My Student Swears They Didn’t Plagiarize. 94% Similarity Score. What Do You Do?
Submitted a student’s essay through our plagiarism checker this week. 94% similarity to a source they cited but didn’t quote or attribute correctly. Student is insisting it was accidental – that they took notes from the source, forgot to rephrase, and didn’t intend to plagiarize. They seem genuinely distressed.
The similarity score is damning but I’ve had students accidentally do this before when their note-taking habits are bad. What’s your process? Do you treat a 94% match as clear-cut or do you go through an interview process first?
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94% is hard to explain as accidental at an essay scale. A paragraph - yes, I've seen that from students who copy-paste their research notes without clearing them. But 94% of a whole essay is a different situation. I'd still do an interview but I'd go in with a different prior assumption than if it were a paragraph.
the note-taking explanation is plausible and I've used it as a teaching moment without academic penalty. The test is simple: can the student produce their notes? Do the notes show a pattern of copy-paste without paraphrasing? If yes, this becomes a lesson in note-taking hygiene, not a cheating case. If they can't produce notes, the explanation doesn't hold.
Ask for the notes before the formal interview. Their response to that request tells you a lot.
our board policy is to involve admin at any similarity score over 80%. it takes the judgment partly off individual teachers which is a relief. you still document everything but the process is defined and the decision isn't solely yours.
if this is a first offence and the student is genuinely distressed - not performatively distressed - I lean toward a redo with a grade cap and a mandatory meeting about citation practices. the goal is that they never do this again, not punishment for its own sake. I've seen teachers pursue formal process on first offences and it does real damage to the relationship with that student for the rest of the year.
I always interview first. The similarity score is evidence, not a verdict. The student's explanation in the interview either holds up or it doesn't, and that context matters for consequences. A student who can explain every idea in their own words without the essay in front of them is a different case from one who can't.