Sample Cover Letter for Case of Plagiarism

[Date]

Dean of Students
1206 Murphy Hall
Mail Code: 141501

Dear Dean [ ]:

Enclosed you will find a term paper which was turned in as a class assignment for [course title], [academic quarter], by [student's name]. The work struck me as being unlike the student's earlier papers, and portions of the research sounded familiar. I did some checking and discovered that the majority of the paper is lifted directly from [source] without attribution. I have included the source, and have marked sample passages on the term paper with their corresponding pages in the source. I have also included a copy of the syllabus with my instructions on plagiarism, and a copy of the assignment.

I did meet with the student on [date], and he/she stated that she did copy the paper, but that s/he had been ill and was unable to complete the assignment on his/her own. He/she appeared genuinely contrite, but it seemed clear that he/she knew he/she should have given credit to the original author. According to your instructions, I have assigned the student a grade of DR and am referring the incident to your office.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Sincerely,