Hampered by spinbots

I read this article in Inside Higher Ed about "spinbots," tech tools that allow students to evade plagiarism detectors. The principle is simple: paste text, click "spin," receive "paraphrased" version of text that substitutes synonyms for many words. Suddenly a light bulb clicked on and I understood a phenomenon I've been seeing in student papers recently: passages that look like they're copied from online summaries except they contain a slew of words that don't quite make sense, and I can't locate a source. 

How do we fight this? The Inside Higher Ed article suggests all the usual methods: change texts and assignments frequently; make assignments very specific to the course; teach students (more!) about plagiarism and proper citation. I'm already doing these things, and yet certain students keep finding ways to take unacceptable shortcuts that produce papers that aren't quite coherent. 

I decided to try out one of these online spinbots to see how it works. Since I've just finished grading a whole bunch of mostly great papers on Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain, I found an online summary and copied the following text:

Cold Mountain opens with its protagonist, Inman, lying in a Virginia hospital recovering from war wounds. He is shattered by the violence he has witnessed while fighting in the Confederate army and wants to go home to reunite with Ada, the woman he loves. Inman talks to a blind man and realizes that losing something you already have is worse than not getting what you want. One day in town, Inman writes to inform Ada that he is returning home. That night, he leaves the hospital through a window and sets out on his journey back to North Carolina. 

And here is the "paraphrase" Spinbot provided:

Cold Mountain opens with its hero, Inman, lying in a Virginia emergency clinic recuperating from war wounds. He is broken by the viciousness he has seen while battling in the Confederate armed force and needs to return home to rejoin with Ada, the lady he cherishes. Inman converses with a visually impaired man and understands that horrible something you as of now have is more terrible than not getting what you need. One day around, Inman writes to illuminate Ada that he is getting back. That evening, he forgets about the clinic through a window and hampers on his excursion to North Carolina.

In some ways it's no worse than the kind of patch-writing I saw before the advent of spinbots, but in other ways it's just nuts. I mean, the last two sentences are nonsensical. "Hampers on his excursion"? Reading such text is no picnic, but I wonder what happens if I paste this result into the box and spin again?

Cold Mountain opens with its legend, Inman, lying in a Virginia crisis center recovering from war wounds. He is broken by the violence he has seen while doing combating in the Confederate furnished power and needs to get back to rejoin with Ada, the woman he treasures. Inman speaks with an outwardly hindered man and comprehends that horrendous something you at this point have is more horrible than not getting what you want. One day around, Inman writes to enlighten Ada that he is getting back. That night, he disregards the facility through a window and hampers on his trip to North Carolina.

Writing is an iterative process, so let's iterate again:

Cold Mountain opens with its legend, Inman, lying in a Virginia emergency focus recuperating from war wounds. He is broken by the savagery he has seen while doing battling in the Confederate outfitted power and needs to return to rejoin with Ada, the lady he cherishes. Inman talks with an apparently obstructed man and grasps that shocking something you right now have is more awful than not getting what you need. One day around, Inman writes to edify Ada that he is getting back. That evening, he dismisses the office through a window and hampers on his excursion to North Carolina.

Worse and worse, but not far removed from some of the prose I've been seeing in student papers. Insert some line breaks and some of it could almost pass as poetry:

an apparently obstructed man
grasps that shocking something
you right now have
is more awful than
not getting
what you need.

It's not going to win any prizes or earn any high grades but these lines hover on the edge of almost saying something sort of worth saying. Or, as Spinbot puts it, it won't win any differentiations or gain any high grades yet these lines float on the edge of almost offering something sort of worth saying.

If Spinbot does nothing else, it once again reminds us of the vast gulf separating the right word from the nearly-right one.