C & F Question Forum

[FredTheFish]

I have already submitted my application to 3 law schools, and am in the process of submitting applications to about 10 more. As an undergrad, I was accused of plagiarizing the rough draft of a scientific paper. I properly cited every single use of other people's work that I incorporated into my paper, but since it is a scientific paper, it was still considered plagiarism because I didn't properly paraphrase the other people's work too (total semantics, this practice is not considered plagiarism in just about any other subject).

Anyways, nothing came from this except I had to talk with the professor and he told me to revise my rough draft. I revised it and earned credit, eventually earning an A in the class. There was no paper work filed, and the only thing it really was was an accusation. For the academic misconduct sections of apps, I felt I did not need to disclose this to the first 3 law schools I applied to due to their wording. But after encoutnering Emory's application, I feel like I should disclose it. Am i stressing over nothing or should I send this info to the schools I already applied to? How would I send this info (like an addendum)? Or for the purposes of C & F for the bar in the future, as long as I disclosed this on some law schools apps (such as Emorys) is that ok even though I didn't disclose it to every law school?

[cbbinnyc]

Maybe ask somebody at your undergrad institution (like the prelaw advisor, if that person exists) or a lawyer. Generally the advice on here is to be safe and disclose, but throwing around the word "plagiarism" could be damaging, so I would be careful not to disclose unless advised to do so by a professional.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Just for the record, not properly paraphrasing (i.e. copying the language) is actually considered plagiarism in pretty much every other academic field, too.

As to your question, answer what the question asks. You won't get dinged for not disclosing something that wasn't asked for. And I'm pretty sure the bar is only going to look at the application to the school you attended, not all applications. If they care, they will see the wording of the question you answered. The only issue is whether the wording is as clear as you think it is and excludes this incident (though to be fair if it was just a discussion between you and the prof without any official action I can see how it wouldn't fall into many questions).

Your state's bar exam people might also be a helpful resource.

[FredTheFish]

Just for the record, not properly paraphrasing (i.e. copying the language) is actually considered plagiarism in pretty much every other academic field, too.

As to your question, answer what the question asks. You won't get dinged for not disclosing something that wasn't asked for. And I'm pretty sure the bar is only going to look at the application to the school you attended, not all applications. If they care, they will see the wording of the question you answered. The only issue is whether the wording is as clear as you think it is and excludes this incident (though to be fair if it was just a discussion between you and the prof without any official action I can see how it wouldn't fall into many questions).

Your state's bar exam people might also be a helpful resource.

According to MLA/APA (and legal writing I have done in the past) it is acceptable to copy the language as long as there are quotation marks associated with the phrase, and it is properly cited, both of which I did. Because of this incident though, I learned to ask all my professors beforehand if I am doing it correctly.

Regardless though, this situation was weird because I never received anything official from it, probably because it was only a rough draft. I was basically told that the way I did it was considered plagiarism, so revise it. I don't even know if that would be considered a warning or reprimand and as someone else mentioned, any type of plagiarism is something I want to completely avoid being on my application if possible.

Solid advice, I am definitely going to contact my state's bar exam.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Oh, you didn't say you had quotation marks. When you said you were told you hadn't paraphrased properly I thought that meant you'd used the same language without quotation marks, so I retract. (I think it's bad style, say, to have more of other people's quotes than your own writing, and I guess I can see how someone might argue that's plagiarism, but yeah, that's not such a common definition.)

[FredTheFish]

Oh, you didn't say you had quotation marks. When you said you were told you hadn't paraphrased properly I thought that meant you'd used the same language without quotation marks, so I retract. (I think it's bad style, say, to have more of other people's quotes than your own writing, and I guess I can see how someone might argue that's plagiarism, but yeah, that's not such a common definition.)

My bad, I should have said that. It's funny because my TA at the time literally said we could copy and paste something from the internet without citing it if we wanted because it was simply a rough draft, and the only thing that needed to be properly cited was the final draft. If I followed my TA's advice and did not even bother to cite or quote what I copied and pasted, I properly would have been in serious trouble.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Yeah, that was a crappy TA.

[rachellewrx]

How'd it go? Did you disclose? I'm in the same situation here. I plan to disclose this on Emory's app. And I didn't disclose in the 7 applications I already submitted.