<p>My Son has already taken commencement and now I find out that he failed history. In this class the final paper he wrote made 50 percent of his grade. My son while not being top of the class usually does well on papers he has wrote in the past. In fact he has never had a bad grade on one. The reason the Professor gave for not passing him is that he did not approve one of the sources that my son used in his final paper. The Professor goes on to say that the source is some how linked to a Italian game site. I checked the site my son used and the information is correct, and I don’t see how it is connected to a game site. In fact the professor says in an e-mail to my son that the reason he found the connection is that he speaks Italian and that one of the words made him feel that he should research it more.
My question is it seems kind of harsh to fail my son on one resource when The professor admits that he found the flaw only because he speaks Italian. I feel that since a class will cost about a 1000.00 and my son will not get his diploma because of this, that I should go talk to the dean. It just does not seem like the professor is being reasonable. I mean shouldn’t he ignore the source in question and grade based on the remaining sources. </p>
<p>Please love to hear your thoughts
Thanks
mitch</p>
<p>I’m not sure I understand what you are trying to say. Did the professor accuse your son of plagiarizing a source in his paper? Is the paper written in Italian? Was it supposed to be written in Italian? What is the paper topic?</p>
<p>The topic was Viking battle tactics. It was not written in Italian the Professor said that he spoke Italian was the reason he able to understand one of the words used was not quite right and made him feel that he should research more deeply into that site. I looked at the site and saw no reason to believe it was linked to any Italian game site. </p>
<p>It just seems to me that It was not an Italian course. The info on the site seemed correct when I cross referenced it with other sites. Also why would you fail for the one source there were five other sources.</p>
<p>The point made about my son fighting his own battles is a good point. he has not asked me to do this. He is self sufficient paying his own room and board. </p>
<p>What were the requirements for citing sources for the paper? Was he allowed to use websites? What is an Italian game site? Do you mean a website that has games for people to play? Or a website about Italian soccer or some other sport?</p>
<p>So, your son wrote a paper, used an Italian word in the paper that has something to do with Viking battles and cited a website as the source for that information? </p>
<p>I’m still not quite sure that I understand what has happened. Does your son have an academic advisor he can talk to?</p>
<p>I’m glad to see that I am not the only who cannot understand what the situation is! The thread title says the son failed a test, but the text is talking about a paper on Viking battle tactics which an Italian professor feels has links to an Italian game site?!</p>
<p>I see a few key issues here.
First, if student is in college, parent can recommend to student possible actions, but should go no further. Let the student do the handling.
2nd, I get the impression parent somehow thinks it unfair that prof caught something odd because of something uncommon- that the prof speaks Italian. How is that unfair? It could just as easily have been that he caught something because of something he read in a book, or saw on tv. HOW it may have happened that he saw an oddity is of no importance.
The final key is what the prof outlined as legit sources. Typically they outline what is acceptable and what is not at the start of a class.</p>
<p>So if son can demonstrate what his souce was, and that is was legit, then he should have no problem persuading prof to change score. If he cannot, then he created a problem for himself.</p>
<p>Thank you to every one for your thoughts. It is exactly what I needed, and all well thought out advise. I have talked to my son and relayed some of your ideas on how he should handle it.</p>