What are word spinners and what do they have to do with academic integrity?
Earlier, we touched on new and emerging trends in academic misconduct; it’s also important to take a closer look at each of these challenges and ways to mitigate their impact on student learning.
Word spinners or text spinners are one tool available online that promote short-cut solutions to students.
They often market themselves as being able to “avoid detection” while taking advantage of students who aren’t knowledgeable about the nuances of plagiarism. One word spinning site leverages ambiguous phrases to claim, “Paraphrasing tools can be legit basing [sic] on how you choose to use them. Certain ways make paraphrasing tools legit. When you have little or no time to paraphrase a given work, paraphrasing tools offer the best of help.”
Struggling students may miss all the ambiguity in such qualifying statements, and so explicit instruction is crucial in mitigating this particular form of misconduct.
Read more on the Turnitin Blog