My assignment answers show similarities to my friends', though they differ in content. Can I be accused of plagiarism? So for an assignment one question has been causing me great worry. After we all submitted, some of us sent each other our work so we can compare, and some of my friends' answers have some similarities to mine. Here is one:
There are very minor and sometimes subtle similarities in our word choice with some similar phrases. Our actual answers themselves were completely different though, different logic, flow and different points. We did chat about the questions which was allowed so maybe I might have subconsciously remembered them saying something like that. There are a few more kind of like that, mainly only single words though, nothing in terms of our actual content.
In another question our points are similar, but we made them in a different order and different wording, and my friend has more to say after the question is answered. We did also discuss this one as well.
So should I be worried of a case or am I blowing this out of proportion?
Well, it isn't a problem until it's a problem, so don't panic.
But, there might be explanations that account for it. They are your friends, so you may have developed similar speech patterns that make the same phrasing natural for all of you. You are in the same class so you might have picked up the phrasing from the professor and used it in the same context. Or from a textbook.
But the key is that the answers are different. I doubt that it will become a problem. If you are called on it and didn't cheat/coordinate, then saying that you can't account for it is accurate. It is doubtful that if you did cheat/coordinate that this would be how your coordinated. Relax.