I acknowledge this opportunity to respond to the letter of notification I received from the University Administration regarding alleged cases of plagiarism on some sections of my assignments. I do wish to respond with my concerns regarding the purported cases of academic dishonesty that violated the student code of integrity. However, some reasons surrounded the difficulties I encountered during the course, which I will recap as follows:
1. I have tight working and studying schedules, and I have been working in the Middle East since the economy became turbulent in 2005. Usually I take up to 8 months out of the whole year before I go home for only 15 days of R&R. Participating in online classes is quite challenging during this time, and this is in part due to the tight working schedule and in part due to lack of internet connection during flight durations from Afghanistan to the US.
2. My poor postings during the period July 2012-August 2012 can be attributed to frequent journeys throughout Southern Afghanistan while inspecting army bases. During this time, I could spend four-five days without getting online. I could only access communicate and access emails using my Blackberry phone.
3. The above problem resulted to submission of uncited work in some instances even though I received satisfactory grades after having submitted them in a diligent and on a timely manner. The greatest problem that occurred during the submission of Discussion Questions could be directly related to failure to cite my work
4. I did put in more effort in all my assignments, and this can be seen from the major contributions in teamwork, individual work, and final work.
5. Another major challenge is that my study involved a lot of travelling coupled with family responsibilities such as taking care of my kid and my husband. I had also had to look for a house within a period of 15 days.
6. In all challenging instances, I remained exceedingly concerned concerning my academic work and attempted all I could to work on my academic work
The above-mentioned reasons show that I am not a perfect human being and that any similarities with my work were accidental (if there happens to be any). Furthermore, the given links involve definitions, which do not vary regardless of any amount of paraphrasing. I put hard work and dedication into this course in order to give my best, and I as well ensured that I submitted original work despite my tight schedules. For this reason, I do wish to request that I be given a credit for the course.
Academic integrity has been my overarching concern throughout my entire academic life in this institution. I have given my best in my efforts to become an A student and in no instance have I been involved in any case of academic dishonesty. I cannot help wanting to continue my education in your institution in order to fulfil my ambitions of getting the best in life. I am regretful to inform the University Administration that I never intended to commit any form of academic dishonesty because I understand all the stakes it involves for my academic life and future career. I profoundly believe that the alleged cases of dishonesty be handled appropriately by considering all the surrounding circumstances and the reasons for the allegations be made justifiable at the least. My greatest request remains that I be awarded a mark for my hard work and effort I put into my work. Finally yet important, I wish to stress that I did not participate in any act of academic dishonesty whatsoever and that the mistake could have occurred due to the reasons explained above.
