Turnitin is a plagiarism detection software used by many educational institutions and companies worldwide to check submitted written work against an extensive database of web content and previously submitted papers. It essentially works by scanning text submissions and comparing them word-for-word against its database to detect matches and potential plagiarism.
Edubirdie, on the other hand, is an online essay writing service that offers to write original custom papers and assignments for students for a fee. With widespread availability of such services online, educational integrity remains a concern as students could potentially pay others to complete their assignments and then submit them as their own work.
This has raised the question of whether Turnitin is able to detect papers written by services like Edubirdie and purchased by students. Here is an in-depth look at whether Turnitin can scan and flag Edubirdie content:
How Turnitin Works?
To understand if Turnitin can detect Edubirdie content, it’s important to examine how Turnitin scans submissions. When a paper is submitted through Turnitin, it is checked against two main databases – the Internet database and the institutional database:
Internet database: Turnitin maintains an enormous repository of web pages scraped from the open internet, including academic databases, journals, publications, and other online sources. It scans submissions word-for-word against this collection.
Institutional database: In addition to the web, Turnitin also builds a database of all papers previously submitted to that particular institution. This helps detect recycled work within the same educational setting.
With these vast repositories, Turnitin is designed to pick up any unoriginal content or plagiarism. Anything matching 40% or more of its databases is flagged for detailed originality reports.
Can It Detect Edubirdie Papers?
Now coming to the key question – can Turnitin detect papers written by services like Edubirdie? The answer is – to some extent, yes:
Edubirdie papers created for one-time use will likely not be detected, as they are unique writings not present in Turnitin’s databases yet.
As Edubirdie continues producing papers on similar topics over time for different students, portions of these writings may end up in Turnitin through various means like students reusing parts, text getting published online, or writers reusing their own content.
Turnitin also actively collects samples from known essay mills and academic writing services. So it likely now has references from providers like Edubirdie in its system.
Repeated submissions of Edubirdie papers by different students on the same topic increases chances of triggering Turnitin matches, even if just portions and not the full paper.
Students recycling Edubirdie papers or portions for different assignments can also get flagged within the same institutional database.
While customized one-time Edubirdie papers may evade detection initially, repeated use patterns and accumulating references increase chances of Turnitin flags over time. The more Edubirdie and other writing services proliferate, the better able Turnitin can become at recognizing those sources.
Mitigation Strategies of Essay Mills
Knowing this risk, essay writing services also employ certain strategies to try avoiding verbatim matches:
Paraphrasing content heavily and rewriting in their own style to circumvent web and text crawlers. This risks losing the original meaning or perspective.
Purging databases periodically so references don’t accumulate over years in third party repositories like Turnitin that can identify patterns.
Discouraging frequent and extensive reuse of their content through various policies to avoid institutional red flags.
Focusing marketing on one-time papers rather than long-term partnerships that increase exposure through different assignment submissions.
So while customized Edubirdie papers aimed at single use decrease odds of detection initially, repeated patterns of source misuse still carry inherent risks over time that Turnitin is addressing. Their strategies also come with inherent limitations and quality/integrity issues.
Additional Factors
A few additional considerations in whether Turnitin can catch Edubirdie papers include:
The topics assigned – Highly unique topics limit reference sources available for matches. General topics increase paper pools.
The quality of rewriting – Poorly paraphrased content stays more detectable than truly original writing.
Instructor knowledge – Faculty familiar with essay mills may manually check unusual submissions beyond algorithmic matches.
Citation practices – Poorly executed or missing citations expose unoriginal work despite no text matches.
While Turnitin remains an effective deterrent against large-scale outsourcing, strategic rewriting and one-time use reduces direct detection risks from services like Edubirdie. Repeated patterns or instructor scrutiny still leave room for exposure. Its ability also grows as external databases expand in size and sophistication over the years. Integrity remains a concern where academic writing is frequently outsourced.
