Final answer:
The student's sentence may be considered plagiarism if the exact phrasing is taken from a source without proper quotation marks, even with a citation number. Proper citation and integration of sources are vital in essays to attribute the ideas and language of others correctly.
Step-by-step explanation:
If a student's essay includes a sentence summing up an author's idea without mentioning the author's name or the source title, this would typically be considered plagiarism unless the information can be considered common knowledge. In the provided example, the student has not committed plagiarism outright because there is a citation (number 185), implying that the reference has been made to a specific source. However, if the student has used the exact phrase from the author without quotation marks, this should have been cited as a direct quotation. It is crucial for the integrity of an academic essay that the ideas and language of other people are properly acknowledged to avoid misrepresenting one's work as original when it includes the thoughts of others.
It's also important for students to smoothly integrate quotes into their essays, avoiding what is known as "floating quotations," where the quote does not fit seamlessly with the surrounding text. This involves using a blend of signal phrases and integrating quotes that tie the evidence back to the essay's thesis or main argument.