University student tries to plagiarize classmate's work, classmate turns the tables and makes her look like a fool: 'Five years later, I discovered [the professor] routinely showed it to students as a warning'

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Isabella Penn
Sep 21, 2024 1:00 PM EDT

When one university student reached out to a classmate for help with her paper, she had no idea she was about to walk right into an epic prank. Desperate to finish her report before the deadline, the student asked for a look at her classmate's work, claiming she just needed some guidance on structure and presentation. What happened next was nothing short of astonishing.

After receiving the original paper, she sent back her version for proofreading—only to have her classmate discover that she had essentially plagiarized the entire thing. Rather than confront her directly, the classmate decided to get creative. She went through the paper and made some hilarious changes, swapping out key terms with vulgarities, turning the methodology into a Bolognese recipe, and even inserting recent NFL scores in place of the data table.

To top it all off, she changed the references to characters from Harry Potter and rewrote the conclusion as a confession of plagiarism. Little did the would-be plagiarist know, she didn't even notice the changes and submitted it as is. Cue the spectacularly embarrassing lesson in the consequences of cheating!

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  • 01
    r/pettyrevenge •11 hr. low_myope She tried to plagiarise my work. I went nuclear
    via u/low_myope
  • 02
    During my freshman year at university, I had been working on a group project with 4 other people. We had completed an experiment as part of a physics module, and each needed to write a report (approximately 2500 words) to be assessed.
    via u/low_myope
  • 03
    As the deadline for this module fell slap bang in the middle of a really active few weeks, I took the uncharacteristically organised decision to write and submit my report a few weeks early. Job done! Free to party over varsity week!
    via u/low_myope
  • 04
    One of my colleagues left everything until last minute, and called me in a panic two days. before the due date and asked if I could share my report with her so that she could 'understand how to structure the report and present the data'. Me being a bit dopey (and probably still a bit intoxicated from a week of partying) sent her my report in its entirety.
    via u/low_myope
  • 05
    The following day (night before submission), she called me again, and asked if I could proof read her report and make any minor adjustments I saw fit before she submitted. I agreed, and she emailed the document over. Much to my horror, she had basically copied and pasted my
    via u/low_myope
  • 06
    entire report. I couldn't believe that she was moronic enough to send me the report to look at given that she had plagiarised the whole thing! This is where I became quite vengeful and petty.
    via u/low_myope
  • 07
    I first used the 'find and replace' function on word, and replaced commonly used words from our experiment with vulgarities. I then replaced a step by step methodology from our experiment with a step by step recipe for spaghetti bolognese. The data table was replaced with
    via u/low_myope
  • 08
    the box scores from the NFL games that weekend. I took the time to change the authors names in her references to characters from Harry Potter (ie Weasley at al. 2009, Dumbledore and Grindlewald 2008). To top things off, I rewrote her
    via u/low_myope
  • 09
    conclusion as a confession that she had attempted to plagiarise the report. I sent the revised document to her, and fully expected to receive an angry phone call in response. I did receive an angry phone call - 3 weeks later when she was
    via u/low_myope
  • 10
    called in for a faculty meeting due to academic misconduct. Apparently being the dingbat she was, she had not even proof read the document I had sent her, and had submitted it. She hadn't just failed the module, but was under threat of expulsion as through
    via u/low_myope
  • 11
    trying to blame me for the content of the document, she had inadvertently admitted to attempted plagiarism. Upon returning to the faculty 5 years later as a research fellow, I discovered that the director of teaching had kept a copy of the
    via u/low_myope
  • 12
    report and routinely showed it to students as a warning not to plagiarise! TLDR a fellow student - plagiarised my work, so I edited it to make her look like a complete moron
    via u/low_myope
  • 13
    SweeperOfChimneys • 13h ago That the director of teaching kept it is the piece de resistance. (I have no idea how that's actually spelled.) Primo job!
    via u/SweeperOfChimneys
  • 14
    low_myope OP • 12h ago For those interested, the experiment we wrote our report on was the Young's Double Slit experiment. Or in the case of my colleague: Young's Double experiment!
    via u/low_myope
  • 15
    Username_Chx_Out • 12h ago Not that you're asking, but if you ever have any twinge of remorse, please remind yourself, that her ignorance or idiocy could easily have landed you in hot water for plagiarism. There's no guarantee that your paper would get touched for grading before the due date. And likely would have passed through the Plagarism
    via u/Username_Chx_Out
  • 16
    software, and you've heard all the horror stories of zero- tolerance policies without appeals... Fortunately, her stupidity was just enough for you to escape with your career and a great story.
    via u/Username_Chx_Out
  • 17
    • Mission_Progress_674 10h ago Not proof reading your document pretty much proves. she is a moron.
    via u/Mission_Progress_674
  • 18
    Salt-Operation 12h ago This is so perfect. Petty and highly justified. The faculty keeping it as an example is just gold.
    via u/Salt-Operation
  • 19
    andronicuspark • 12h ago She was probably also hungover and blurry when she decided to submit it without reviewing it first.
    via u/andronicuspark
  • 20
    PerformerSouthern652 I have a bestie who is a 8h ago professor at 3 different online universities. You can be surprised how many people have actually plagiarized HER work. IAnd turned it into HER!
    via u/PerformerSouthern652
  • 21
    Regular-Switch454 • 11h ago Imagine how different your life may be if she hadn't asked for proofreading and just submitted the report.
    via u/Regular-Switch454
  • 22
    Cheezburger Image 10406995456
    via Unsplash (Getty Images)

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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hilarious university students iconic assignment work classmates petty revenge colleague cheating Reddit payback report funny college
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