About Wanda Thibodeaux Expertise Whether you need help with general organization, brainstorming, specific needs of MLA, APA, etc., content suggestions and comments, or proofreading, I can assist you! ESL students welcome!
Experience 1 year consultant at Central Michigan University Writing Center; three years experience as freelance copyeditor, writer, and consultant through business Web site, takingdictation.com; completion of McNair Scholars program
Publications itspopular.com, Music for the Love of It, Nth Degree Magazine
Education/Credentials Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Music
Awards and Honors Central Michigan University Playwriting Contest winner, 2002
Past/Present Clients Rita Rizzo (Rizzo and Associates)
Stella Gimenez (Total Brand, Inc.)
Waleed Alsabhan (engineer, UK)
Anthony Oham (master's student)
Question QUESTION: Okay so I was in class and I had to work on a computer with my partner.But even though we had to have partners,we would still get an individual grade.But I noticed that my partner was doing most of the work so I told her that I should do some of it but she said it was fine.I did do some of it but I don't feel like it was enough?
Does that mean that I cheated since I still got a good grade?
P.S-I'm an A/B student.
I don't feel like listing my acheivements though,too long!
ANSWER: Cheating in my opinion is a deliberate attempt to use another person's knowledge or ability in place of doing work on your own and learning. It is taking advantage of others willingly. It doesn't sound like this was the case here, since you brought up the subject to your partner and volunteered to do more. To me it sounds like you simply were paired with an individual who took a lot of initiative, so much so that perhaps you were not allowed to contribute your equal share as you wanted.
I think it is great that you have the soundness of ethical principle to question the legitimacy of your grade. If you still feel like your grade is undeserved because of the amount of work you contributed, I would approach your instructor and explain what happened and that you want to pull your own weight. The instructor may allow you to complete other work on the side, or they simply may tell you that the grade will stand given your honesty and given an ability to demonstrate a knowledge of the material covered. The worst case scenario is that the instructor would speak with your partner to ensure that this doesn't happen again, or they may revise future projects so that each individual has to complete a portion. Either way, there is only opportunity for betterment.
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QUESTION: Well I was doing something else while she was doing so maybe she thought that I didn't want to help but I remember offering.But can you give me an example of cheating?
Answer The most common example of cheating I think of is getting answers to a test ahead of time, or using someone else's paper as your own for a written assignment (includes having someone write it for you). Other examples are communicating with electronic devices during class to exchange answers, or passing a project idea off as your own from an online source or another classmate. The safest bet is to always make sure the workload is equal, that you are researching, writing, and filling in answers from memory, and that you review your work (when possible) for evidence of your own ideas, concepts, etc.
