How to Bypass Plagiarism and AI Checkers Tactfully

Last Updated: 21 August 2024 | Blog Author: Emily Thompson
gradecrest-hero-image

A friend, who is a seasoned professor at a top university and who has spent years reading, evaluating, and grading student assignments, had this to say: “I’ve seen it all—the brilliant, the mediocre, and, unfortunately, the plagiarized.” He states that plagiarism is a monster that consumes all the hard work in a few seconds. Although it sounds like a light word to use, it gets heavier when you receive no grade and a formal summon by the board or dean.

Technology has come to the rescue, but it has equally made students lazy. For many, writing a research paper, essay, coursework, dissertation, thesis, or any other assignment can happen with the click of a button. I mean, you just have to get the prompt right, key it into an AI writing tool, and voila! You have yourself a paper. However, is it plagiarism, and will an AI checker detect it?

I will tell you this for free: an AI writing tool will give all those with the same topic the same points. However, a student who plans and executes their research well ends up with a paper that has a unique perspective. Besides, plagiarism detection software and AI checkers have also evolved to become sophisticated tools that educators use to ensure academic integrity.

Students still increasingly find dubious ways to bypass plagiarism and AI checkers. However, do they work?

 As someone who has been on both sides of the academic divide, I share some insights and advice on how to get past these systems without breaking a sweat. To understand what plagiarism is, read these two articles:

Having understood plagiarism, let us look into how the checkers work.

Why does this Topic Matter?

It is important to address the ethical dilemma at the heart of this discussion. Encouraging students to bypass plagiarism and AI checkers might appear to promote dishonesty. However, the purpose of this article is not to advocate for cheating but to help students understand the expectations of academic writing. I hope that, as a student, you will understand how to develop original work that adheres to those standards.

In my years as a brilliant student and teacher, I have seen many students struggle with writing assignments because they lack the necessary skills or confidence to produce original content. This struggle often leads to desperation and the temptation to plagiarize. My goal is to guide you on how to avoid plagiarism, not by deceit but by mastering the art of academic writing.

How Do Plagiarism and AI Checkers Work?

Plagiarism detection software, such as Turnitin and Grammarly, and other AI-based checkers are designed to identify similarities between a student’s work and existing content in databases, academic journals, websites, and previously submitted student papers. These tools use algorithms to analyze text for exact matches, paraphrased content, and even common patterns in writing that may suggest plagiarism.

The tools have a large repository of books, journals, magazines, newspapers, previous student papers, and publically available online web content, which they match against the work you are checking.

AI checkers have advanced to the point where they can detect not just word-for-word copying but also more subtle forms of plagiarism, such as changes in sentence structure, synonym substitution, and even attempts to rewrite content using different phrasing. As a professor, I often rely on these tools to ensure that students submit original work, but I also understand that they have limitations.

Our quality control team at GradeCrest also relies on these tools to evaluate our writers’ work and recommend revisions until they achieve only quality work. You cannot beat the unique matching algorithm that matches the strings of words to what it had access to. The tools have intelligent robots that crawl through the words, sentences, paragraphs, and quotes, matching them in each instance. They are damn fast! The result is displayed in the form of a similarity index. The higher the similarity index of a submitted paper, the higher the percentage of plagiarism or AI similarity. If this happens to you, your worry should be how to reduce similarity.

Tips to Avoid Higher Similarity in Plagiarism and AI Detection

You will find crazy and outdated articles telling you to use images or pictures,  synonyms, submit as PDF, and rephrase the paper using a tool to change sentence order. Well, it could be that these styles might work, but you will end up doing more work than necessary.

After years of research on best practices, reflection, and consultation, we have realized some strategies that can help students create original work that will pass plagiarism and AI checks.

Note that you can never bypass an AI or plagiarism checker by submitting poor-quality work or plagiarized work; you will be flagged.

These strategies are not about tricking the system but about improving your writing skills and understanding the nuances of academic integrity.

1. Develop your Voice

As a student, you might be tempted to go with the wave. Currently, everyone you might know could be doing assignments using AI in the hope of scoring the best grades at the expense of working hard like in the good old days. Well, lecturers and professors understand the trick, and they are prepared to flag any paper they suspect has been written with AI or that is plagiarized.

One of the most effective ways to avoid plagiarism is to develop your unique writing voice. Your voice is your personal style, tone, and perspective that distinguishes your work from others. When you write in your voice, you are less likely to rely on someone else’s words or ideas. To achieve this, you need exposure to different writing styles to help you understand what resonates with you. The more you read, the more you’ll notice what makes writing compelling, clear, and original.

You also need to practice writing. Writing regularly allows you to experiment with different styles and tones. Over time, you will develop a consistent voice that feels natural to you. Even when you delegate writing to a professional writer, take time to customize the paper to your liking. Another strategy is to write as you speak but with a polished tone. Avoid trying to mimic the writing style of academic journals if it does not match your natural way of expressing ideas

2. Research Effectively

Superficial research often leads to superficial writing and mediocre papers, which in turn can result in unintentional plagiarism. In-depth research involves going beyond the first few search results on Google and exploring a wide range of sources, including academic journals, books, and credible websites.

When researching, use the university library to access secondary materials. It would be best if you also used the online portals to access online databases such as JSTOR, PubMed, and Google Scholar, among others, where you can find scholarly peer-reviewed articles and reputable content.

When researching, take detailed notes to help you internalize the information and reduce the temptation to copy directly from the source.

A superpower that a human writer has over AI models is the ability to cross-reference sources and take advantage of them. Compare information from different sources to gain a deeper understanding of the topic so that you can synthesize information and present it uniquely.

3. Paraphrase Carefully

Paraphrasing is an essential skill in academic writing. It allows you to restate ideas from sources in your own words while maintaining the original meaning. However, poor paraphrasing can lead to accidental plagiarism.

To paraphrase effectively, ensure that you fully understand the content. This will make it easier to rephrase it in your own words.

Instead of replacing words with synonyms, change the sentence structure, order of ideas, and overall flow. You should also avoid using key phrases from the original text. Instead, explain the concept as if you were teaching it to someone else.

Finally, after paraphrasing, compare your version with the original to ensure it is sufficiently different and properly cited. As you paraphrase, identify patterns, themes, and contradictions in your research and make connections. Do not just fill pages; synthesize and present information. Use synthesis to build a coherent argument that you support with diverse evidence.

Bring your analysis and interpretation into the discussion. This is where your voice and originality shine. You can do so objectively by drawing conclusions based on presented facts or by expounding points.

4. Use Proper Citation

Proper citation is the cornerstone of academic writing. It is not just about avoiding plagiarism; it is about giving credit where credit is due and building on the work of others to advance knowledge.

As you research and write your essay or research paper, you need to familiarize yourself with the various citation styles. Different disciplines require different citation styles (APA, MLA, AMA, Chicago, etc.). Understand the requirements for your field and apply them consistently. You can use tools such as Zotero, EndNote, Mendeley, MyBib, etc, to manage your citations and references.

It would help if you were very keen when quoting or paraphrasing; do it correctly. Quoting is using the exact words from a source, while paraphrasing is restating the information in your own words. Both require citation, but you must paraphrase carefully to avoid too close a resemblance to the original text.

4. Proactively Use Plagiarism Checkers

Instead of fearing plagiarism checkers, use them as a tool to improve your writing. Running your work through a plagiarism checker before submission can help you identify areas that may be flagged and give you a chance to revise.

You can use various paid versions. A professor can also allow you to check your paper before the final submission date. When using the checkers, be sure to select a reliable tool. Use reputable plagiarism checkers like Turnitin, Grammarly, LopesWrite, SafeAssign, or Quetext. Many universities provide free access to these tools.

If a plagiarism or AI checker flags your paper for a high similarity score, do not panic. Instead, review the flagged sections and determine if rephrasing or properly citing them would make a difference. After making revisions, run the checker again to ensure that the issues have been resolved.

You can also hire a human paper editor to rewrite your paper and remove the plagiarism or AI similarities.

6. Avoid Common Pitfalls

Certain practices are more likely to trigger plagiarism detectors, even if you did not intend to plagiarize. By being aware of these pitfalls, you can take steps to avoid them.

One of the common pitfalls to be wary of is patchwriting. Patch writing involves piecing together phrases or sentences from a source with minor changes. Patch writing is a form of plagiarism that is often unintentional yet problematic.

You should also avoid overlying on synonyms. Realistically speaking, simply replacing words with synonyms does not create original content. It can also lead to awkward phrasing that lowers the quality of your writing. Read, understand, synthesize, and present in your own words while placing the right in-text citations and a reference entry at the end of your paper.

You should also avoid citing questionable or non-credible sources, which can weaken your argument and raise red flags with AI checkers. Stick to reputable academic sources. You should also not fear emailing your professor for feedback on your writing process.

Finally, do not fail to cite common knowledge. While common knowledge does not need citations, be careful not to assume that everything you know falls into this category. When in doubt, cite it.

7. Innovate the Structure

While academic writing often follows a standard structure, there is room for innovation within that framework. Experimenting with structure can make your work more engaging and less likely to be flagged for plagiarism. For instance, Instead of following a chronological order, try a thematic or problem-solution structure. If context and content allow, draw connections between different fields of study to offer a fresh perspective. You should also be aware that you can use anecdotes, analogies, rhetorical questions, or provocative questions to introduce and conclude your essay or paper. Just ensure they remain relevant and scholarly.

8. Get Help from Essay Writing Services

Paper writing services such as Gradecrest.com have professional paper writers. These writers understand how to write high-quality papers that can pass any checker that your university uses. Their only tool is always the production of quality, well-cited, and proofread papers. When you buy term papers or research papers from our service, you are guaranteed plagiarism-free papers. Buying essays online is safe; that much we have proven. You only need to know where you are buying it. Be sure that their process is great and understand the bare minimums you need to buy papers online. A serious writing website like GradeCrest relies on your feedback, rating, and referrals for future business. Therefore, you can be sure to get a top-quality paper. The paper you get is 100% original, authentic, and tailored to meet your requirements.

9. DO NOT Use AI Writing tools

AI inventions are meant to solve the stressful process of writing essays and other material. However, being run on code, such auto essay generators, albeit being instant essay typing platforms, only paraphrase content from publically available sources such as Wikipedia, Spark notes, Shmoop, journal articles, etc. It is common sense to conclude that such essays always end up being un-cited and appropriately referenced. When you hire a professional essay writer, they write a custom essay that is well-referenced, organized, and edited.

An auto essay maker can cause your paper to be flagged as plagiarized by AI and plagiarism checkers. Therefore, cancel that subscription of an AI writer because the job is as shoddy as it sounds. Let us brag here – no AI content can pass the eyes of our quality assurance specialists, who are also faculty members. The things we see from students make us sick because we are pro-great papers. We believe in quality, which can only be achieved through hard work – getting our hands, computers, paper, and brains to work.

The beauty of hiring is that you will beat the deadline. There are urgent essay writers who help handle essays with short deadlines. Websites that write essays for you can be a savior to avoiding college paper plagiarism.

Do Plagiarism and AI Checkers Have Limitations?

While AI checkers are powerful tools, they are not infallible. They are algorithm-dependent and have certain flaws that engineers of such systems seek to address. Here are some things to note:

  1. They can have false positives. AI checkers can sometimes flag content as plagiarized even when it is not. This can happen with commonly used phrases, titles of works, or even when multiple students are working on the same topic. This is why some universities advocate for the careful use of plagiarism and AI checkers. A prudent professor will take the results as information and not as judge or jury, and so should you. If you notice that a phrase is commonly used in your field, try to rephrase it or provide a citation if it is from a specific source. Most plagiarism checkers provide a detailed report showing the source of the flagged content. Review this report to understand why something was flagged and whether it’s justified.
  2. Contextual misinterpretation. AI and plagiarism checkers may not fully understand the context in which certain words or phrases are used, leading to misinterpretation. For example, quoting a source in a discussion of plagiarism itself might be flagged. To handle this, use quotes sparingly. Instead, paraphrase and present the points. Also, ensure that your citations are clear and consistent. If a quote is flagged, check that the citation is correctly formatted.
  3. Inability to evaluate quality. Thus far, the plagiarism and AI checkers are excellent at detecting similarities but are not equipped to assess the quality or depth of your writing. High-quality, well-researched content may still pass undetected if it is sufficiently original, but poor-quality content might not be flagged, even if it is largely copied. For this reason, do not rely on keyword stuffing or superficial changes to pass plagiarism or AI checks. Focus on producing high-quality content that demonstrates your understanding of the subject. I will also recommend revising your work for clarity, coherence, and depth. Editing not only improves the quality but can also help eliminate any inadvertent similarities.

A Word of Caution and a Piece of Advice!

As per our policy and honor code, we only write essays for serious students. If you are lazy and want to submit an essay from us for credit, the risk is upon you. Turnitin might catch any paper bought from just any website. It is only important that you collaborate with the writer to write an excellent paper. That way, you can replicate that when writing your paper using the acquired paper as a model paper.

Plagiarism checkers compare content in online databases, repositories of past essays, research papers, and academic institutions’ assignments. It would be pointless to use papers from public databases or previous classes as sample or model papers. Such papers can only stand in as excellent revision material when writing. Such papers cannot be passed as yours, even when professionally paraphrased. So, only follow the format but not the content. You can use millions of scholarly websites, academic databases, and peer-reviewed databases to write your original and elegant essay papers.

All these said and done, DO NOT use rogue essay writers on Twitter (now X), Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit claiming to write essays better. Since they have nothing to lose and can always use pseudo-accounts to defraud students, they will send your paper to your professor. They will also publish the essay online in case of small misunderstandings, which can cost you a grade. No one needs to be suspended; be careful when writing or buying essays.

In equal breath, do not purchase pre-written essays or assignment answers in the hope of paraphrasing them and beating deadlines. What if maybe everyone from your class bought the same answers? The professor would notice a pattern and punish all of you. Starting afresh with a professional is better. We insist that GradeCrest does not sell any paper we write to other students. Ask for expert help from us if need be!

Related Articles:

Final Take!

Academic integrity is not just about following the rules; it is about developing the skills and mindset necessary for success in both academia and life. Bypassing plagiarism and AI checkers should not be your primary goal. Instead, focus on becoming a better writer, thinker, and researcher. The strategies outlined in this article are not shortcuts but tools to help you achieve academic excellence while maintaining your integrity.

Remember, the ultimate goal of your education is not just to earn a degree but also to develop the ability to think critically, communicate effectively, and contribute meaningfully to your chosen field. By embracing originality and ethical writing practices, you will not only pass plagiarism checks but also earn the respect of your peers, professors, and future employers.

In the end, the most valuable thing you can bring to the table is your voice, your ideas, and your unique perspective. Do not be afraid to let them shine.

WhatsApp Chat