Does Turnitin Detect Paraphrasing: How To Paraphrase Effectively

While writing essays, research papers, term papers, and even dissertations, paraphrasing will help you deliver information in a clear and concise way.

Paraphrasing is a skill that all students have to possess and actively use due to the number of papers they will write during their time in school.

Paraphrasing shows that indeed a student has read and understood the content of a source enough to be able to write it in their own words. On the other hand, it also helps students to avoid copying word for word.

Given that a lot of students submit their work on Turnitin, it is only fair that a student might ask does Turnitin detect paraphrasing or will I get in trouble for paraphrasing.

Well, in this article we dig deep to find the truth regarding Turnitin and paraphrasing.

Does Turnitin Detect Paraphrasing

Currently, Turnitin is unable to detect paraphrasing. This is majorly due to the fact that the paraphrased content is rewritten by a student using their own words.

Unlike copying word for word which Turnitin can easily detect and flag, Turnitin algorithms are unable to detect properly paraphrased content.

However, on the flip side, if the content is poorly paraphrased mainly by changing a few words and using synonyms, Turnitin will be able to detect this type of poor paraphrasing. As such to avoid being flagged by Turnitin, it is important to learn how to paraphrase effectively.

Proper paraphrasing will make a text look unique making it very hard for Turnitin to detect that the content is not original.

However, it is also important to cite the author or the source from where you got the information. This is important as even though Turnitin will not be able to detect paraphrasing, you can be flagged for plagiarism.

Plagiarism is basically using someone’s else work without giving them credit.

In college, there are various referencing styles that you can use to cite and reference. They include APA, MLA, Harvard, and Chicago among others.

Your instructor will most likely indicate which referencing style should be used in the assignment brief.

Ensure after paraphrasing you properly cite and reference giving credit to the original author.

How To Paraphrase Effectively to Avoid Being Flagged By Turnitin

In order to effectively paraphrase to beat Turnitin and avoid plagiarism, please follow the five steps outlined below

1. Read and understand

The first step to any effective paraphrasing is to read and understand the material that you want to paraphrase. This is important because if you are not able to understand and internalize the material, you will not be able to confidently paraphrase the material.

2. Note key ideas

After reading and understanding the material, it is important that you note down the key concepts. These are the things that stand out and you want to include in the paraphrased content.

3. Paraphrase

The next step is paraphrasing the content without looking at the original text.

In this step ensure that you include the main points that you identified in step two.

4. Compare the paraphrased content to the original

Compare your written text to the original to see if there are any similarities.

Make the necessary changes needed in the event the texts look-alike to ensure they do not look too similar.

5. Cite

The last step is to cite and reference where you found the idea.

This is very important to avoid plagiarism.

Ensure that you follow the reference style given by your instructor in this step.

How Does Turnitin Detect Paraphrasing?

Turnitin cannot be able to pick up paraphrasing as paraphrasing is allowed in academic writing as long as the information is well cited.

Paraphrasing is allowed in academic writing as a substitute for quotes.

In fact, most professors strongly advocate those students use paraphrasing in their work as it shows that the student read and understood the material they are citing.

However, if a student merely uses synonyms Turnitin will be able to flag them for plagiarism by looking for similar content online and its own database.

Does Paraphrasing Show Up on Turnitin

Paraphrasing does not show up on Turnitin as Turnitin is unable to detect properly paraphrased content.

Properly paraphrased content means that the student actually took their time to read and understand the material before attempting to reword it.

It also means that the student cited the author of the idea which they have paraphrased.

If you follow the above guidelines, paraphrased content will not show up on Turnitin.

Can Turnitin Detect Paraphrasing Tools?

Turnitin is unable to detect paraphrasing from tools like spinbot and quillbot.

These tools produce content that no plagiarism detector can detect. This is because they have employed sophisticated technology that currently no plagiarism checker can detect.

Some paraphrasing tools even have built-in plagiarism checkers to ensure that the content they paraphrase is 100% plagiarism-free.

However, the content produced by these tools usually has grammatical errors and your professor can easily know that you used a paraphrasing tool to complete your work.

Also, these paraphrasing tools do not cite their sources. This means that the paraphrased content they produce is plagiarized since they don’t cite their sources.

As such, as a student, it is crucial that you avoid using paraphrasing tools as you will be caught using them by a hawk-eyed professor.

Conclusion

So, can Turnitin detect paraphrasing? Turnitin cannot be able to detect properly paraphrased content. This is because Turnitin algorithms are not programmed to detect work that has been reworded.

However, please ensure that the paraphrased content is properly cited and referenced to avoid getting in trouble with your professor.

Also, while Turnitin cannot be able to detect paraphrasing tools, it is important that students avoid using them. They produce content with a lot of grammatical errors, and they don’t cite their sources.

The information might also be hard to comprehend and may need to be edited by a human.