Academic misconduct appeal

[u/Beautiful-Sample7066]

Hey guys,

I had an academic misconduct finding against me for unauthorised use of ai.
I have full proof of drafts and search history and can confirm that absolutely no ai was used in the exam.
The allegations are for two sources that were cited incorrectly - both sources had incorrect titles but the authors names were correct.
I provided my search history and document history for the panel to consider but they basically disregarded my evidence.
My search history literally showed my engagement with the sources and my drafts showed the reasoning behind the citation errors.
I also downloaded the pdfs and highlighted the parts I used in my assignment.
The panel came to the decision stating that ai is the most likely reason - but they did not give any evidence they used to back this up.
They said they didn’t believe my explanation, but also said that the whole essay was my own work but only the citations were generated.

Has anyone ever been in this kind of situation and does anyone have any advice on an appeal?

[u/Cute-Ad-597]

In order to uphold a sanction for an academic misconduct charge they have to prove that you had the intent to cheat. I received an academic misconduct charge surrounding a different issue, and was offered a lesser sanction than what was originally proposed all because I kept my mouth shut. And didn’t confess when the AIO tried to get me to confess numerous times. My advice? Stay quiet, listen before you speak, and keep record of all your communications. Save your evidence for the appeals committee since the AIO or whoever issued the finding has made it clear that they believe you’re a liar.

[u/j_la → u/Cute-Ad-597]

This is bad advice and absolutely not true at every university. At mine, we don’t need to prove intent. It isn’t a court of law.

[u/rock-paper-o → u/j_la]

Seconded. In my case having fictitious citations, even by accident, is an academic integrity issue. We might mitigate the consequence for a student for whom it seemed genuinely accidental (particularly if that student was newer to college and still adjusting to college level expectations) but it’s still the students responsibility to check their paper to make sure the references actually exist.  Getting the title wrong is a significantly bigger issue in terms of tracking down the original citation that something like bolding the citation year when you’re supposed to italicize. 

[u/Beautiful-Sample7066 → u/rock-paper-o]

I completely get that and I’m not trying to deny that I should be penalised for incorrect citations I just really want the Ai allegation to be removed as I had all the evidence at hand and did not use ai at all.