Instructions: Read the following paragraph, taken from a paper written by Jane Author in 2012 (fictitious name and date).
· A statement like “western garter snakes have tetrodotoxin (TTX)-resistant channels in order to permit them to feed on western newts” misrepresents the mechanism that enables organisms to evolve adaptations: the process of natural selection. The statement implies that garter snakes underwent a series of careful deliberations: they thought about the fact that newts could be a possible source of food, figured out that the newts produced TTX, which was poisonous, and then decided, rationally, to develop TTX-resistant channels that would “permit them” to feed on the newts. This thinking is flawed: organisms do not “decide” upon the adaptations they would like to acquire “in order to” perform various tasks. Rather, adaptations evolve as a result of natural selection
Now carefully consider the following five sentences, which have been written by a student who has read Jane Author’s work.
· Which of the five sentences are plagiarized? Why?
· Of the two sentences that are not plagiarized, which is better suited to be included in academic writing? Why?
1. “Organisms do not ‘decide’ upon the adaptations they would like to acquire ‘in order to’ perform various tasks” (Author, 2012).
2. Organisms do not decide upon the adaptations they would like to acquire in order to perform various tasks (Author, 2012).
3. Organisms do not decide upon the adaptations they would like to acquire in order to perform various tasks.
4. According to Author (2012), living things acquire adaptations not through conscious thought, but through the complex phenomenon of natural selection.
5. Author (2012) states that organisms do not think about the adaptations they would prefer to have in order to perform certain tasks.
Which three of the five sentences are plagiarized? Why?
Of the two sentences that are not plagiarized, which is better suited to be included in academic writing? Why? Lastly make suggestions?