Question

select the correct answer.
which scenario is an example of plagiarism?
a. steven is preparing a presentation on emperor penguins. he finds a book on penguin behavior and quotes it in his slideshow, with the author’s name in parentheses.
b. erin is writing an essay about emily dickinson’s poetry. in one of her body paragraphs, she uses the ideas from a poetry analysis she found in a literary journal but puts them in her own words.
c. paul is composing a summary of his history research project. he identifies five good sources to use in his summary and lists them all in his works cited page.
d. josie is making a poster to present her argument against school uniforms. she finds a study that describes the negative effects of school uniforms and paraphrases it, including the author’s name in parentheses at the end of her sentence.

Explanation:

Plagiarism is using others' work/ideas without proper attribution.

• Option A: Steven quotes a book and includes the author’s name (proper citation) → not plagiarism.
• Option B: Erin uses ideas from a poetry analysis she found but does not cite the source (even when paraphrasing, attribution is needed) → this is plagiarism.
• Option C: Paul identifies sources and lists them (proper citation for summary) → not plagiarism.
• Option D: Josie paraphrases and includes the author’s name (proper citation) → not plagiarism.

Answer:

B. Erin is writing an essay about Emily Dickinson’s poetry. In one of her body paragraphs, she uses the ideas from a poetry analysis she found in a literary journal but puts them in her own words.