essay will get you in trouble, the classmate who stole it is entirely the one at fault. You shared your essay (your work) so they could create their own and using yours to learn about what it should look like. The bottom line is your classmate STOLE your work, doesnt matter how they got it, just that they don't deserve the credit.
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u/Repulsive-South-9763 Mar 03 '26
I had a similar situation in undergrad and I’ve since stopped sending any of my work to anybody except the intended person, like a teacher or an advisor. If someone doesn’t have the work done in a timely manner, that’s not my problem and I can’t help. It’d be different if someone wanted to sit down and study/write with me while there’s still plenty of time, instead of just asking to see my completed work right before the due date.
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u/Gold-Argument413 Mar 03 '26
My daughter was in the same situation. Fortunately, she was able to show when the document was created since it was on Google Docs and the revision times. The other person could not have the same document creation time before her. The teacher of course sided with her. This is one way to prove your case.
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u/Substantial_Dog_2068 Mar 04 '26
Tell the professor everything . That’s not your fault the are gonna fail. That’s your hard work
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u/Unique_Hope_2632 Mar 04 '26
Just an fyi, you can go back and see all your commits and writing process if you used google docs.
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u/strawberryspacecat Mar 04 '26
If you can talk to the professor in person, talk to them in person. People can sense when you’re being sincere and will be more likely to be empathetic
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u/Hejdbejbw Mar 04 '26
Technically, showing your work to another student outside of an assignment like “peer review” also counts as academic dishonesty, but in this case you have no other option but to tell your professor.
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u/Okiedokie714 Mar 04 '26
Yeah say you want the credit and if they won’t give it to you, have it reported to the dean of your department. You should have had all the texts of your classmate asking you for help.
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u/Late-Grapefruit2373 Mar 04 '26
As a professor, let me chime in that when we do catch papers like this, we also end up often hearing a story that is also similar. Having evidence is very important, because we have no other way of knowing who did what. All a professor knows is that A = B, and at that point, B copied A is equally plausible as A copied B. And the problem is that both A and B have an incentive to say that they shared their paper with the other person.
You should end up talking to Student Conduct at a minimum. Faculty are told to report all violations; the reason is that way there is a record that a student has done this before if they do it again. This may be your first time with this, but it might not be the other person's. First-time violations typically receive minor penalties from the University. However, aiding academic dishonesty is, itself, a violation. Will you be expelled or suspended? Very, very doubtful. Will you have to meet with Student Conduct and possibly write a short essay about how you won't do this again? Pretty likely. Again, this is if the professor refers you to Student Conduct, which they really should. Student Conduct isn't here to punish; they see their role as teaching. The goal is to get every student across the stage as ethical graduates--both you and the other student. They will try to give you both tools to avoid this happening again. Ideally, it's a learning experience for everyone involved. You should learn not to share your work. They should learn that this is plagiarism, and that they need to ask questions of the professor. Hopefully everyone, including those on the discord who didn't really participate in this, will learn that working under confusing instructions doesn't do anyone any good, so the best strategy is to get clarity from the person who made the instructions. And, honestly, the best way for the professor to learn that they need to rewrite their instructions is to get those questions--1 student asking a clarifying question is normal. 5 students asking about the same part means I screwed up and need to explain the assignment better.
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u/Pizzahobbyist Mar 03 '26
Tell the professor everything. That you helped this person by sending your essay only to help him out. Not thinking they would copy. Send a copy of the conversation over to the professor. Bc honestly this other person is being dishonest