How commonly plagiarizing is a huge problem?

[Andrew]

It's not that I ever had intentionally plagiarized, but I feel self-conscious when I think of what if I forgot a quote here, or what if this idea was actually someone else's and I don't know it? 
I intentionally made my work extremely personalized and unusual because I'm very freaky about being accused of plagiarism. I checked most of my work sentence by sentence, but for example, for the English L&L WT2 I intended to create a pastiche of a UN speech from last year, but set in the future. Some parts of my work were modified sections of the speech, but most of it was entirely new material. My point was to modify the language to remove all words from etymological origin other that Anglo-Saxon, for which I based my work on the method from the text "Uncleftish Beholding" 

However, I am freaking out, because I had to upload the final version without receiving a final feedback from my teacher, and when she got to read it afterward, she said that I may be in trouble because my rationale was not clear enough. That although no part of the text Uncleftish Beholding was explicitly used, I should have put a footnote on the title and then added it to the bibliography as well. Also, she said that I did not make it clear enough that I was doing a pastiche. I instead wrote something like "I recreate a speech given at the UN Summit, setting it in year 2040". I did put the speech in the bibliography, but put no footnote after my explanation either!!!! 

Are these very serious things? 

Is it commonplace to hear of diplomas being revoked for things like this? 

 

[kw0573]

You have asked about this before. IB only investigates cases of misconduct if it was directly observed or the intent to deceive is likely present. It doesn't seem this written task has suspicious plagiarizing intents. For example, IB will initiate an investigation if you tried to pass off someone else's work as your own. It seems that this written task has troubled you for some time now and it's already a month after submission and you haven't got any indication from IB that you have violated any academic honesty policy. You have already recognized that you are influenced by an UN speech and has cited this at the end. I imagine the worst that will happen is that you lose some marks for an unclear rationale. Not mentioning the word "pastiche" does not warrant suspicions of plagiarism. 

[Guest iblearner]

I'm conscious about plagiarism too. My mathematics teacher repeatedly asked me if I "downloaded" my Mathematics IA from somewhere. I actually didn't. I referred to some sources online and cited it in footnotes and bibliography. Will the IB penalise me if the IA looks like it was plagiarized, but is actually not? I checked the plagiarism rate online using WriteCheck.com, and it only came to about 12%. 

[kw0573]

3 minutes ago, iblearner said:

I'm conscious about plagiarism too. My mathematics teacher repeatedly asked me if I "downloaded" my Mathematics IA from somewhere. I actually didn't. I referred to some sources online and cited it in footnotes and bibliography. Will the IB penalise me if the IA looks like it was plagiarized, but is actually not? I checked the plagiarism rate online using WriteCheck.com, and it only came to about 12%. 

Was your IA selected for moderation? If so you would have signed a cover sheet. IB evaluates only moderated IAs. From DP Handbook of Procedures page 85

Quote

For hard copy (paper-based) assessment the candidate and teacher authenticate by signing the relevant coversheet. If a teacher signs the coversheet but writes a comment on or attached to the coversheet to the effect that the work may not be authentic, the candidate will not be eligible for a mark in that component.

Because you didn't plagiarize and there is no concrete evidence to suggest otherwise, the only way you can be affected is if your IA is moderated, and your teacher for some reason said it may not be authentic. 

[Guest iblearner]

Just now, kw0573 said:

Was your IA selected for moderation? If so you would have signed a cover sheet. IB evaluates only moderated IAs. From DP Handbook of Procedures page 85

Because you didn't plagiarize and there is no concrete evidence to suggest otherwise, the only way you can be affected is if your IA is moderated, and your teacher for some reason said it may not be authentic. 

Sadly, my IA is going for moderation, and that is why I'm super anxious. I did sign a cover sheet, but I'm just worried about what would happen if IB, for some reason, says that my IA is plagiarized. I swear I didn't plagiarize lol I just referred to sources. I mean, it's math. Basically most of the formulas already exists~

[kw0573]

2 minutes ago, iblearner said:

Sadly, my IA is going for moderation, and that is why I'm super anxious. I did sign a cover sheet, but I'm just worried about what would happen if IB, for some reason, says that my IA is plagiarized. I swear I didn't plagiarize lol I just referred to sources. I mean, it's math. Basically most of the formulas already exists~

Do you know if your teacher had made such a comment of concern of plagiarism on your part? It seems unprofessional for the teacher to repeatedly ask you if you downloaded some document, instead of just asking you once for some proofs such as Word Document revision details stored along with each draft. As long as you are certain your teacher did not include such a note along with your IA, then you are ok. 

Anyways if there is no clear evidence after your teacher didn't say anything IB cannot initiate an investigation, page 88 same document. "Oh this person's IA is too good must have cheated" is not a legitimate concern. Upon an investigation, you will have to provide a report. You have to go to hearings to defend yourself. It's a long process. If it's May and you haven't heard anything from IB, chances are you are ok. 

My phrasing is mainly intended to avoid the misconception that as long as the teacher says there is no misconduct then that's final. If innocent students were to be investigated by IB, then they have the opportunity to defend themselves. 

I did have a similar concern last year thinking I might have mis-quoted in my group 1 written assignment. But by this time I assured myself that everything is alright. If you have more related doubts, send me a message.

[Guest iblearner]

6 minutes ago, kw0573 said:

Do you know if your teacher had made such a comment of concern of plagiarism on your part? It seems unprofessional for the teacher to repeatedly ask you if you downloaded some document, instead of just asking you once for some proofs such as Word Document revision details stored along with each draft. As long as you are certain your teacher did not include such a note along with your IA, then you are ok. 

Anyways if there is no clear evidence after your teacher didn't say anything IB cannot initiate an investigation, page 88 same document. "Oh this person's IA is too good must have cheated" is not a legitimate concern. Upon an investigation, you will have to provide a report. You have to go to hearings to defend yourself. It's a long process. If it's May and you haven't heard anything from IB, chances are you are ok. 

My phrasing is mainly intended to avoid the misconception that as long as the teacher says there is no misconduct then that's final. If innocent students were to be investigated by IB, then they have the opportunity to defend themselves. 

I did have a similar concern last year thinking I might have mis-quoted in my group 1 written assignment. But by this time I assured myself that everything is alright. If you have more related doubts, send me a message.

Wow that makes me feel less stressed out! Thanks dude :))