How Word Spinners Ruin your Research Paper

How Word Spinners Ruin your Research Paper

When I was told to write this article, I was promised that it would make me laugh. I did not get the humor in the topic till I settled down to start; that was when I saw it “Word spinner”. While doing my research for this article, I kept on cringing at how guilty I was of using this tool when writing certain blog posts. I am not a lazy writer, but on certain days when the motivation is low, and I have a deadline, word spinners are my de-facto crutches and my saving grace.

So what are word spinners, and why would they be your downfall when writing your research paper?

We will be dealing with all that in this article.

Word Spinners or article spinners are software which create what appears to be new content from what already exists. Word spinners work by changing or replacing specific words, phrases, sentences, or entire paragraphs with alternative versions to create a different variation. As at when word spinners started going into circulation, the end products of the spun articles were difficult or impossible to read. Today these software have become more sophisticated and can produce articles that can be comprehended and appear original. There are two types or methods of word spinning according to Wikipedia, and they include Automatic spinning and Manual spinning.

Automatic spinning: This method of spinning changes the meaning of a sentence through the use of similar words, but is slightly different in meaning from the original. For instance: The word accelerate could be replaced by the word rise. Several word for word combinations are kept in a text file or database thesaurus to select from. This process ensures that a significant percentage of words are different from the original article.

The issue with simple automatic writing is that it cannot identify context or grammar use of phrases and words. A poorly spun article will have unidiomatic phrases that a human writer would not choose. Some of these word spinners may substitute a synonym with the wrong part of speech when it comes across a word that can be used as a noun or verb, it then proceeds to use an obscure word that is only used within specific contexts, or improperly substituted proper nouns.

“For example, “Great Gatsby” could be auto spun to “Good Gatsby.” While “good” could be used as a synonym for “great,” “Good Gatsby” does not mean the same thing as Great Gatsby.

Article spinning can use different methods; a simple method is “Spintax”. Spintax or Spin-tax selects a marked-up version of text to indicate the sections of the document that should be altered or rearranged. This Spintax could be multiplex with lots of deep levels (Also known as nested spinning). It functions as a tree with large branches, which has smaller branches with lots of leaves. To make well-crafted articles out of Spintax, a software application will select any of the likely paths in the tree; this would, in turn, result in significant differences of the base article with a noticeable alteration to its meaning.

Manual Spinning: Due to the many issues associated with automatic spinning, few writers settle down to carry out high-quality spinning. It takes a more extensive amount of time to be completed, but the quality of the outcome is always better than those automatically spun. When word spinning manually, paragraphs are automatically separated so you can work with each one exclusively. When word spinning manually, you work your way down to the word/phrase level only after you have worked up from the paragraph level. Double-clicking on the paragraph will high light it and enable you to commence the writing of paragraph variations. Furthermore, when word spinning manually, few writers generate more variations by spinning the word content on a word level at the end of the exercise. This can produce hundreds of distinctive articles by spinning the sentences and paragraphs. Most companies pay writers or specific companies to spin articles for them. These articles are used for product marketing.

When you use word spinners to write research,

• There is a 50-70% chance that your research work will be plagiarized: Many articles written with word spinners do not pass the plagiarism test, which is also checked using software that would scour the internet. When your plagiarism score is high, your score would be low, and you may be accused of plagiarism and be fined or arrested. The crime of plagiarism in itself will taint your name if you hope to advance your academic career. So to be on the safer side, avoid word spinning your research paper.
• The research paper may not make sense: If you have read articles or research works created with word spinners or article spinners, you would realize that they sound watery to the ears. Sometimes, they make no sense at all, while other times, the sentences do not flow seamlessly. Word spinners are just software that have been programmed to read or react in a certain way. They are machines and will always lack the touch of humanity.
• The research work would lack SEO optimization: Although there may be spinners that are programmed to create SEO optimized works, you can only get such features when you pay for premium. However, be assured that SEO optimization may be as low as 20%-30%. Word spinners may not be able to figure out synonym usage and keyword intensity and you may find yourself doing the exact same work you were avoiding.
• Your research work would lack engagement: Like I earlier stated, writing research papers with the use of article spinners will leave your work sounding watery. If you want to submit a well-written, impressive and compelling research paper, you must avoid article spinners. The goal of a research paper is to engage your readers through your write-up and deliberately impart knowledge. However, using a word spinner whilst writing your research paper, would ensure you are far from achieving these goals.
• There is a high tendency that you might fail your research work: Some lectures on discovering your errors, may not be lenient enough to correct you or give you a second chance. When such things happen, you would fail and be made to come back in the next academic year to write your research work. Nobody wants to spend an extra year trying to fix a mistake, which could have been avoided.
• You would give the impression that you do not care enough about what you do, or what you do or what you study: Submitting a spun research work will tell your lecturers that you have no interest in your course of study. The goal of the academic institution is to make people get interested in finding solutions to real problems affecting society. A spun research paper simple shows lack of dedication or interest on your part.
• Your research work may end up in a bin or at the back of a shelf: A research paper that was spun will never be of value to anyone. Your lecturers will never be proud or confident enough to put your work on display or refer your work to anyone. That is not an excellent way to end your academic journey and even if you attain the required grade, your research paper may more of less end up in the trash.

However, using word spinners to write other publications like articles, blog posts etc., is not all bad. Although it is very possible that your audience may have already read your advice on a topic from another write up or blog post, there are numerous other blogs and platforms with different audiences that haven’t heard your particular point of view. Word spinning will give you the opportunity to rewrite a previously submitted work in a fresh rewritten format from a different point of view for a different audience (If you use your word spinners sparingly). Also, you can add new research to the previously existing content to give it that extra freshness.