How can I defend myself?
Sorry in advance for the long post.
Last term, our new assistant teacher taught us how to use Zotero. Before, we were just using Word’s built-in referencing. The problem is that when you submit the file with Zotero references to Turnitin, Turnitin somehow flagged the bibliography as plagiarism, and my submission became like 29%. The subject teacher, however, told us that he would exclude the bibliography when he grades. But the problem is that the school only allowed 15% maximum for higher grading. I don't know whether my plagiarism rate is below 15% without the bibliography or not.
Then my classmate said the student support office told them that you can exclude the bibliography on Turnitin Feedback Studio to check. Yes, there's an option for that, but clicking it doesn't change anything (but apparently, it worked for my classmates). So I went directly to the student support office and asked them to check for me, and they checked, and they said my rate is 9%, so I just completely left it alone.
Now, the subject teacher called me to say that my entire bibliography is an image (which, according to the school, would count as academic misconduct). My rate is also now 9%, with the bibliography not getting flagged as plagiarism anymore. I said I didn't submit it as an image. I recounted every step and told him I even asked the student support office to check for me. And he said only I have access to my account, and student support can't check my submissions. I said the SS officer told me my rate is 9%, which is correct and which they wouldn't know if they didn't actually check. I even said that I am not accusing them, and if what he's saying is true and they can't access my account, can he ask them how they checked. And he said that's my personal event and that's neither evidence nor a school problem. I said then I will go ask directly, and he said just to wait until the board decides something since me personally doing those things would make things blow up even more.
I don't even understand what he's supposed to mean. Now, I can still download my original submission file from Turnitin, and the bibliography is not an image. So, should I make an appointment with him and show it again or just wait until they actually call me back? I really am not sure what to do.