Got an interesting e-mail on Friday in my UQ mail. It seems that although I'm not "being accused of anything at this stage", there are some "doubts" about an assignment I submitted the Friday before last. I read it, and disregarded it, as I hadn't done anything wrong, and the assignment was practically re-typing out the textbook.

This is a Java subject, and on the same day, I had a large PHP/HTML assignment due at the same time. Long and the short of it is, it was pandemonium that day. Labs were full of panicked students, and I was working hard putting the spitshine on. I thought about it some more, and just to be sure, I messaged the only other person I had shown my assignment. He had completed his assignment when I had shown him, so it didn't add up anyway.

No, he assured me, he didn't take my code. And no, he hadn't received an email either. Feeling better, I began to forget about it yet again...

Until I received an MSN message from another friend who was present that day too. It seems he hadn't started his Java assignment at the due time. So while I was busy submitting my other assignment, he had taken my assignment off my girlfriends laptop, and submitted it himself under his name. f***.



So now I have an interview with the course co-ordinator and university investigators next week to explain my actions. Although the other guy has told me he will admit to stealing my code, I still feel shafted. Anyone else had a similar situation happen to them?

Friends don't steal friends work and submit it under thier own name.
Let them know exactly what happened even if he doesn't own up, what a kunt act by that person.

Can't say i've had anything that blatantly obvious happen before though no.

N Dude, organise a stat dec saying that you swear that you had no knowledge that the code was stolen from the laptop and you had no part in the plagerisim.
Also state that you had a conversation with said friend and he admitted to stealing the code without your knowledge.

Stat dec's hold up in court and the uni will accept it. If you dont organise one it will just be your word against (hopefully not) his.

YOu will need to find a JP to solimise and legalise your stat dec, info on finding a JP is here http://www.justice.qld.gov.au/jps/finding.htm

Before you go to the JP print and fill out this form http://www.ofs.mq.edu.au/ofs_web/Forms/STAT%20%20DEC.pdf or type it up yourself.

the JP will ask you to swear on a bible that the statement is true and then they will stamp and sign, making your statement your legal word

Haha

Man, what a c***-act of a thing to do. I agree with Xy about the whole thing.

Considered just punching him in the f***?

I'm a JP

indeed i am with nF on that just bash the c***.

Lowgoz, that's a good idea. I actually have the MSN log of him admitting it to me, but I don't think that would hold up in, well, anything.

I'm just wondering how worried I should be, whether they'll try and bust me on collusion or something. Not all that impressed.

Ask him if he boned your girlfriend too?

I'm just wondering how worried I should be, whether they'll try and bust me on collusion or something. Not all that impressed.

who gives a f***, protect yourself as much as you can because if they decide to f*** you you will get blacklisted from all aussie unis and you will be f***ed.

Get a stat dec and include the conversation and write that "this is the conversation i had with him on msn" and include it all. Chances are that the uni will see you mean business and go after your friend.

he is gona get throwen out of uni anyway man. you could be to if they decide that you had a hand in it so distance yourself as much as you can, get the stat and eberything

the JP will ask you to swear on a bible that the statement is true and then they will stamp and sign, making your statement your legal word

I never had to swaer on a bible for any of the stat dec's I've signed, but the rest is all true.

You should be able to find a JP to sort out you stat dec at uni, just see the student help desk. I know they have them at QUT so it's unlikley that UQ wouldn't be any different.

The neat thing about stat dec's is that if you lie on one you can go to jail for a few years.

I think the getting kicked out thing is a bit extreme, I had a bit of a read of their policies, and the worst thing they do for a first offence is flat-out fail you for the course. Repeat offenders are the ones who're kicked out. But still, I think it may be a bit extreme to go out kicking and screaming about the whole thing.

C.Y.A
Cover your ass.
Learn it well young padawan.

I'm just curious... how do you become a JP?

But still, I think it may be a bit extreme to go out kicking and screaming about the whole thing.

someone just stole your assignment - if you arn't kicking and screaming then they are gona think something is up

I'm just curious... how do you become a JP?

Anyone can become a Justice of the Peace (Qualified) who is:

* over 18 years of age;
* on the Queensland electoral role;
* of good character; and has
* passed the JP (Qualified) exam to a satisfactory level.

To become a Justice of the Peace (Qualified):

* Check the dates and locations of the next round of JP exams. You will normally have to sit at the local Magistrates Court or if you are in Brisbane at a TAFE college.
* Pass the exam;
*Complete and return an application form.

http://www.justice.qld.gov.au/education/justice/jps.htm#3

need to pass a piss easy exam and get sponsored by a local mp (basically you get their blessing and they sponsor you)

im going to take my exam in the holidays
qgl meet ? :D

last edited by Lowgoz at 22:37:31 29/Oct/05

Sweet, I'm guessing being a JP will look good on a resume. I'm definately gonna look into this one.

yeah the s***ty bits are:

- need to say hi to your local member and get them to sign off on you
- need to find 2 people who have known you for 5 years+ who aren't family
- need them to fill out a 2 page form

lame govermenet trying to stop criminals becoming JPS, sheesh

lol, comp1500? :P

if so i think that more people have got caught cheating in it then those who haven't. wouldn't stress, know about 20 different people that have been told they would be kicked out of uni for cheating but haven't. just be sorry to them and tell the truth and as stated above kick the s*** out of your friend.

COMP1500 is now CSSE1001, DrScheme not Java.

CSSE2002? Going off what happened to other people, I reckon your mate will get 0% for the assignment and put on the cheaters board.

(So f***ed for the upcoming exam!)

Mate, I had a similar thing happen to me last week. A friend of mine had no clue for a maths assignment so i sent him half of mine to use as a guide. The f***er submitted it without changing a word. The lecturer knew what had happened cause I did the whole thing where he did half - but his was a word for word copy of mine. The lecturer was fairly nice about it, she could clearly see that he had been a total c***, but had to penalise me for "allowing" it to happen. By allowing, I mean I told her I had no idea it happened, my mate told her that I had no idea it was going on as well. But the uni stance is that they can't let you get away with "allowing" someone to copy work. Hopefully it sounds like you're in a much better position than I was, thank f*** I only lost a few marks on the assignment.. People who do that aren't really friends It's f***ing disgusting - it would be one thing if they plagarised a book and only put themselves at risk, but doing that to someone who is supposed to be your mate is f***ing low. Hope it all works out for you, trust me I know what's going through your head right now - and nothing would feel better than punching the f*** out of that stupid bastard -.-

Good luck with it. I know the feeling of getting a letter like that. Got accused for plageurism last year at Griffith. Took till about May/June this year to get it sorted out because Griffith seem to have a problem with following their own policies on the matter. Completely screwed up first semester this year because of the subject being a prerequisite. Morons. Simply got overturned in the end because they couldn't find any proof.

I'd blacklist any friend who did that to me man. He's Screwing with your future; protect your ass.

All the best

Bad luck doode, do what Lowgoz said, that seems like the most logical things to do. At the end of the day, if they really wanted to, they could easily proved that your mate didn't do the assignment himself anyway. I mean, all they'd had to do is ask him to explain it in detailed of what the code does and why he did it etc, that or they could give him something similar to do. Obviously, he wouldn't realistically be able to do them because if he did he wouldn't need to steal your code in the first place did he ? :)

They could do the same to you I guess, but since you wrote the code, you'd be able to easily explained what you're doing etc. And hopefully, you'd also have all the prior workings and code verbatims etc for the assignment where as your mate wouldn't.

I'd be starting to look at what you have that you can use as your evidence of working for your assigment, scap notes, anything at all that will show it's contributed to your final assigment submissions.

Good luck with it.

same thing happened to me a few years back.

I gave a mate my assignment told him he could use it as a guide but not to copy it. Turned out he just blatantly copied entire paragraphs because we had different tutors. By some f***ed up twist of fate, his was one of the ones that got swapped. We were both up in front of the Head of BEL faculty and my mate (who is still a good mate) took the wrap and all he got was a fail for the course. I got a warning and was told not to hand out assignments to friends, as next time my 'friend' might not be so forthcoming with the truth.

Needless to say, after graduation I sold all my completed assignments to first years at my college for a handsome profit ;)

1. It should be ok at a univerity to "share ideas" and learn from other students. However, if you hand in duplicate work there is a problem.

2. Why would you give someone your assignment "to look at" if you weren't sure he wouldn't copy the bloody thing word for word!

3. How did he think he would get away with it? Is he soft in the head?

4. How could you be friends with someone who ripped off your work? That is like stealing from you, jeopardising your education. You can't get your reputation back. I would choose my "friends" a bit more carefully next time.

5.

Needless to say, after graduation I sold all my completed assignments to first years at my college for a handsome profit ;)

Hmm I wonder, if any of those papers were subsequently proved plagarised, whether you would be stripped of your degree..?





BTW Not meaning to say you cheated N-Dude, it sounds like you did the right thing, but you have to see it from the uni's point of view too. For all they know you could be in on it.

Good luck.

1. Agreed.
2. Because there were several options for the assignment, a bunch of questions to choose from. Basically he hadn't started, I had a completed assignment with a well structured argument for one of the questions with a ready made reference list. It would be easy to produce a 'pass mark' assignment from this within 2 hours purely by adjusting the hypothesis, rewording arguments and moving the body copy around.
3. He chose to spend about 1/2 hour doing the above and wasn't thorough enough, he also copy pasted my reference list which is a bit of a dumb thing to do. However, he took the risk because it was unlikely our papers would be seen my the same marker. Unfortunately they were, and to his credit he took 100% of the blame.
4. Needless to say I was pissed off with him, but he was in a bind - I helped him and it backfired. But as above, he took on 100% of the blame when he could have lied, but because he is my mate he decided not to take me down with him.
5. Subsequently proved plagiarised? How? Mine was original work that received outstanding grades. If they choose to plagiarise, thats their problem. Nothing to do with me. Lecturers commonly hand out old assignments from previous years to give students an example of good work, I did the same but charged a fee - stripping me of my degree isn't even a remote possibility as all MY work was original.

I guess I'll do the 1 through 5 as well.

1. Yes, it should be.

2. I gave the assignment "to look at" to someone else who was already finished. In fact, I looked at his assignment too, but I didn't change any of mine either. Also, we were only looking at the finished product (the GUI) and not the actual code, it was far too busy that day.

3. I have no idea. He says he "panicked", but who knows?

4. People, generally, get the benefit of the doubt until they do something stupid. Think about old friends you hate now, or ex-girl/boyfriends.

5. NA.

BTW Not meaning to say you cheated N-Dude, it sounds like you did the right thing, but you have to see it from the uni's point of view too. For all they know you could be in on it.

Good luck.

I do see it from the University's point of view, that's what worries me. I did something wrong by allowing my code to be taken. But I will still feel extremely wronged if they punish me in any way. When someone robs your house, the insurance company doesn't say "Serves you right for buying such expensive stuff". However, if you leave the front door open, they might have something to say.

This is better than a soapie...keep us posted as to what happens.

Never, ever give an assignment to someone!

You may think "they won't copy it", but if they're so lazy that they don't want to learn it themselves, chances are they'll leave it till 1 hour before the deadline, panic like crazy and then copy it without telling you.

The best thing to do in a situation where someone consistently wants answers is to not associate with them any longer. What have you got to gain from them? Nothing. So f*** them off and hang around smarter and more motivated people. You'll be happier in the end.

From my understanding, ITEE follows the policy of :-

1st offence : 0% for assignment
2nd Offence : 0% for subject
3rd Offence : politely told to f*** the hell off you dodgy useless stupid cheater.

I've heard it may get put on your academic transcript(which would suck for getting a graduate position) but if you've got mitigating circumstances i doubt that'd happen. But yeah... you may lose the marks for that assignment on general principle. If that was like someone's 1 million dollar missile defense software that you've just given to Dodgy Abdul's house of Nukes you'd be looking at losing a hell of a lot more than 15%.

o now I have an interview with the course co-ordinator and university investigators next week to explain my actions. Although the other guy has told me he will admit to stealing my code, I still feel shafted. Anyone else had a similar situation happen to them?

I'd punch your so called friend right in the nuts. I'd also consider taking in your girlfriends laptop to your interview so you can show that you have an orginal copy of the application. If your so called mate can't show evidence of the assignment then he could be f***ed.

Don't be surprised if you lose the marks for that assignment though. i tutor training the only thing I learned is that some lecturers consider anything plagiarism. There was one argument on vague uml diagrams where in fact plagiarism.

Sorry to hear about the plagiarism accusation N-Dude - hope everything sorts out for the best.

my plagerism story from qut in the early 90's was like this

we all* pretty much used to copy assignments in bachelor of applied science (computing) which is what my degree was when i started (i finished with a b of info tech)

usual deal, change variable names and little things, and none of us got caught for the first year
i was probably as bad as anyone, not contributing

no dramas until second year cobol programming
i actually did this assignment, but for some reason, i was the one that got pinged for plagerism
got failed for the subject and had to redo it (asif rat out my buddies)

this was before you could plunder the internet for assignments


*blatant generalisation

The best thing you can do is take logs of the conversation into the meeting and tell the whole truth; if it is implied that you allowed him to take your assignment then you are both up for punishment.

Oh it should be said that when I've worked as university tutor/lecturer we've failed students who copied work straight off, there's usually been little backlash on the student whose original work was copied so long as there is enough evidence that it was unknown.

I have a pretty similar story from my time at uni. I got this email from UQ saying there were "some doubts" about my assignment. I read it, and disregarded it, as I hadn't done anything wrong, and the assignment was practically re-typing out the textbook.

This is a Java subject, and on the same day, I had a large PHP/HTML assignment due at the same time. Long and the short of it is, it was pandemonium that day. Labs were full of panicked students, and I was working hard putting the spitshine on. I thought about it some more, and just to be sure, I messaged the only other person I had shown my assignment. He had completed his assignment when I had shown him, so it didn't add up anyway.

No, he assured me, he didn't take my code. And no, he hadn't received an email either. Feeling better, I began to forget about it yet again...

Until I received an MSN message from another friend who was present that day too. It seems he hadn't started his Java assignment at the due time. So while I was busy submitting my other assignment, he had taken my assignment off my girlfriends laptop, and submitted it himself under his name.

So I had an interview with the course co-ordinator and university investigators the following week to explain my actions. Although the other guy admitted to stealing my code, I still felt shafted.

Pretty similar story to yours i guess.

W
T
F

nf to be kicked out of qgl for plagiarism.

if so i think that more people have got caught cheating in it then those who haven't. wouldn't stress, know about 20 different people that have been told they would be kicked out of uni for cheating but haven't. just be sorry to them and tell the truth and as stated above kick the s*** out of your friend.

The major difference here is that the OP seems to be an innocent party. The year you are talking about they conspired to cheat amongst themselves. The only good thing out of it is that the vast majority of them failed COMP1500 anyway.

I got called in for a few "queries" on a paper i did in my first year.
Apparently the marker saw i has used a distinctive word that he remembered (some big word) and he saw the same word on another persons paper. Very little else was similar on the paper apart from the use of graphs and the conclusions we were trying to reach which were the ones we were supposed to.
We both got dragged in and asked about it. We didn't know each other and i had only ever seen him in passing in a leacture hall of 100+ other students.
In the end they let it go but we got a warning.

serves you right for using a big word.

Trust me, to the moron marker words like "it" "and" and "but" would be big....

Free Th Refugees

Until I received an MSN message from another friend

Well right there is your problem you still call him a friend, instead of beating the f*** out of him.

My friends copy assignments from other years, submit to same tutor and get different marks.

I lol on the inside

I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this, but use source and version control.

Not only is it good programming practice but you will also have a complete history to how how you wrote you code.

Hogfather: Your ideas intrigue me, and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

do you have a website???!

My friends copy assignments from other years, submit to same tutor and get different marks.

I lol on the inside

It is easy to laugh at things like that until you are required to mark assignments. Sometimes there is different emphasis on things that are taught each year or marks are balanced depending on what the entire year did.

I find that when I am marking assignments I have to re-mark the ones at the start because the things I am looking for have changed as the marking proceeded. I normally start out on the letter of the law when it comes to marking, but as time goes on I get a feel for what the students have actually learned. If everybody gets something wrong, then it isn’t interesting (statistically), so I revalue the marks to consider it.

I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this, but use source and version control.

Not only is it good programming practice but you will also have a complete history to how how you wrote you code.

This is an excellent idea and if only for backups.

Nathan XXXXXX (s/n 4XXXXXXX),



Further to the preliminary investigation meeting of 2 November 2005 with Dr Graeme Smith and Ms Sharon Boyce, you explained to investigators that XXXX XXXX had obtained a copy of your code without your knowledge. XXXX told investigators that while borrowing your memory stick to transfer files for another course he saw your code for CSSE2002 Assignment 3, made a copy of it and used it in his submission.



The Head of School has decided not to make formal allegations of misconduct against you on this occasion.



Instead, you are warned, in future to better secure your work.



A record of this warning will be held in the confidential files of the School Manager, for future reference, should a similar circumstance arise.



Regards



Ms Sharon Boyce

Management Information & Projects Officer

School of Information Technology & Electrical Engineering

So, in the end, I didn't get formally charged. The meeting with me was like 5 minutes, and the meeting with the other guy was like 30 seconds. On the plus side, I got to see my mark early.

you still should have done a stat dec for coolness value and to ensure that you didn't get a f***ing WARNING
you DICK

you f***ing DICK

YOU GOT A WARNING, YOUR UNI LIFE IS OVER

And so its all win win untill another one of your "friends" decides to steal your intelectual property and claim it as their own.
Then you are quite f***ed cause they won't believe you twice.