Please can any academics help me? Really worried about academic honesty

[Maturesciencestudent]

I've just started a postgraduate course after a long time away from study. I'm really really enjoying the course so far but I'm so worried that I might have paraphrased something poorly in an online discussion board and I'm not sure what to do.

We've been told all about plagiarism and the important of using your own words as well as citing sources and I've been careful about this. Normally I have the sources open while I make the post as the content is quite complex and it takes me a while to post each time, and I check back to make sure I've rewritten it properly (which is normally necessary anyway to summarise).

There was one question where I remembered something I'd read some time ago in a well known book, and I enthusiastically wrote that I'd read this in X's book and briefly outlined an example they used. I remembered in the box the example was written over a few paragraphs and I'd only used a sentence so was sure it was my own words, posted and carried on.

Only later I was interested in something else it had made me think of, opened the book on my Kindle and saw I'd used very similar words albeit obviously very condensed. I wouldn't say they were massively unique phrases as such, more technical terminology but described in a certain order, but it must be I'd retained the info in the way the author wrote it. Obviously I've cited that it's her example and where I read it but I'm really worried that I may have paraphrased poorly and inadvertently committed plagiarism.

I'm feeling really stupid as I knew not to fall into this trap, but I can't edit or delete the post now and will need to submit it next month with all the others as a small percentage of assessment is for contributions to discussion.

My friends have said it looks completely different to them, but there's a couple of instances of four or so consecutive words in my sentence that match the paragraph (admittedly one is a scientific term of three words). It doesn't flag with online similarity checkers but I don't know how they compare with turnitin which it will be submitted through (I also hadn't really considered this when happily posting away on the boards, although I'd been careful about referencing etc on principle. I'd thought more about turnitin for actual assignments).

I'm so worried about it I can't concentrate on study now and have arranged childcare etc so that I can this weekend. Should I email the module lead and ask what I should do or leave it? It would be great if I could delete it, or submit the contributions without it (or maybe they'll say it's fine and I'm worrying about nothing).

I'd literally just asked if I can do more modules and my lack of experience is probably a factor against me but I'm so motivated and sure I can do it and now this.

I'm an awful catastrophiser so any practical advice is really welcomed please!

In the book, not the box

That’s not plagiarism, it’s research. It’s fine stop worrying!

Don't worry OP, this sounds absolutely fine. You didn't use the exact wording and you cited your source. No problem at all.

If you've credited the papers you get your ideas from by referencing them in the body of your assignment a you discuss them, it is not plagiarism. Plagiarism is when you pass ideas off as your own - if you've referenced then you clearly aren't trying to do this.

I understand exactly how you feel though. I once had a student email me in the middle of a Sunday night because they'd written a word into a postgraduate assignment which they they began to worry was not allowed. It got to the point where they were worrying in the middle of the night - a bit extreme, perhaps, but not so uncommon

Plagiarism is quoting or paraphrasing without giving credit to the original author of the text or ideas. You haven’t plagiarised at all. If you give credit, you can use similar wording/paraphrase. If you quote, you use quotation marks, repeat exactly what they said and cite in text or by footnote.

You don’t have to “use your own words” to explain someone else’s idea/research. It’s only for text that is fully your own (not credited to anyone) that you must absolutely use your own words.

Thank you. It was made really clear to us though that we must paraphrase correctly even if we are citing the source. I feel like my post is probably on the edge, it would have been better to say it a totally different way and not just in a shorter way, but it's not copied and pasted for example.

The module lead posted to check we'd all done our academic honesty training and were paraphrasing properly and I've of course convinced myself that they are discussing my post and how to deal with it and that has prompted their post... when I'm sure it's got nothing to do with me and they have no idea who I even am!

My advice is to get help with your anxiety.
My feeling is that this won't go away once this issue is shown to be absolutely no issue. Instead there will be a series of issues that keep arising over various things.
Catastrophic thinking is what you need help changing.

This is from this link, ( academicintegrity.unimelb.edu.au/forms-of-plagiarism/inadequate-paraphrasing ) which gives an example of poor paraphrasing:

"Explanation
In this example, sections have been altered and words substituted in an effort to make the section sound different, but these minor changes simply amount to a slight alteration of the original source. This is an example of poor scholarship and plagiarism.
Paraphrasing should summarise or explain the ideas presented in the original source. Do not simply re-arrange and replace words to make a variation of the original idea. Try explaining the idea using entirely your own words, or explain the idea in plain language. Avoid using the structure of the original sentence(s) as this can result in inadequate paraphrasing. Where possible use multiple sources that discuss this idea or concept and synthesise a range of views and perspectives and cite those sources for their ideas."

So I the example you were given as part of that explanation, was that similar to what you did? Because it didn’t sound like it in your first post.

It's really hard to give an example.

So I'll use this from the parenting page of Mumsnet:

"Children
One minute they're taking their first steps, the next they're heading off to senior school and looking for their first job. Share the experience and be guided through each stage, with words of wisdom and support, and parenting advice for children. Have something specific to talk about? Post your questions in our parenting forum. "

If you imagine that was the original text, my paraphrasing included some similarities like

"Mumsnet has a forum where they invite parents to share experiences and be guided through each stage from their first step to their first job, with lots of parenting advice, wisdom and support along the way."

When it would have been better for me to put something totally different

Although in my real example the first author paragraph was longer and the similarities were more in technical terms when consecutive words might be more expected (but I could have given an alternative technical term)

If you’ve cited the source then it simply isn’t plagiarism.

It might be considered poor scholarship if you’ve simply repeated a source without adequate paraphrasing but if that source is cited it isn’t dishonest and the worst that will happen is you don’t get as high a mark as you might have.

It's fine. Don't worry.

You didn't plagiarise.

You paraphrased properly.

I have spent 15 years going through academic dishonesty cases with my own students.

This is not that.

But I second those saying look at getting support for your anxiety, your level of worry over this is not normal.

This online discussion board...is it the techy equivalent of a f2f small group tutorial where you'd be expected to share tentative ideas and explore a topic? If it is, can you see how in conversation you might say the equivalent of 'i don't have the source here but there's a theory that says something like..." .
You haven't really done anything wrong. The tutor might have been prompting everyone to remember that in any upcoming essay you'd need closer reference to sources maybe?

So I disagree with PPs who have said that as long as you have cited the source it isn't plagiarism. As the link you have already put up @Maturesciencestudent then it isn't quite as simple as that and I speak as an academic with over 20 years in HE.

However, the not quite paraphrasing fully plus appropriate citations would be on the lower end of severity AND from your Mumsnet example, I wouldn't consider that plagiarism. It is tricky when there is technical terminology but when Turnitin highlights technical terms as being the same as the original source then I ignore that. I want my students to use the technical terms.

I think you are absolutely fine but you could speak to the lecturer/tutor if you just want that reassurance.

There are limits to how far you can change technical wording and still maintain clarity of thought. If you are writing technically, there is a restricted amount of vocab you can substitute (imagine writing about covid, high temperatures, cough, distinctive x-ray shadows etc without using the majority of those words. It would become very clunky and hard to read).
Please take a deep breath and relax. You've said where its come from, you've not copied. It might not be perfect, but its unlikely to get you penalised.

I followed you link OP and see the confusion.

The first example is being called “good scholarship” because it is BOTH paraphrased and original historical source cited.

The second example is “plagarism” only because it was NOT CITED, as there is no reference to original. If the second example did have a citation of “(McPhee, 2016).” It would NOT BE PLAGARISM, only “poor scholarship” by their measures.

However! The example is a history example, which is a humanity subject and so not as an objective field as any scientific field (from your user name you are in science field). In most scientific fields, it is not poor scholarship to paraphrase very closely to the original because to make it look completely different could mean misrepresentation of the original scientific paper.

Good scholarship has to above all, demonstrate that you fully understood the material. Paraphrasing with citation is not Plagarism, and it depends on your field what level of paraphrasing is good or bad scholarship.

The thing is OP... even if you HAVE inadvertently committed an academic misdemeanour (and it doesn’t sound like you have)... what’s the worst that’s going to happen?

I don’t want this to sound unkind, but as someone with really quite severe anxiety, I find it helpful to remind myself in circumstances like this, that as you haven’t committed a crime, you’ve not hurt anyone, and nobody is dead or going to die as a result of this perceived mistake, you are absolutely 100% worrying disproportionately.

I think it sounds like at worst you’ve skirted the fringes of poor academic practice, at best, you’ve demonstrated you can paraphrase and cite sources. In neither scenario should this be causing you such a level of anxiety.

Yes, OP you seem unduly afraid of similarity checkers and turnitin. The goal isn’t to have zero flag ups. The goal is to have 100% of flag ups be technical terms or citations. In most science fields, you are going to get flag ups in your submissions.

I would speak to your academic advisor, ask for further guidance and stress you are keen to get it right as someone returning to study after a long break.

The most helpful tutorials I ever had for dissertation worries was on how turnitin works, and most importantly just how much similarity is acceptable.

If writing in a scientific field on a subject where many people have previously submitted work you will be very relieved at just how staggeringly blatant plagiarism has to be in order to get a robust case.

I mark MSc papers and I think you'd be surprised at how poorly some people understand the concept of plagiarism. With digital submissions there are students who copy and paste sections of text and don't even bother to change the font for consistency! I mean talk about Captain Obvious.

It sounds like what you are doing is exactly right, you can't use completely different words to explain something or you lose the meaning (English has many synonyms but there's a limit). Plus with a science you have to be specific so there are terms you must use.

They are drilling into you the risk of plagiarism because some students just don't get it, I'd say this is not aimed at you but you took it to heart. Try to stop worrying, and ask for feedback from a tutor if you still have concerns (but honestly it's fine).

I got picked up on for not paraphrasing very well and turning things into my own words on my last Uni assignment, like your example I had tried to put things into my own words but it still ended up being unintentionally similar to the original text. All that happened was I got a comment on the assignment to try and be more careful next time and either use a quotation or ensure that the wording was more different from the source. I expect I lost a mark or two for it but I had clearly cited my source and so there were no accusations of plagiarism and nothing came of it.

I really wouldn’t worry. It sounds like the phrasing may not be as similar as you think due to the scientific term but even if it is all I would expect is that it will be picked up on and load you a mark and you will be told to be more careful next time but if you have cited the source you are clearly not trying to pass the work off as your own so I don’t think you will be accused of plagiarism.

Definitely speak to your academic tutor to reduce your anxiety. I think your example is actually really helpful and a discussion with your tutor will help all of you. Uses partial exact phrases is not good paraphrasing and exact words should be as quotes with "XXX" however, as others have said using technical terminology is unavoidable sometimes.

Even IF.... absolute worst case scenario, you were referred for academic misconduct and I think it highly unlikely you would be referred if you speak to your tutor ahead of submission, a simple mistake where a genuine attempt at citation and paraphrasing had been made wouldn't attract a punishment further than spending a session with our academic librarian!

I'm an academic and this sounds absolutely fine. You'd be amazed how blatant / extensive most proper cases of plagiarism are, absolutely nothing like what you are describing. And this was an online forum not even an assignment! I think you are worrying about nothing but agree with others that some help managing anxiety might be a good idea.