Have you ever had a time period in your life that fills you with a lot of regret?

For me, that was last semester. When I recall what happened, I feel a strong sense of shame, and relief that I had the chance to learn from this experience. 

While I was working on my research essay for my Psychology module, I realised I was running out of time. Not only was this a stressful time period for me, but I was also bad at managing my time. Before I knew it, I only had a day to submit my essay.

Being hyper aware of how quickly time was flying, I freaked out. As I was searching online for relevant research, I ended up copying a few sentences from an article. I was planning on  paraphrasing it later, but I was too tired and wanted to submit something before the deadline. 

I genuinely thought a few sentences would not be that big of a deal. 

What I did not realise was the impact copying a couple of sentences would have on me and my academic journey. And this is something I want to share with others so it does not happen to anyone else either. 

After a few short weeks, I was sent an academic misconduct allegation letter. I felt myself panicking. I had heard that the Student Union works separately from the University on behalf of students at LSBU, and I saw their contact details at the end of the academic misconduct letter, so I reached out to the Student Union Advice team for some support and guidance. 

The Adviser at the student union was really kind to me, listened to my concerns and ran through the possible scenarios with me. I felt supported, like I did not have to go through this on my own. Although I felt embarrassed, it felt good to have someone who highlighted the possible outcomes for me, supporting me through my statement and preparing me for the meeting.

In the meeting, my lecturer showed me the Turnitin report, with highlighted copied sections. I decided to take the advice given to me by my SU adviser, by explaining my circumstances, taking accountability for my actions, and mentioning how I will do things differently moving forward. 

What I learned from this experience is that although it was not my intention to deceive anyone, or take credit for someone else’s work, my actions were not right. I did not want to be a person who steals part of someone else's work, and makes it my own. 

It made me think what if someone had stolen my work and taken credit for it. I would not feel good about this. It is also the same when someone else does that to me. 

This was not the kind of person I wanted to become.

This experience made me think of the kind of person I do want to be and how University can help me become that. I want to be someone who respects other people’s work and ideas and have people also respect my own. It made me realise that it is not always about getting the perfect grades, it is also about learning to become a responsible student. 

After getting a formal warning that stayed on my record and having to redo the assignment with only getting the passing mark, I decided to visit the library and learning team at the library. I learned there are actually a lot of useful sessions running there. I personally found the ‘Intro to Academic Writing,’ ‘Critically Evaluating Journal Articles’ and ‘Using Generative AI- to support study’ to be really useful. 

I hope more students make use of the services available to them here at the University! 

When my SU adviser asked me if I would like to be referred to the Mental Health and Wellbeing team, I said yes, and now I feel very glad that I did. I am learning better tools and ways of managing my stress and time better now. Though this was a difficult experience for me to have gone through, it has taught me some valuable lessons. 

I hope you do not have to go through what I did to learn these lessons. Instead, I hope you make the most of your time here as a student by reaching out for the appropriate support.

To book an appointment with the SU advice team, fill out their advice registration form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdiziC0bhL-nJ_2isUMIvDdzxp05rwlsGKzXFHjomksJVC0nA/viewform

For any questions or concerns, you can also email suadvice@lsbsu.org

To find out more about the workshops with the library and learning team, use this link: https://lsbu-uk.libcal.com/calendar/llr?cid=6613&t=d&d=0000-00-00&cal=6613&ct=36100&inc=0

For any Mental Health and Wellbeing Support, use this link: https://myaccount.lsbu.ac.uk/s/article/How-do-I-book-an-appointment-with-the-Mental-Health-and-Wellbeing-team-1622407591756

Alternatively, you can email: studentwellbeing@lsbu.ac.uk