A student rewrites a paragraph from an industry report in their own words and includes it in a memo with no citation. Under the definition used at Waterloo this is:
A student rewrites a paragraph from an industry report in their own words and includes it in a memo with no citation. Under the definition used at Waterloo this is:
Answer
Plagiarism — the idea is presented as the student's own
Options - A. Plagiarism — the idea is presented as the student's own - B. Acceptable, because the wording has been changed - C. An offence only if the passage had been quoted verbatim - D. A citation-style error, corrected by adding a reference later Why - A. Correct — a paraphrase presents the source's idea; without a citation the reader is told it is the student's. Rewording does not change ownership of the idea. - B. Changing the words changes nothing about whose idea it is. A paraphrase needs a citation exactly as a quotation does. - C. Quotation marks are what a *quotation* needs in addition to a citation. The citation requirement applies to paraphrase and summary too. - D. A missing citation is not a formatting slip. It is the thing that distinguishes a used source from plagiarism.
Smith 3.5.1; Olds ch 15; Policy 71 Appendix D glossary (read 2026-09-17); concept map B02, B10