Question

Read the following paragraph and answer the question. George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Contrary to popular belief, his teeth were not made of wood. By the age of twenty-three, he had already established himself as a military hero in the French and Indian War. Four years later, he met and married Martha Dandridge Custis, a young widow whose husband had died. Although they raised Martha's children from her previous marriage and two of their grandchildren, the couple never had any children of their own. Washington died two years before his wife. He became active in local politics and eventually became a leader in speaking out against the magisterial British rule. When war broke out in 1775, he was chosen as commander-in-chief of the American troops. At the end of the war, he was unanimously elected the nation's first president. He served two terms and then retired to his home, Mount Vernon. He died on December 12, 1799, from pneumonia and bad weather. Why is this paragraph likely to have points deducted for plagiarism?

Answer 1

there are no in-text citations

Answer 2

Plagiarism is a form of literary fraud in which a writer passes arguments, claims, and findings made by other researchers as his or her own without giving due credit to the original authors of those arguments, etc.

The paragraph above, if graded, could have points deducted because it is making claims that are clearly historical arguments and findings made by others, but the writer of the paragraph does not cite the sources in any formal or informal way, which is what constitutes plagiarism.