Balancing varsity training and a 3000-word paper: can I restructure sources without risking plagiarism?

You can absolutely restructure your paper without risking plagiarism, provided you keep your original citations attached to the ideas they support. Think of your essay like a modular bookshelf; if you move the shelves around to make the display look better, the books themselves don’t change, and they still belong to the same authors. As long as you aren’t changing the meaning of the source material or presenting someone else’s thoughts as your own original insights, moving your paragraphs around is just a standard part of the editing process. You don't need to add new citations just because you moved a section, but you do need to ensure that every claim or piece of evidence still clearly points back to the original source you used. I know how draining it is to balance varsity practices with a looming deadline, and it’s completely normal to feel like you’re walking on eggshells when you’re this tired. If your professor mentioned that re-ordering counts as a new draft, they’re likely just emphasizing that you need to maintain academic integrity throughout your revisions. If you’re worried about a specific paragraph, just double-check that the in-text citation is still sitting right next to the information it covers. Don’t let the stress of the track schedule psych you out; you’ve already done the hard work of researching and writing, so just focus on making your argument flow as logically as possible. You’ve got the momentum to finish this strong, so take a deep breath and trust the work you’ve already put in.