i was incredibly sick the past week and my thesis was due yesterday. i submitted it on time (though barely) and just now, i realized that i forgot to put one of the in-text citations in my introduction. the source is in the reference list though because i referenced it for another paragraph. i want to go to graduate school so i am so scared that this will get me a 0 or be on my transcript or get me kicked out of university for plagiarism. should i email my supervisor about this? (for context, he’ll be the only one reading it) or should i let it go? i want to get a good mark on this since i’ve been working on it for months. if i resubmit it now, i’ll lose 20% of my mark. can someone give me advice? i’m so worried about this.
Comments
I doubt it’ll get you kicked out for plagiarism. Especially considering you have the source in your reference list. That would be way extreme.
Might just be a point or two off your grade for your thesis (presuming you have a grade).
Honestly nothing will happen
Email your supervisor about it. Mistakes happen. Correcting it is the right thing to do. If you only had one and you send a correction, nobody will think you plagiarized.
One citation? I wouldn’t be worried at all. You should see and read the stuff that gets published that blatantly lacks proper citations by lifelong researchers.
I think if you’re worried you can email him and make clear it was a clerical error you found and that it’s in your reference list as a show of good faith. I’d see that as a really positive thing – it shows integrity in scholarship.
Tons of mistake make it by multiple reviewers in prestigious journals. Constantly. You should be fine.
If I was grading I couldn’t magine caring, so long as the rest of the paper is well cited. My most recent article made it through coauthors and peer review before the copy editor caught a citation missing from the references, so, like these things happen even to professionals.
I’d be impressed if the person marking your work even noticed. If you used the citation in a different section too, there’s nothing to let on that it should’ve been in your intro anyway.