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https://studentshare.org/social-science/1648833-appeal-letter.
I got a D grade on my first paper, and I would not risk a charge of plagiarism, which would result in me getting a grade that is not above grade C.
On my first day of class, I notified my instructor that it was very challenging for me to finish 6 books and 3 movies in eight weeks. Moreover, I explained that, if I did not do well in this particular course, I would not be able to withdraw from it because I had only 12 credit hours. During that time, I had a second course, which I was to attend, running concurrently with this one, and this presented me with a conflict of interest. I consulted as to whether to attend the first course or leave it and attend the second course.
My instructor advised me to stay with the first course; also, he mentioned that I didn't need to complete the whole book. However, afterward, when I turned in my first paper after reading the book halfway, I got a D. I just had only one night to rewrite the work. My instructor sent the comment on my first paper to an email that I rarely used, it was not the IU mail. I had to rewrite the first paper, as well as, complete the new second paper in a very short time and a tense mood.
My stress levels were elevated since I had other assignments, and he had set a tight deadline for me to revise the paper. I worked the whole night to finish the assignments; the stress that I experienced must have made me include direct quotes from the book or I thought that I could cite them later. This is also, why I was so sure that I had provided the correct citations, at the end of the paper. My instructor put a lot of effort into looking for mistakes in my first and second papers, and he did not get anything to prove.
If he was not discriminating against me as a Chinese student, why was he spending a lot of time looking for mistakes instead of grading? I can say it is because he did not believe Chinese students could write well. Without having any other material to prove that I plagiarized in my first paper and second paper, he said to me that he already changed the grade to F. In addition, my second paper was D+ at first. For that reason, I thought it would be meaningless to complete my third paper since this course only graded three papers and there was no exam.
I had never missed any classes before the time my instructor told me that, he had changed both of my paper grades to F. This was the last two weeks of the course. This course was not a required course for my major math & econ, and I almost fulfilled my credits in the College of Arts and Science. Moreover, I will be graduating next year; and I see no reason of risking a charge of plagiarism in a non-required course, and in a rewritten paper.
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