Navigating Academic Integrity: A Plagiarism Accusation in an Online Course

In the era of online education, misunderstandings can sometimes escalate into serious allegations. Recently, I found myself embroiled in a situation that no student wants to encounter—being accused of plagiarism by my professor. Here’s how it unfolded and what I hope to convey through my experience.

It all started when I received a somewhat ambiguous email from my professor, claiming I had submitted someone else’s work as my own. Initially shocked, I soon discovered the root of the misunderstanding. During our course, we were asked to upload our assignments to a forum designed to foster collaborative learning. The instructions included a line encouraging students to “post your assignment here so everyone can view your ideas.”

To clarify the assignment’s complexities, I had accessed a PDF of a classmate’s submission. My intention was solely to gain inspiration—not to copy. When it came time to submit my own work, I inadvertently uploaded her assignment instead of my own, thanks to the similar file names. It was a mistake—an honest one at that.

Upon receiving the accusation, I immediately reached out to the professor. I sent an apology along with a PDF of my intended submission and even included a screenshot of the file’s metadata to corroborate my explanation. Despite my efforts to clarify the situation, I received another email stating I would receive a zero for the assignment. According to her, I had “crossed a line” by using another student’s work as a model.

Feeling frustrated yet determined, I replied courteously, emphasizing that the submission instructions explicitly encouraged our actions. To substantiate my claim, I quoted the very sentence that endorsed this practice. After sending the email, I took a moment to collect my thoughts—only to discover that the crucial sentence I had cited had vanished from the submission page. This occurred a mere ten minutes after I had referenced it in my message!

Upon reflecting on this sudden deletion, I couldn’t shake the feeling that my professor had altered the guidelines to strengthen her position. In this moment, I figured a rollback of the website to retrieve the original instructions was essential for my defense. Unfortunately, after checking, I found that the site had not been archived on the Wayback Machine, leaving me seeking alternative solutions.

To sum up my experience, it was a whirlwind of accusations, misunderstandings, and frustrations—all prompted by a simple mistake. Thankfully, my professor later explained that the sentence was removed to avoid further confusion and