SOS 110 and LIB 495 Course Due Dates and Organization hack

[BrianFallon]

Which mentor did that? I'd want to avoid them, if at all possible, and I'm sure others here would also like to avoid that kind of nonsense.

Dr Jounney.

[BrianFallon]

The professor said "preferable," which means it's not mandatory.

For the assignments, professors often place a grading emphasis on your ability to incorporate their feedback into your assignments. This is why I would give them a chance to grade your prior assignment and not turn in the next one until 1-2 days before it's due.

This isn't my first rodeo.  Here's what the "professor" wrote to me after I called out the assignment changes:

Brian,
 
There was a problem with the assignment that you submitted. The SafeAssign program is a plagiarism detection tool that revealed a score of 44%. 

This suggests that there is content throughout the assignment that is the same or too similar to content from published sources e.g. books, articles or internet websites.

Remember that only changing a few words from a published source is not paraphrasing.

Please send a private message in the private mentor forum to address this issue.

Please indicate that you have read the explanation of the Safe Assign Program and watched the video.

Dr. Journey



This was my reply:

Hello Dr Journey,

I did review your comments and my submission.  As SafeAssign was covered in the syllabus, I did read this.    

In reviewing the originality report, the highlighted content includes common content like the question from the assignment and university name; a passage I quoted directly in quotes as well as referenced in the sources; and all of my seven references were highlighted. 

I am unaware of how else to cite a direct quote from a source or present a sentence that is not based on my original research.  I work in this field, but I am not qualified to submit a paper of my opinions without any references to back up my opinion.

For this assignment, I drew from seven different sources and all were cited in my references.  I drew the salient points to draw a conclusion about cybersecurity.  Where I drew on the sources, I cited them.

For example, here is one portion of a paragraph:

"Since the root cause of most cyber security incidents is a preventable human error, businesses should focus on employee awareness in addition to technological measures to minimize risk. (EC Council, 2021) Responsible business managers should develop a cybersecurity plan that includes employee awareness training, multi-factor authentication and technological barriers to minimize the risk of an attack on their business. (IBM Security X-Force, 2022) With cyber-attacks increasing 15% from 2020 to 2021, business is on notice that cyber-attacks and cybercrime merit their attention. Despite these statistics, a survey by UpCity reveals that 50% of businesses do not have a cybersecurity plan in place. (Brooks, 2022)"

In those three sentences, I cited three different sources.  EC Council's source indicate that the root cause of cyber security incidents is human error; IBM provided specific steps a business can make to reduce that risk and the Brooks article provided data in increases in cyberattacks year over year and the statistic that 50% do not have a cybersecurity plan. 
 If this was the incorrect method to cite other's work, is there a different way to do so?  These concepts were not mine but they belong to the sources I cited.


Basically, she gave me a zero because the orginality report highlighted my cover page, one direct quote and the entire references page.  I contested but will let you know when if the grade changes.

Her "preferable" turned out to be not to be questioned.

[Pats20]

The professor said "preferable," which means it's not mandatory.

For the assignments, professors often place a grading emphasis on your ability to incorporate their feedback into your assignments. This is why I would give them a chance to grade your prior assignment and not turn in the next one until 1-2 days before it's due.

This isn't my first rodeo.  Here's what the "professor" wrote to me after I called out the assignment changes:

Brian,
 
There was a problem with the assignment that you submitted. The SafeAssign program is a plagiarism detection tool that revealed a score of 44%. 

This suggests that there is content throughout the assignment that is the same or too similar to content from published sources e.g. books, articles or internet websites.

Remember that only changing a few words from a published source is not paraphrasing.

Please send a private message in the private mentor forum to address this issue.

Please indicate that you have read the explanation of the Safe Assign Program and watched the video.

Dr. Journey



This was my reply:

Hello Dr Journey,

I did review your comments and my submission.  As SafeAssign was covered in the syllabus, I did read this.    

In reviewing the originality report, the highlighted content includes common content like the question from the assignment and university name; a passage I quoted directly in quotes as well as referenced in the sources; and all of my seven references were highlighted. 

I am unaware of how else to cite a direct quote from a source or present a sentence that is not based on my original research.  I work in this field, but I am not qualified to submit a paper of my opinions without any references to back up my opinion.

For this assignment, I drew from seven different sources and all were cited in my references.  I drew the salient points to draw a conclusion about cybersecurity.  Where I drew on the sources, I cited them.

For example, here is one portion of a paragraph:

"Since the root cause of most cyber security incidents is a preventable human error, businesses should focus on employee awareness in addition to technological measures to minimize risk. (EC Council, 2021) Responsible business managers should develop a cybersecurity plan that includes employee awareness training, multi-factor authentication and technological barriers to minimize the risk of an attack on their business. (IBM Security X-Force, 2022) With cyber-attacks increasing 15% from 2020 to 2021, business is on notice that cyber-attacks and cybercrime merit their attention. Despite these statistics, a survey by UpCity reveals that 50% of businesses do not have a cybersecurity plan in place. (Brooks, 2022)"

In those three sentences, I cited three different sources.  EC Council's source indicate that the root cause of cyber security incidents is human error; IBM provided specific steps a business can make to reduce that risk and the Brooks article provided data in increases in cyberattacks year over year and the statistic that 50% do not have a cybersecurity plan. 
 If this was the incorrect method to cite other's work, is there a different way to do so?  These concepts were not mine but they belong to the sources I cited.


Basically, she gave me a zero because the orginality report highlighted my cover page, one direct quote and the entire references page.  I contested but will let you know when if the grade changes.

Her "preferable" turned out to be not to be questioned.

That’s scary. I hope it works out for you. It’s just common sense when most of the flagged material is cited direct quotes and the reference page.  Professors are in full control. They can make or break you. I don’t say too much to them. You won’t win with them. I just try to stay quiet and fly under the radar. Especially the English professors. They seem to care more about APA format than the actual content.

[LevelUP]

This isn't my first rodeo.  Here's what the "professor" wrote to me after I called out the assignment changes:

Brian,
 
There was a problem with the assignment that you submitted. The SafeAssign program is a plagiarism detection tool that revealed a score of 44%. 

This suggests that there is content throughout the assignment that is the same or too similar to content from published sources e.g. books, articles or internet websites.

Remember that only changing a few words from a published source is not paraphrasing.

Please send a private message in the private mentor forum to address this issue.

Please indicate that you have read the explanation of the Safe Assign Program and watched the video.

Dr. Journey



This was my reply:

Hello Dr Journey,

I did review your comments and my submission.  As SafeAssign was covered in the syllabus, I did read this.    

In reviewing the originality report, the highlighted content includes common content like the question from the assignment and university name; a passage I quoted directly in quotes as well as referenced in the sources; and all of my seven references were highlighted. 

I am unaware of how else to cite a direct quote from a source or present a sentence that is not based on my original research.  I work in this field, but I am not qualified to submit a paper of my opinions without any references to back up my opinion.

For this assignment, I drew from seven different sources and all were cited in my references.  I drew the salient points to draw a conclusion about cybersecurity.  Where I drew on the sources, I cited them.

For example, here is one portion of a paragraph:

"Since the root cause of most cyber security incidents is a preventable human error, businesses should focus on employee awareness in addition to technological measures to minimize risk. (EC Council, 2021) Responsible business managers should develop a cybersecurity plan that includes employee awareness training, multi-factor authentication and technological barriers to minimize the risk of an attack on their business. (IBM Security X-Force, 2022) With cyber-attacks increasing 15% from 2020 to 2021, business is on notice that cyber-attacks and cybercrime merit their attention. Despite these statistics, a survey by UpCity reveals that 50% of businesses do not have a cybersecurity plan in place. (Brooks, 2022)"

In those three sentences, I cited three different sources.  EC Council's source indicate that the root cause of cyber security incidents is human error; IBM provided specific steps a business can make to reduce that risk and the Brooks article provided data in increases in cyberattacks year over year and the statistic that 50% do not have a cybersecurity plan. 
 If this was the incorrect method to cite other's work, is there a different way to do so?  These concepts were not mine but they belong to the sources I cited.


Basically, she gave me a zero because the orginality report highlighted my cover page, one direct quote and the entire references page.  I contested but will let you know when if the grade changes.

Her "preferable" turned out to be not to be questioned.

You have a serious situation when a professor is willing to give you a zero. I wouldn't take this lightly.

I don't know if this professor is an idiot, playing games, or being a hard ass.

The Way I See It, You Have 2 Major Problems

1. Who is Dr. Journey?
It would be helpful if you could find their reviews on RateMyProfessor, so you know somewhat who you are dealing with. 

2. What exactly is an acceptable SafeAssign score?
What is the school policy? If the school policy is subject to interpretation, then Dr. Journey might say something like under 20% is "preferable." Just the references alone can be 25% of the paper, which would put you in an impossible situation.

Your Response

In any case, I would be careful in getting into an ego challenge with this professor as the professor will often have more leverage than the student when it comes down to it.

You phrased your response as if you were asking the professor to take the assignment as is without offering to do anything on your end. This sets up a confrontation of who is willing to back down first. 

Also, some of your comments, such as "SafeAssign was covered in the syllabus" and "I work in this field," sound condescending. That's adding more fuel to the fire.

Finally, you didn't indicate you watched the video located here:
https://www.tesu.edu/current-students/safeassign

What I Would Have Said

I have read the explanation of the SafeAssign Program and watched the video located here:
https://www.tesu.edu/current-students/safeassign

In reviewing the details of the SafeAssign score for the assignment I submitted, I noticed that most of the score was due to the fact I included the questions in the paper, lengthy direct quotes, and the references page.

I would like the opportunity to make adjustments and resubmit the assignment.

Possible Plan

Having a high SafeAssign is quite common, so I don't know what a good way to fix that. I think overall, you are better off asking for a chance to correct the citations and get the SafeAssign score down some.

I don't know how far you want to go into playing clown world games, but you could:

1. Change the school name to "TESU" and use only the course number and a short nickname for your name.
2. Change the questions to something you come up with. Or not put questions in at all and hope the professor doesn't get confused reading the paper.
3. Lengthen the total words you use in the assignment. (mine was 500 words)
4. If a reference title is too long, shorten it. (weird thing to do and may not be technically correct, but there is the idea)
5. Shorten your reference quotes.

Overall I would try to shoot for a SafeAssign score of 35% or less if you can. Hopefully, the professor only wants to see you are making progress and being the seal that jumps through hoops when asked.

Do the math using a site like https://wordcounter.net/ to estimate what SafeAssign score would be.

Other Route

Asking the professor to accept the assignment as is, I bet the professor will ask you to resubmit with an expectation that something is different from your original submission.

Then you waste more time going back and forth with the professor, then next trying to escalate the situation up the chain all the way to the dean of the college, I guess. That's a dangerous route. By that time, it's too late to withdraw, and you're stuck with a bitter professor ready to snipe at you for your next mistake.

Wrap Up

Anyway, that's how I would play it. I would be more worried about the fastest way to get from point A to point B and not worried about who is right and who is wrong.

All these colleges require students to learn how the system works, work it to their best advantage, and advocate for themselves without sounding like jerks.

Well, you will have to figure something out because you can't take a big fat ZERO in the you know what.

Oh, the drama is real, folks. GL.

[Pats20]

This isn't my first rodeo.  Here's what the "professor" wrote to me after I called out the assignment changes:

Brian,
 
There was a problem with the assignment that you submitted. The SafeAssign program is a plagiarism detection tool that revealed a score of 44%. 

This suggests that there is content throughout the assignment that is the same or too similar to content from published sources e.g. books, articles or internet websites.

Remember that only changing a few words from a published source is not paraphrasing.

Please send a private message in the private mentor forum to address this issue.

Please indicate that you have read the explanation of the Safe Assign Program and watched the video.

Dr. Journey



This was my reply:

Hello Dr Journey,

I did review your comments and my submission.  As SafeAssign was covered in the syllabus, I did read this.    

In reviewing the originality report, the highlighted content includes common content like the question from the assignment and university name; a passage I quoted directly in quotes as well as referenced in the sources; and all of my seven references were highlighted. 

I am unaware of how else to cite a direct quote from a source or present a sentence that is not based on my original research.  I work in this field, but I am not qualified to submit a paper of my opinions without any references to back up my opinion.

For this assignment, I drew from seven different sources and all were cited in my references.  I drew the salient points to draw a conclusion about cybersecurity.  Where I drew on the sources, I cited them.

For example, here is one portion of a paragraph:

"Since the root cause of most cyber security incidents is a preventable human error, businesses should focus on employee awareness in addition to technological measures to minimize risk. (EC Council, 2021) Responsible business managers should develop a cybersecurity plan that includes employee awareness training, multi-factor authentication and technological barriers to minimize the risk of an attack on their business. (IBM Security X-Force, 2022) With cyber-attacks increasing 15% from 2020 to 2021, business is on notice that cyber-attacks and cybercrime merit their attention. Despite these statistics, a survey by UpCity reveals that 50% of businesses do not have a cybersecurity plan in place. (Brooks, 2022)"

In those three sentences, I cited three different sources.  EC Council's source indicate that the root cause of cyber security incidents is human error; IBM provided specific steps a business can make to reduce that risk and the Brooks article provided data in increases in cyberattacks year over year and the statistic that 50% do not have a cybersecurity plan. 
 If this was the incorrect method to cite other's work, is there a different way to do so?  These concepts were not mine but they belong to the sources I cited.


Basically, she gave me a zero because the orginality report highlighted my cover page, one direct quote and the entire references page.  I contested but will let you know when if the grade changes.

Her "preferable" turned out to be not to be questioned.

You have a serious situation when a professor is willing to give you a zero. I wouldn't take this lightly.

I don't know if this professor is an idiot, playing games, or being a hard ass.

The Way I See It, You Have 2 Major Problems

1. Who is Dr. Journey?
It would be helpful if you could find their reviews on RateMyProfessor, so you know somewhat who you are dealing with. 

2. What exactly is an acceptable SafeAssign score?
What is the school policy? If the school policy is subject to interpretation, then Dr. Journey might say something like under 20% is "preferable." Just the references alone can be 25% of the paper, which would put you in an impossible situation.

Your Response

In any case, I would be careful in getting into an ego challenge with this professor as the professor will often have more leverage than the student when it comes down to it.

You phrased your response as if you were asking the professor to take the assignment as is without offering to do anything on your end. This sets up a confrontation of who is willing to back down first. 

Also, some of your comments, such as "SafeAssign was covered in the syllabus" and "I work in this field," sound condescending. That's adding more fuel to the fire.

Finally, you didn't indicate you watched the video located here:
https://www.tesu.edu/current-students/safeassign

What I Would Have Said

I have read the explanation of the SafeAssign Program and watched the video located here:
https://www.tesu.edu/current-students/safeassign

In reviewing the details of the SafeAssign score for the assignment I submitted, I noticed that most of the score was due to the fact I included the questions in the paper, lengthy direct quotes, and the references page.

I would like the opportunity to make adjustments and resubmit the assignment.

Possible Plan

Having a high SafeAssign is quite common, so I don't know what a good way to fix that. I think overall, you are better off asking for a chance to correct the citations and get the SafeAssign score down some.

I don't know how far you want to go into playing clown world games, but you could:

1. Change the school name to "TESU" and use only the course number and a short nickname for your name.
2. Change the questions to something you come up with. Or not put questions in at all and hope the professor doesn't get confused reading the paper.
3. Lengthen the total words you use in the assignment. (mine was 500 words)
4. If a reference title is too long, shorten it. (weird thing to do and may not be technically correct, but there is the idea)
5. Shorten your reference quotes.

Overall I would try to shoot for a SafeAssign score of 35% or less if you can. Hopefully, the professor only wants to see you are making progress and being the seal that jumps through hoops when asked.

Do the math using a site like https://wordcounter.net/ to estimate what SafeAssign score would be.

Other Route

Asking the professor to accept the assignment as is, I bet the professor will ask you to resubmit with an expectation that something is different from your original submission.

Then you waste more time going back and forth with the professor, then next trying to escalate the situation up the chain all the way to the dean of the college, I guess. That's a dangerous route. By that time, it's too late to withdraw, and you're stuck with a bitter professor ready to snipe at you for your next mistake.

Wrap Up

Anyway, that's how I would play it. I would be more worried about the fastest way to get from point A to point B and not worried about who is right and who is wrong.

All these colleges require students to learn how the system works, work it to their best advantage, and advocate for themselves without sounding like jerks.

Well, you will have to figure something out because you can't take a big fat ZERO in the you know what.

Oh, the drama is real, folks. GL.

Like I said I’d take the high road.

[studyingfortests]

This professor is an idiot.

For one thing, under this professor's theory, your final paper in the LIB-495 will have a plagiarism score of near 100% since it is the combination of your previous four papers.

I was told by both professors I had at TESU not to pay any attention to the SafeAssign score unless they specifically brought up a concern. Both said, in so many words, that it had a lot of issues and couldn't tell the difference between plagiarism and proper citation.

I think the suggestion to pay the game of rephrasing stuff to lower the score may be best, but this professor needs a formal complaint. In my experience, TESU's president and academic VPs are both quite accessible via email. My suspicion is if you write a succinct email and provide copies of the correspondence, they will want to solve the issue. This looks really bad on the school, because it is plain lazy workmanship by the mentor.