Bia
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2008
- Messages
- 6,181
This is really long, BUT I need advice. Ordinarily I wouldn't post this but I need objectivity right now.
I received my grade for a research paper I wrote in my STAT/Measurments class. It was an INCOMPLETE. My professor gave me the grade because she felt that my work wasn't really mine. She basically said that the paper was beyond my comprehension level at this point, and that no one in the class did what I did. ::sigh::
Background:
The professor is also the director of the program--the woman who accepted me into the program. When I applied she told me (in an email) that she was concerned that I didn't have the business experience needed for the program, but that she'd accept me based on my GPA and GRE scores. So off the bat, I felt like I would be proving myself. But whatever...
So, during my first class with her, at the beginning of the semester (last year), she assigned a 15pg research paper. I wrote it and she gave me a B+, saying that I was too biased (it was on healthcare and I had very personal feelings about it, it turns out) and didn't present enough research-based information, BUT that she thought I wrote really well, therefore she'd like to see me dig deeper next time. I took her advice and realized that she was right...the paper was one-sided at times, and could have used more research based information.
Fast forward to a two months ago. Our cohort started another Saturday class. This time it was measurements. Because the class fell on Saturdays, there were a few conflicts, and our class ended up meeting for only 2 and 1/2 classes, versus the 5 we would ordinarily meet for. This was on her. She used one of our classes to have us be the tour guides for an Open House she was hosting for our program. The other class was one full class, and the third class she let us out early because she had some appointment--two classes she just cancelled due to inconvenience. Now she's a smart lady, but she's also very hyper, and get's restless. There was very little opportunity for me, or anyone really, to contribute to the class--to be honest, she spent a lot of time discussing her Open House. Because I barely spoke to her during this class, what she didn't know about me was that because of my undergrad background, I was very comfortable with Measurements (my program required STAT and research methods 1, 2 and 3), not so much the actual math, but more so how to go about understanding the results. When I got my survey results back, I used a program called SPSS, which essentially allowed me to enter all my results from my survey, and then find the mean/standard deviation/correlations/reliability/etc. I was able to do a lot with my paper. I provided tables, charts and I did research on my topic of interest for the survey. Well, apparently, my paper went so far beyond what the others did (she told me even the A+ papers only wrote the Abstract/Methods/Results/Discussions portion of the paper, and did very basic stats--no research/lit review was done) that she didn't believe I could have written it.
When I got my paper back, I literally felt my heart in my stomach. Not only was she accusing me of plagiarism (or just flat out stealing work), but she was also dismissing my abilities, based on hardly knowing me, or my work, at all. So I instantly wrote her an email that I didn't know how this was happening. That I felt assumptions were being made, and that it was my work she was saying must belong to someone else. She right away wrote me back that she apologized if she made the incorrect assumptions, but that no one else did a research paper/lit review, and even those students with a sound understanding of STAT didn't go to the lengths I did. I explained to her what I wrote above, that I was comfortable with STAT, and that maybe because we didn't meet that many times for class, I wasn't able to demonstrate my familiarity with STAT. She wrote back that she now was now "comfortable trusting my work," and that she would read my paper as a legitimate one.
Well, thankfully it semi-allowed me to semi-enjoy my weekend, but truthfully, I am really upset. I am not only insulted, but I'm also angry that she is so quick to judge me, and then accuse me. Is this common among professors? When I wrote her today to tell her I sent her my paper (she wanted it by mail since she would be out of town) I told her that I was glad that it got sorted out, but that it still bothered me that she couldn't trust the authenticity of my work. She wrote me back, "Not a problem Bia. Let's put this behind! Okay?"
Am I reading this wrong or what? I am so upset, I don't know what to do. A part of me feels like dropping out of the program because she's THE MAJOR PLAYER in the program, AND I will have her again in the summer.
Am I reading too much into this? Should I just drop it? Be honest. Please. I tend to worry things to death, but in this case, I am so upset, I can't tell if I need to let it go.
I received my grade for a research paper I wrote in my STAT/Measurments class. It was an INCOMPLETE. My professor gave me the grade because she felt that my work wasn't really mine. She basically said that the paper was beyond my comprehension level at this point, and that no one in the class did what I did. ::sigh::


Background:
The professor is also the director of the program--the woman who accepted me into the program. When I applied she told me (in an email) that she was concerned that I didn't have the business experience needed for the program, but that she'd accept me based on my GPA and GRE scores. So off the bat, I felt like I would be proving myself. But whatever...
So, during my first class with her, at the beginning of the semester (last year), she assigned a 15pg research paper. I wrote it and she gave me a B+, saying that I was too biased (it was on healthcare and I had very personal feelings about it, it turns out) and didn't present enough research-based information, BUT that she thought I wrote really well, therefore she'd like to see me dig deeper next time. I took her advice and realized that she was right...the paper was one-sided at times, and could have used more research based information.
Fast forward to a two months ago. Our cohort started another Saturday class. This time it was measurements. Because the class fell on Saturdays, there were a few conflicts, and our class ended up meeting for only 2 and 1/2 classes, versus the 5 we would ordinarily meet for. This was on her. She used one of our classes to have us be the tour guides for an Open House she was hosting for our program. The other class was one full class, and the third class she let us out early because she had some appointment--two classes she just cancelled due to inconvenience. Now she's a smart lady, but she's also very hyper, and get's restless. There was very little opportunity for me, or anyone really, to contribute to the class--to be honest, she spent a lot of time discussing her Open House. Because I barely spoke to her during this class, what she didn't know about me was that because of my undergrad background, I was very comfortable with Measurements (my program required STAT and research methods 1, 2 and 3), not so much the actual math, but more so how to go about understanding the results. When I got my survey results back, I used a program called SPSS, which essentially allowed me to enter all my results from my survey, and then find the mean/standard deviation/correlations/reliability/etc. I was able to do a lot with my paper. I provided tables, charts and I did research on my topic of interest for the survey. Well, apparently, my paper went so far beyond what the others did (she told me even the A+ papers only wrote the Abstract/Methods/Results/Discussions portion of the paper, and did very basic stats--no research/lit review was done) that she didn't believe I could have written it.
When I got my paper back, I literally felt my heart in my stomach. Not only was she accusing me of plagiarism (or just flat out stealing work), but she was also dismissing my abilities, based on hardly knowing me, or my work, at all. So I instantly wrote her an email that I didn't know how this was happening. That I felt assumptions were being made, and that it was my work she was saying must belong to someone else. She right away wrote me back that she apologized if she made the incorrect assumptions, but that no one else did a research paper/lit review, and even those students with a sound understanding of STAT didn't go to the lengths I did. I explained to her what I wrote above, that I was comfortable with STAT, and that maybe because we didn't meet that many times for class, I wasn't able to demonstrate my familiarity with STAT. She wrote back that she now was now "comfortable trusting my work," and that she would read my paper as a legitimate one.
Well, thankfully it semi-allowed me to semi-enjoy my weekend, but truthfully, I am really upset. I am not only insulted, but I'm also angry that she is so quick to judge me, and then accuse me. Is this common among professors? When I wrote her today to tell her I sent her my paper (she wanted it by mail since she would be out of town) I told her that I was glad that it got sorted out, but that it still bothered me that she couldn't trust the authenticity of my work. She wrote me back, "Not a problem Bia. Let's put this behind! Okay?"

Am I reading too much into this? Should I just drop it? Be honest. Please. I tend to worry things to death, but in this case, I am so upset, I can't tell if I need to let it go.