My Labmate plagiarised. What do I do?

[Eerors]

Preface:
I'm doing a molecular microbiology masters degree.
I do lab practicals with two other students and after each one we have to submit a report on what we did.

One of my lab partners wasn't pulling his weight so I confronted him about it. I gave him one last chance to prove himself and told him to complete the lab report's introduction and e-mail it to me by the 3rd Dec. If he didn't then me and the other lab partner would submit a duel piece of work and he would have to submit his own separately.

He gave me his introduction section and I was happy.

Until now.

My task was to do the discussion section of the lab report. I was background reading from a book when some of text looked familiar. I thought nothing of it until I came to spell-check and correct the lab-report before it's submission. This is when I realized that he had copied and pasted sentences from the book into his introduction section. I dug a little deeper and I have found out that the entire introduction section is just a big copy-paste job from two sources.

Now my dilemma:
The fact that he has plagiarised is abhorrent. The fact he lied to me is worse . To top it all, with the deadline today, I have no clue how I should go about this.

-If I submit it with plagiarism then it could be picked up upon and the group would be penalized because of him. I would also be encouraging his behaviour as he thinks he'll get away with plagiarism...which, in a science subject, you cannot.

-If I change the introduction then he has effectively submitted nothing thus should not get credit, however I can't just do this to him as I have already told him that I was happy with his introduction (i.e. before I spotted the plagiarism). I can't tell him to write a whole lab report from scratch when the deadline is today....can i?

-If I tell the course co-ordinator then he might be excluded (which is fine by me) however the co-ordinator could give him another chance. This is bad as me and Mr. Plagiarism are working on another lab project together. I don't want this friction between us on this project as he might deliberately sabotage it out of spite because I grassed him out.

 

[Anarchemitis]

Tell him the truth that you are disappointed with the fact that he plagiarised the work, and betrayed your trust by not doing it.
It may seem extreme and trying, but his reaction will speak volumes about his character, from which you must make responsible decisions based upon your reasoning and emotions.
From the outcomes of such a confrontation will you be able to make conclusions to your professor.

 

[Pecoros7]

You can't submit the work with the plagiarized introduction. Depending on your school's policies, that introduction could get your whole group expelled and cost you your masters degree. You have to confront him with all the evidence in hand, preferably after you've notified the coordinator. The tension between the two of you may be a problem in the future, but the possible consequences of his actions are too great to let it slide.

 

[Fawcks]

Completing introduction first is important.

Then you approach him. Depending on what he says... Take the intro he wrote you (Did he email it to you? If he did, AWESOME) and show it to the professor, including the sources you found he plagiarized from. Should make for good fun, though I don't take ruining one's academic career lightly.

 

[Amnestic]

Whatever you do, do not submit the plagiarised work.

I can't stress that enough.

I'd rewrite it, inform Plagiarist Guy that you know what he did and report him to the co-ordinator about it, with evidence to back your assertions up so you're not just hear-saying he-said-she-said.

The only way he'll learn is if he gets punished.

 

[Eerors]

I'm gonna re-do the intro, I think that's a certain now. It's so frustrating. He had one simple task and he did the WORST (academically speaking) POSSIBLE THING and now I have to pick up the pieces? Pft.

I feel like telling him to write his own now but, I ain't had much sleep tonight so I feel my judgement is impaired.

Knowing my luck he probably comes on this website

 

[Eerors]

with evidence to back your assertions up so you're not just hear-saying he-said-she-said.

The joke is he even cited where he plagiarized from so it was easy for me to find the pieces. What I'm saying is, evidence is no problem ^_^

(I feel that emoticon is slightly inappropriate....)

Completing introduction first is important.

Then you approach him. Depending on what he says... Take the intro he wrote you (Did he email it to you? If he did, AWESOME) and show it to the professor, including the sources you found he plagiarized from. Should make for good fun, though I don't take ruining one's academic career lightly.

Yes he did e-mail it to me....I feel like I'm in a bad comedy since his ineptness knows no bounds.

 

[drisky]

I'm gonna re-do the intro, I think that's a certain now. It's so frustrating. He had one simple task and he did the WORST (academically speaking) POSSIBLE THING and now I have to pick up the pieces? Pft.

I feel like telling him to write his own now but, I ain't had much sleep tonight so I feel my judgement is impaired.

Knowing my luck he probably comes on this website

That's what i would have done. I've been screwed over many times buy group projects, like once when the group would except my work because they did group work together with out telling me and that they were going to say i did no work and let me fail. Then the person that had all the work didn't show up. What did I do, I used my info to save them. It just wouldn't be right to throw someone under the bus, no matter how much an asshole. Do the work and comfort him personally if you feel, but trying to get him expelled would be to much.

 

[Hashime]

Report him to the prof, ask him for an extension due to the circumstances.
You are in graduate school, if someone is being unprofessional they do not belong there.

 

[Eerors]

So, if any of you were wondering, I re-did the intro and reported the plagiarism. The guy whom I ratted out wasn't too impressed after I told him what I'd done (and why I'd done it).

But wait. There's more.

You remember I said I had two lab partners? Well, turns out the other one did exactly the same as this guy. Only I hadn't picked up on it from her.

I have been the only one actually doing any work!

So I had to report her as well. Why? Because (A) by now I was raging and (B) I couldn't report the guy and let the girl off. That's not fair.

So I spoke to the course co-ordinator and he's going to enquire into both their cases. In the meantime I'm feeling shitty and they're feeling angry/upset.

FML :'(

Report him to the prof, ask him for an extension due to the circumstances.
You are in graduate school, if someone is being unprofessional they do not belong there.

Of course you're correct, and that's the feeling I have been getting from most people I told. Also...your avatar is amazing!

Knowing my luck he probably comes on this website

ALAS, IT WAS I

I know it's a joke, but he's quite fragile right now. I wouldn't joke about said things.

To the OP: By the way, I send my academic well-wishes, hope that you do well and that everything works out okay. Good luck!

@ JRiseley - Thank you I know I've done the right thing but It doesn't feel like it at the moment.

and @ Fawcks - I got the joke. No worries

 

[Thedutchjelle]

You did the right thing, in my opinion. Report plagiarism, even if it makes them your enemies. You win nothing by doing the work for them and not reporting them, as they'll never learn. They knew plagiarism is not allowed and yet they did it - is their own decision, and they should face the consequences.

Good luck with your masters degree

 

[Zaik]

Turn him in immediately and ask to have him removed from all projects related to you. Make sure you show the evidence.

Plagiarism is SFB. You know it, and he knows it.

When(not if) you were caught, your ass would have been just as much in the fire as his.

You don't really want someone that stupid helping you with ANOTHER project, do you? He might make his plagiarism a little less apparent next time, you miss it, and both of you fail the entire course because of it.

 

[Gamegodtre]

-If I change the introduction then he has effectively submitted nothing thus should not get credit, however I can't just do this to him as I have already told him that I was happy with his introduction (i.e. before I spotted the plagiarism). I can't tell him to write a whole lab report from scratch when the deadline is today....can i?

-If I tell the course co-ordinator then he might be excluded (which is fine by me) however the co-ordinator could give him another chance. This is bad as me and Mr. Plagiarism are working on another lab project together. I don't want this friction between us on this project as he might deliberately sabotage it out of spite because I grassed him out.

well if you want good news here it is
tell the teacher they have a zero tolerance for this(at least were i am) and since you came clean the teacher may give you a extra time exception to finish the project or intro. most likey your lab partner will be expelled if your school is like mine
all you need now is to show evidence and your done

 

[zombiesinc]

-If I tell the course co-ordinator then he might be excluded (which is fine by me) however the co-ordinator could give him another chance. This is bad as me and Mr. Plagiarism are working on another lab project together. I don't want this friction between us on this project as he might deliberately sabotage it out of spite because I grassed him out.

Personally, that's what I would do. He's in university, he knows better. You learn about plagiarism in junior high, there's no excuse. Perhaps there could be friction, but if that's a big concern, you could mention that to your co-ordinator as well. I'm sure they'd wish to avoid that for everyone's sake.

If you're worried about the aftermath of telling your co-ordinator, then you could also confront this guy and tell him if he doesn't fix it, you'll go to the co-ordinator. Either way, what's important is avoiding handing it in as is, because nothing's worse than taking the fall for someone else's laziness.

Edit: Well, you went ahead and did what I would have done myself. Yes, it's shit that you ended up having to report the two of 'em, but they were the ones who were in the wrong, so it's their own fault.

Hopefully now you can get yourself some better lab partners who actually pull their own weight!

 

[Terminal Blue]

Plagiarism is an incredibly serious thing. I don't know how it is in the hard sciences, but in the humanities and social sciences there's quite extensive software checking which picks up this kind of thing.

You did the right thing. What these people were doing was incredibly stupid, risky and above all insulting to you, as it directly risked your grade. If it was some bullshit first year undergraduate task, that's one thing, but at this academic level they deserve everything they get.

Besides, who the fuck pays the (in my experience very large amount of) money to take a masters course then pulls shit like this? Clearly these people are either idiots or have too much time and money.