THE IMPACT OF PARAPHRASING TOOLS ON STUDENTS

PARAPHRASING SKILLS

THESIS

Submitted by

DESRA MIRANDA
NIM. 170203075

Student of Fakultas Tarbiyah dan Keguruan

Department of English Language Education

FAKULTAS TARBIYAH DAN KEGURUAN

UNIVERSITAS ISLAM NEGERI AR-RANIRY BANDA ACEH

2021 M / 1443 H
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to Allah SWT who has

given me blessings, mercy, strength, and health so that I can complete my thesis in

the undergraduate program in the Department of English Language Education, Ar

Raniry State Islamic University. Shalawat and Salam are addressed to Our Beloved

Prophet Muhammad SAW, who has brought us to the right path.

Secondly, I'd like to express my gratitude to my parents, Aminah and Masrul

Junaidi, who have always encouraged me to continue learning and have always

supported me when writing this thesis. I also want to express my gratitude to my

brother, M. Rizal Syafrawy, who used to question about the progress of my thesis

on a regular basis that encourages me to finish the thesis.

Furthermore, I would like to thank Habiburrahim, M.Com., M.S., Ph.D. as

my supervisor and Rita Hermida, S.Pd.I., M.Pd. as my co-supervisor who have

guided me and provided knowledge, input, and suggestions to improve the quality

of my thesis. Then, my gratitude is also addressed to Dr. phil. Saiful Akmal, M.A

as academic advisor and all lecturers in this Department who have motivated and

taught me during my study at this University.

I would also like to thank all the respondents who have participated in this

research study and willingly to spend their time in order to help me to finish this

v
thesis. Thank you very much. Without your participation, this thesis will not be

completed.

My special gratitude goes to Nadia, a friend as well as a partner in working,

who was very deep in her role as a partner that we even graduated together. Then,

Nabila who has always been a good listener when I complained or happy throughout

my college days. Furthermore, Aida who reminds me to be patient and Ikhtiar with

Allah SWT plan when I was afraid that I would not be able to finish this thesis.

Without their presence and support, I might have been emotionally drained.

Furthermore, I also want to thank my special friend M. Aulia for being a very

supportive friend during my study and complete this thesis.

I realized that this thesis is still far from perfect. Therefore, every

meaningful feedback and suggestion are open and highly appreciated.

Banda Aceh, 15th December 2021

Desra Miranda

vi
 ABSTRACT

Name : Desra Miranda

Reg. No. : 170203075

Faculty : Fakultas Tarbiyah dan Keguruan

Major : Department of English Language Education

Thesis working title : The Impact of Paraphrasing Tools on Students

Paraphrasing Tools

Main Supervisor : Habiburrahim, M.Com., M.S., Ph.D.

Co-Supervisor : Rita Hermida, S.Pd.I., M.Pd.

Keywords : Writing, Paraphrasing, Paraphrasing Tools.

Technological advancement has a huge impact on the world of education. The

product of technological progress is one of the factors that encourage students to do
plagiarism. A paraphrasing tool is a piece of technology software that automates
the process of rewriting text. The purpose of this study is to investigate students'
perceptions of paraphrasing tools and to determine the impact of paraphrasing tools
on students paraphrasing skill. This research was conducted using a qualitative
descriptive method. The researcher interviewed five students who had used the
paraphrasing tool to assist them in writing essays. According to the results of the
interview, the students had a very positive impression of the paraphrasing tool.
Students believe that by utilizing the paraphrasing tool, they can improve their
understanding of the context of a text, learn new vocabulary, and increase the
overall quality of their writing. The researcher also found that students very often
used paraphrasing tools which indicated a dependence on the use of tools which
showed an impact from using paraphrasing tools on the regular basis.

vii
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

APPROVAL LETTER
DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................... v
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................. viii
LIST OF APPENDICES ............................................................................... ix
LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................... x

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of The Study .......................................... 1
B. Research Questions .................................................... 5
C. Research Aims ............................................................ 5
D. The Significance of The Study................................... 5
E. Research Terminologies .............................................. 7
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Paraphrasing................................................................ 8
1. Definition of Paraphrasing................................... 8
2. Paraphrasing Strategies ....................................... 10
3. Difference Between Quoting, Paraphrasing, and
Summarizing ........................................................ 12
B. Paraphrasing Tool ....................................................... 15
1. Definition of Paraphrasing Tool .......................... 15
2. Types of Paraphrasing Tool................................. 17
3. The Impact of Paraphrasing Tool ........................ 21
C. Related Studies ........................................................... 24
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Research Design ......................................................... 26
B. Population and Sample ............................................... 27
C. Methods of Data Collection........................................ 28
D. Methods of Data Analysis .......................................... 29
CHAPTER IV RESULT AND DISCUSSION
A. Result .......................................................................... 31
B. Discussion ................................................................... 40
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
A. Conclusion .................................................................. 43
B. Recommendation ........................................................ 44
REFERENCES .............................................................................................. 46
APPENDICES

viii
 LISTS OF APPENDICES

Appendix A Appointment Letter of Supervisor

Appendix B Interview Protocol

Appendix C Interview Transcript Sample

ix
 LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 The comparison between quoting, paraphrase, and summary.......... 14

x
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of Study

An ability to write is a valuable asset that students can possess. Even if they

have never met, one's point of view can be heard by a large number of people

through written works. Of course, being able to communicate effectively requires

knowledge of how to choose the appropriate words and language to use. This is

especially true if the information comes from a third party. It is important to use

caution when quoting other people's words or works of writing. Because if it is

incorrect, it can cause harm to the community by spreading incorrect information,

and it can also cause damage to the author's original reputation.

Because most exams, reports, and research work are written, writing skills

are essential for students pursuing a degree at the university level. A method of

communicating information, a message or ideas or thoughts in grammatically

correct sentences is called writing. Langan and Albright (2018) states that writing

is transferring oral language into writing language. The process helps students to

develop cognitive skills and strategies that are essential to the learning process, like

analysis, synthesis, inference, etc. Writing is considered to be hard to accomplish.

Richards, Richards, and Renandya, (2002) state that writing is the most difficult

skill for second language and foreign language learners.

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Scholars are expected to produce a diverse range of papers, which generally

entails drawing on additional external sources such as books and theses as well as

journal articles and other similar materials to support their arguments and findings.

For example, students are expected to follow the ethical standards of their

academies by doing things like giving credit to the original authors of the works on

which they are basing their papers, which includes providing citations and

references to the original authors of the works on which they are basing their papers,

among other things. This, on the other hand, can only be accomplished through

complete mastery of summarizing and paraphrasing techniques. In paraphrasing,

the entire passage is rewritten so that the original meaning is conveyed through a

different wording than that used in the original passage (Davis, 2013).

The ability to borrow text is a necessary skill for people who are pursuing a

higher education degree. Kletzien (2009) mentions that paraphrasing is proven to

improve students' comprehension. Direct quotation, summary, and paraphrasing are

some of the techniques that are commonly used in academic writing assignments.

When compared to paraphrasing, direct quotation from the original source is much

more practical, easier, and less complicated to accomplish. However, using too

many quotations as noted by Davies and Beaumont (2007) not reflect fluent writing.

Unintentional plagiarism is frequently the result of poor paraphrasing. As a

result, the use of paraphrasing, summarizing, and synthesizing skills is strongly

encouraged. Poor paraphrasing is almost always the result of the paraphraser's

inability to comprehend the text that is being paraphrased. Some students make the
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mistake of attempting to paraphrase at the sentence level rather than at the concept

level, which results in poor results.

Although paraphrasing skill is very important, it is often considered easy

and is often ignored by students. Most students use direct quotations for a long time

which makes it difficult for them to restate the author's statement which makes it

difficult for them to write a plagiarism-free academic essay. However, with the

development of technology, various tools offer convenience to students, one of

which is in the field of writing, including paraphrasing, and this is very common

among students.

Digital technologies and Internet sources are prevalent and easily

accessible. It has shifted the way knowledge is constructed, shared and evaluated

(Evering & Moorman, 2012). Students take a variety of actions in order to be

successful in their paraphrasing attempts, including the use of online paraphrasing

tools. As stated by Muluk, Yanis, Dahliana, and Amiruddin (2021), one of the

factors that encourage students to plagiarize is the product of technological

advancements.

A paraphrasing tool is extremely popular among students who require

original writing during their time of study and who require writing that is free of

plagiarism. Students can use paraphrasing tools to help them paraphrase and avoid

plagiarism. The paraphrasing tool generates paraphrases with a single click of a

mouse. Although some Internet-based materials are considered to be of high quality

and efficacy, their validity and dependability are called into question from an

educational standpoint (Niño, 2009).

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Many research has been done on the use of paraphrasing tools. Rogerson

and McCarthy (2017) research’s aim to make sure that those involved in teaching

and learning are aware of the practice, are able to detect its use, and are able to

engage in meaningful conversations with students about the dangers of utilizing

such tools. The authors also state that individuals should be encouraged to improve

their own paraphrasing expertise as an essential part of individual skill development

in and outside of educational institutions.

Recent studies by Sulistyaningrum (2021) found that Mechanical

Engineering Vocational Education Students are familiar with the paraphrasing tool,

and they have been using it to assist them with their grammar, structure, vocabulary,

and paraphrasing strategy, according to the findings of the study. With that

information, the researcher decided to investigate the impact of using paraphrasing

tools on students' paraphrasing abilities. The researcher was interested in learning

about the reasons why students use paraphrasing tools, as well as their perceptions

of using paraphrasing tools, which could have an impact on their paraphrasing skill,

which could result in unintended plagiarism. McCarthy, Guess, and McNamara

(2009) have also discovered that there is a direct link between inaccurate

paraphrases and poor comprehension of a text.

Using an online paraphrasing tool, students fail to demonstrate their

understanding of the assessment task and thus fail to provide evidence of meeting

learning objectives. They are also guilty of academic misconduct if they fail to

credit the original source of the text that they have put through the paraphrasing

tool. They would not receive a passing grade in the subject for which they are
 5

submitting such action on both counts. Due to the fact that 7 th semester students in

the English Language Education Department had already passed the academic

writing course, which required excellent paraphrasing skills, the researcher decided

to examine the 7th semester students in the English Language Education Department

of UIN Ar-Raniry. To further evaluate the impact of paraphrasing tools on student

paraphrasing skills, the researcher conducted research with the following research

question.

B. Research Questions

Based on the background of study above, the researcher has formulated some

questions as follows:

1. What are students’ perceptions about paraphrasing tools?

2. What is the impact of paraphrasing tools on students’ paraphrasing skills?

C. Research Aims

The aims of this study are:

1. To know students’ perceptions about paraphrasing tools.

2. To figure out the impact of paraphrasing tools on students’ paraphrasing

skills.

D. Significance of the Study

1. To EFL Students

The primary goal of this study is to determine students' perceptions of

paraphrasing tools, as well as the impact of paraphrasing tools on students'

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paraphrasing abilities in general. The researcher hopes that this research will be

used by students as a means of self-reflection on the use of paraphrasing tools,

which may have an impact on students' paraphrasing skills, in order to improve their

paraphrasing abilities.

2. To Teachers

Teachers should benefit from this investigation because it will help them

identify a highly contentious issue, namely paraphrasing. This study will provide

information on the impact of using paraphrasing tools on students' paraphrasing

skills. This information will be useful in developing better learning strategies so

that students will be more confident in their own skill instead of using a

paraphrasing tool.

3. To Future Researcher

The researcher believe that this study does not adequately address all of the

reader's questions and interests. The researcher hope that the next researchers will

be able to carry on this research by filling in the gaps left by this research and

expanding the related information about paraphrasing tools that has been provided.

4. To The Institution

The findings of this study will be extremely beneficial to the institution as a

whole as a strengthening tool. With the results of this study, it is anticipated that the

institution will become more supportive and aware of students' paraphrasing

abilities in the future. The greater the proficiency of students in paraphrasing, the

less plagiarism is committed.

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E. Research Terminologies

In order to avoid misunderstanding, I have defined the following operational

definitions of this research as follow:

1. Paraphrase

According to Bhagat and Hovy (2013), paraphrase is the ability to restate a

phrase using different wording. Cambridge Dictionary states that paraphrase is

stating one’s written or spoken using different words. Paraphrase means restoring

a sentence so that it is generally recognized that the two sentences are lexically and

syntactically different while remaining semantically identical (Amoroso, 2007;

Davis & Beaumont, 2007; McCarthy, Guess, & McNamara, 2009).

2. Paraphrasing Tool

Rogerson and McCarthy (2017) stated that paraphrasing tools are text

processing applications that use the same approaches as machine translation (MT);

it offers free service to paraphrase a large text range.

 CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

A. Paraphrasing

1. Definition of Paraphrasing

According to Armoso (2007), Paraphrasing is restating a sentence that is

lexically and syntactically different while remaining the same semantically.

Merriam Webster Dictionary describes Paraphrasing as a restatement of a sentences

using different wording. Paraphrasing is the process of rewriting sentences using

different words to achieve the same meaning as the original sentence (Alian &

Awajan, 2020).

According to cognitive psychology literature, paraphrasing is a cognitively

demanding task. As the material to be paraphrased becomes more complex, students

tend to use simpler processing, resulting in a patchwork appearance of the writing

(Marsh, Landau, & Hick in Walker, 2008). The purpose of paraphrasing is to

provide readers with an accurate and comprehensive version of the ideas that have

been gleaned from the original source material. In order to qualify for this, a

paraphrase must meet certain requirements and possess certain characteristics.

According to Wilhoit (2016), a good paraphrase possesses four essential

characteristics. The following are some of these characteristics:

8
 9

a) Through

In it, the writer will present all of his or her main ideas or findings. A person

may, on the other hand, choose to leave out details that she/he considers to be

unimportant, such as examples and explanations.

b) Accurate

It will only reflect the exact words that were written by the author.

c) Fair

For a variety of reasons, paraphrases are frequently considered unfair.

Students, for example, frequently misinterpret original passages and make

completely incorrect assumptions about the author's intentions. This type of

problem can be avoided by conducting a thorough and critical reading of the

material. When paraphrasing, it is important to use language that is as neutral as

possible.

d) Objective

To refrain from expressing one's own point of view on the subject or on the

quality of the original text

Paraphrasing is often regarded as summarizing by putting the content in

one's own words. However, paraphrasing differed significantly from and was easier

to summarize. In short, readers are expected to reduce the length of the sentences

by reducing lists to a general statement, selecting topic, removing redundancies and

removing unnecessary data. This definition implies at least two skills: reading

comprehension and writing skill. Therefore, as indicated by McCarthy, Guess, and

 10

McNamara (2009), paraphrasing has also been used to aid comprehension,

stimulate prior knowledge, and assist writing skill development.

2. Paraphrasing Strategies

In order to formulate a great paraphrase sentence, students’ needs reading

comprehension skills. As stated by Watson, Gable, Gear, and Hughes (2012), To

reduce the overall length of the text, the reader must identify the main idea and

translate it using his or her own words. As a result, it has been suggested that

paraphrasing be taught prior to or in combination with summarization (Watson, et

al., 2012).

According to Kirkland and Saunders cited by Choy and Lee (2012)

paraphrasing is accomplished through the use of a step-by-step metacognitive

structure. Another concept similar to this is introduced by Choy and Lee who point

out that, in the wake of Blooms' taxonomy, students are now shifting their thinking

paradigms in the direction of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, all of which play

a significant role in today's learning processes (Choy & Lee, 2012). Attempting to

restate a sentence or paragraph requires an extensive cognitive and metacognitive

process. The goal is to change the lexical and syntactic structure while retaining the

semantic content of the sentence or paragraph in question (Khrismawan & Widiati,

2013).

Additional key thinking skills such as comparing and contrasting, noticing

similarities and differences, drawing conclusions, and others are incorporated into

paraphrasing. Moreover, having a strong command of vocabulary is a critical

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component of comprehension and provides a solid foundation for paraphrasing,

which is also important for reading comprehension (Faramarzi, Elekaei, & Tabrizi,

2016).

Students can generally follow and employ a number of strategies and

techniques in order to paraphrase a passage after carefully reading it multiple times

and developing an understanding of the subject matter. The majority of the time,

they replace words with synonyms, change sentence structures, rearrange ideas, and

so on. The following are the techniques that Wilhoit (2016) described.

a) Changing Words

One method of paraphrasing a passage is to change the words of the author

and replace them with synonyms. However, it is necessary to use synonyms that are

accurate, appropriate, and convey the same meaning as the author is attempting to

communicate.

b) Changing Sentences Structure

Change the structure of a sentence, means rearranging the order of ideas

within the sentence or changing the order of dependent and independent clauses.

c) Combining Sentences

When paraphrasing lengthy passages, it is beneficial to combine sentences.

It is possible to condense the information into a smaller number of clear and precise

sentences.
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d) Unpacking Sentences

When a sentence is so densely packed with ideas that a paraphrase may be

required to be written down in two or three sentences in order to convey the same

information,

e) Combining Strategies

When paraphrasing a lengthy text in which there are numerous sentences to

restate, students will most likely need to employ and combine all of the strategies

and techniques discussed above in a single piece of writing.

f) Documentation

It is considered plagiarism if the paraphrased material is not properly

documented or does not include the source of the material.

3. Difference Between Quoting, Paraphrasing and Summarizing

Direct quotation is considered relatively undemanding in comparison to

paraphrasing, or summarizing, since it does not require any textual modification of

the appropriated material (Petrić, 2012). The research evidence, however, indicates

that students' use of direct quotation is fraught with difficulties, most notably their

overuse of the technique. There is also ineffective incorporation of quotations into

a text when the linguistic and contextual links between the quoted passages are

unclear or absent (Petrić, 2012). The act of paraphrasing is different from the act of

quoting. When you quote, you are reiterating the author's exact words, and you

demonstrate this by enclosing them in quotes. When you paraphrase, on the other

hand, you use your own words to discuss the author's point of view rather than
 13

quoting them directly. However, regardless of whether you're quoting or

paraphrasing, you must always give credit to the original source.

Summarizing is the process of presenting the primary ideas of another

author while maintaining his or her original style (Murphy, 2010). The ability to

summarize is one that helps students improve their writing and comprehension

because it requires them to reprocess information from a written text or from a

listening task and to express that information in their own words in order to

reconstruct the meaning in a compressed form (Khoshsima, 2014). As with

paraphrasing, presenting the ideas of another author is also involved, but this

presentation is done in one's own words and style rather than the authors (Murphy,

2010). In this decision-making process, students’ who are facilitated with the

crucial skill of reading comprehension can allocate relevant details and exclude

irrelevant ones (Flores & Lopez, 2019).

According to Nambiar (2007), Summarizing is a cognitively demanding job

because it requires students to re-conceptualize the texts, they have read through

the process of going back and forth in the text and seeing what they have read

previously. Additionally, it necessitates that student have a thorough understanding

of the main ideas of the text and can distinguish between important superordinate

elements and less important subordinate elements.

Abdi, Idris, Alguliyev, and Aliguliyev (2016) added that cognitive processes

involved in the summarization activity are organized around summarizing

strategies, which are at the heart of the process. These tasks consist of a series of

conscious tasks that are completed in order to produce a summary text. There are a
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variety of summarizing strategies that can be used to determine important

information, eliminate irrelevant information, and extract the main idea from a text

source (Abdi, et al. 2016). It should be noted, however, that the primary

distinguishing feature that distinguishes a paraphrase from a summary is that in a

paraphrase, the emphasis is on restating the ideas of sentences rather than

condensing them, as opposed to a summary (Horkoff, 2015). To summarize is more

formal than paraphrasing and requires significantly more practice in order to be

proficient in doing so properly. The ability to paraphrase may develop in students

long before they develop the more sophisticated ability to summarize. Indeed,

learning to paraphrase can be thought of as a prelude to learning to summarize.

From the statements described above, it can be concluded that the

differences between quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing are as follows:

Table 2.1
The comparison between quoting, paraphrase, and summary.

Basis for Quoting Paraphrase Sum m ary

com parison
M eaning Quoting is repeating Paraphrasing is A summary is
an author's work taking someone shortened version of
word-for-word. else’s words and a larger reading.
putting them in one's
own word without
changing the original
meaning
F ocuses on Provide evidence Simplification and Central Idea
Clarification
Length compared to Exactly the same Almost similar Shorter
the original text length.
Objective To back up your To make the author's To simplify the
claims in writing or work easy to importance of
give evidence for understand if the someone else's work
the points you are words he or she use while avoiding the
making are not important or inclusion of
the words are too extraneous details
complicated
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W hen used When you cannot When you want to When you want a
possibly say the use your own voice quick overview of the
information any to show the material idea or concept
better in a new way and given in the passage
also want to use the
author's ideas
Do not include One’s own word Same wordings as Unnecessary details,
used in the original examples and
source reader's own
interpretation

B. Paraphrasing Tool

1. Definition of Paraphrasing Tool

A paraphrasing tool is a program that allows people to edit text so that it

contains different words while maintaining the meaning of the original text (Bin &

Michael, 2019). An automatic paraphrasing tool takes sentences and adjusts them,

allowing the content to be easily reworked and rewritten with ease. The goal of the

tool is to rewrite material by changing the structure of sentences and replacing

words with synonyms while maintaining the meaning of the original content (Fitria,

2021). The use of a paraphrasing tool allows you to create unique material in less

time and with less effort. The material must be added to the tool and then input. An

article is automatically restructured, sentence structure is adjusted, superb

vocabulary is employed, and a finished piece is produced.

As a result of advancements in language research and the application of

modern information technology tools, paraphrasing tools, also known as text

rewriting tools or text spinning tools, have been created (Ansorge, Ansorgeová, &

Sixsmith, 2021). Spinning is a technique for creating a new document from an

original text source by replacing words in such a way that the overall meaning of
 16

the text is retained while avoiding detection by machine-based text matching tools,

which are used to detect plagiarism (Rogerson & McCarthy, 2017). Text spinning

was made possible with the development of machine-based paraphrasing tools.

In the beginning, text spinners were created to generate new and different

versions of source text material in order to create and populate multiple websites

with different content. These websites would contain links to the original webpage,

which would help to improve the page's ranking in the Google Search Index. It is

critical in this process, which is referred to as Black Hat Marketing, that the text on

the multiple websites be unable to be identified by word matching software,

otherwise Google will penalize the websites (Lancaster, 2020). In the following

years, students have used these tools to spin text from websites, articles, and other

students' work in order to create 'plagiarism-free' essays for school (Rogerson &

McCarthy, 2017).

Paraphrasing tools were created to deceive word matching software, they

were not intended to replicate human-generated text. This tool appears to be used

by students to spin text from a variety of original sources in order to deceive word

matching software such as Turnitin (Rogerson & McCarthy, 2017). Paraphrasing

tools are becoming increasingly popular as a means of avoiding plagiarism and

manual paraphrasing entirely. It is possible to paraphrase a single sentence or an

entire essay with the help of one of these tools. Despite the fact that these tools

appear to be beneficial to students, they are in fact faulty and incorrect. The ability

to paraphrase independently is strongly recommended (Prentice & Kinden, 2018).

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2. Types of Paraphrasing Tool

There are plenty of Paraphrasing Tool that can be access by student. Not

only it offers free service to do the paraphrasing, it can also be access anywhere.

According to a study by Sulistyaningtum (2021), paraphrasing-tool.com,

quillbot.com, prepotseo.com, and spinbot.com are the popular paraphrasing tools

students used in helping them writing essays. The paraphrasing tools that have been

mentioned are web pages that can be accessed freely by students. The following is

a description of the various types of popular paraphrasing tools:

a. QuillBot.com

QuillBot.com is one of the most widely used free paraphrasing tools on the

internet. Quillbot.com artificial intelligence (AI) is used to suggest paraphrases

based on the text entered (Dale, 2020). In situations where teachers and students are

unable to paraphrase writing manually, QuillBot.com provides a solution by

assisting them in doing so automatically. The procedure for using this tool is

straightforward. QuillBot.com can rewrite texts after we have written or pasted the

texts and then clicked on the Paraphrase button (Kinga & Gupta, 2021).

Quillbot.com has seven paraphrasing modes; standard, fluency, formal,

simple, creative, expand, and shorter. Standard and fluency mode are free to use,

but to use formal, simple, creative, expand and shorter mode, users need to

subscribe to premium. There are differences in the modes provided by QuillBot.

Standard mode is the default mode of QuillBot.com. It balances any changes it

makes to the content while keeping the meaning and ensuring that it sounds as
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natural as possible. The second mode in Quillbot.com is fluency mode. Fluency

mode use a text-to-speech algorithm that makes text sound as grammatically and

naturally correct as possible in English, while also making the least amount of

change to the content while maintaining the meaning. The third mode is formal

mode. Formal mode changes the tone of your content so that it will sound better to

formal audiences. It's especially useful for business reports and academic papers.

The fourth mode is simple mode. Simple mode is designed to allow you to make as

many changes as possible to the text you've entered. This may have an impact on

the overall coherence and significance of the text. The fifth mode is creative mode.

In creative mode, QuillBot artificial intelligence (AI) are more intuitive and

understand things like common sayings and phrases in the language. The sixth

mode is expand mode. The expand mode attempts to increase the length of the text

by adding as many words as possible, and it is ideal for texts with a high overall

word count. Last, the seventh mode of QuillBot.com is shorten mode. Shorten mode

aims to reduce the length of your content while maintaining its meaning, and it is

particularly useful when you need to reduce the overall text size or word count.

Not only paraphrasers, quillbot.com features a grammar checker,

summarizer, citation generator and co-writer. The modes and features offered by

quillbot.com are very diverse and complex which can be adjusted according to the

needs of the author. Even in paraphrasing text, quillbot.com has a synonym meter

that can be set by the author. The higher the synonym meter the less accurate the

text.
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b. Paraphrasing-tool.com

Paraphrasing-Tool.com makes use of intelligent, decision-making software

to determine the most appropriate way to reword, or paraphrase, the text being

rewritten. Unlike QuillBot.com, the websites of Paraphrasing-Tool.com are very

straightforward and only provide one mode of paraphrasing. It didn't have as many

features as quillbot.com. This website is only providing free paraphrasing

generator. According to the websites, paraphrasing-tool.com is very similar to an

automated thesaurus, which means that this website only uses synonyms and does

not create new text structures as a result of their use.

c. Prepostseo.com

Prepostseo.com is one of the most well-known websites for providing

content as well as SEO-related tools and resources. This website provides more than

195 tools for a variety of purposes, with the majority of them being completely free

to use. The most significant advantage of using Prepostseo's paraphrasing tool is

that it retains the meaning of the content while changing the majority of the words

and sentences in the text.

This tool provides three different options for paraphrasing your content:

Simple, advanced, and Beta version. Simple is the most basic option. Using the

simple version, the words are automatically replaced with their synonyms. The

advanced option would provide some suggestions, and upon clicking on one of

them, the word would be substituted with another. The beta, which is a new feature,

would not only replace the word with a synonym, but it would also change the
 20

structure of the sentence. Paraphrasing tool in Prepostseo.com is completely free to

use, but in order to benefit from advanced features, users must subscribe to a

premium plan.

d. Spinbot.com

Article spinner Spinbot.com rewrites human-readable text into additional,

intelligently readable text. It is a free, automatic article spinner that can be used to

generate new articles. It is an article rewriting tool that uses a marked-up version of

the text to indicate which parts of the text should be altered or rearranged.

Spinbot.com is free to use. Spinbot.com generates a large number of variations of

the base article without significantly altering the meaning of the original.

Spinbot.com has three features: text spinners, a paraphrasing tool, and a Translate

and Spin feature. Text spinners are one of the most popular features. Spinbot.com

is a straightforward paraphrase system that is easy to use. To use spinbot.com, copy

content from any source and paste it into the editor, then rephrase it.

e. Paraphrasing-online.com

Paraphrase Online is a free online paraphrasing tool that can assist you in

accurately paraphrasing your articles, sentences, and entire paragraphs. To use the

tool, you do not need any technical knowledge or experience. You can get started

right away. The website has been made simple so that anyone can use it and get

straight to work paraphrasing the content with excellent results, without any

training. Additionally, the tool includes a native reword generator that assists you

in rephrasing your text in an appropriate and automatic manner to assist you in

 21

creating better content. Additionally, the tool allows you to rephrase single words

for free, as well as recreate textual content for blogs, websites, documents, and

anything else you require.

According to Rogerson and McCarthy (2017), there are six ways

paraphrasing tool avoid plagiarism; (1) Transform a word into a different part of

speech. (2) Replace the word with synonym. (3) Reverse the word order. (4) Defines

the term differently. (5) Make use of different signals of attribution. (6) Change the

structure of the sentence and use a different transition word.

3. The Impact of Paraphrasing Tools

Academic writing relies on paraphrasing to demonstrate that the author has

access to reliable sources. Students' attempts to paraphrase a concept can reveal a

student's ability to read and write as well as how well they understand the concept.

a. The Positive Impact of Paraphrasing Tools

When developing writing skills, students should make use of paraphrasing

tools (Sulistyaningrum, 2021). This is because paraphrasing tools allow you to

express the same ideas in a manner that is more appropriate for the intended

audience. Additional uses of paraphrasing tool include providing explanations and

providing support. There are advantages of paraphrasing tools mentioned by

Rogerson and McCarthy (2017) that can help students improve their academic

writing skills as follows:

 22

1. Remove plagiarism

It is critical to have a unique, high-quality, and plagiarism-free essay,

research paper, or thesis that is written from scratch. Paraphrasing tools can

determine whether or not the content students have, contained plagiarism or has

been influenced by previously published material. An easy-to-use paraphrasing tool

will spin content and generate unique new content from it. When it scans each

sentence, it determines which is the most effective; it also determines which is the

most effective alternative version of a given sentence. The entire text is delivered

with unique content; therefore, a plagiarism detector will not flag the final

document

2. Demonstrate the best writing style

With the help of paraphrasing tools, writing long sentences becomes

more manageable. Using a paraphrasing tool, students can quickly transform long

passages of writing into shorter, more meaningful phrases.

3. Time-saving

Manually paraphrasing an entire article or essay can take a significant

amount of time. When using paraphrasing tools, it is possible to paraphrase an

article in short-time. A paraphrasing tool can generate content in seconds, allowing

the author to infuse his or her personality into the material during the creation

process. It will save students time while also increasing the rate of productivity in

academic writing.
 23

4. Content improvement

Paraphrasing tools not only improve the quality of existing content, but

they also aid in the creation of new content. The lack of clarity in the sentence

construction indicates a lack of quality in the content being presented to the reader.

Students can benefit from using a paraphrasing tool to correct grammatical errors

in their writing. The tool generates sentences that are so clearly written that they are

accurately grammatical and convey the same meaning as the original.

5. Creating a new sentence structure

When writing effectively, it is critical to maintain sentence structure. A

link between the previous and following sentences in the content is ideal, but this

is not always possible in practice. By generating new sentence structures, the

paraphrasing tool will help students improve their academic writing skills.

b. The Negative Impact of Paraphrasing Tools

Despite the fact that paraphrasing tools have numerous advantages and can

be used as learning aids, the impact of long-term use of paraphrasing tools on

students' paraphrasing skills can be disadvantageous. As mentioned by Prentice and

Kinden (2018), using paraphrasing tools to alter a text in order to avoid being caught

plagiarizing is a sign that plagiarism has occurred. Moreover, Rogerson (2010)

stated that paraphrasing tools pose a huge threat to academic integrity since they

encourage students to replicate work and rely on a computer-generated result rather

than relying on their own abilities. In this way, students are prevented from learning
 24

how to paraphrase from other sources, and restate an idea with their own

paraphrasing skill.

C. Related Studies

There are numerous studies has been done in terms of paraphrasing both

regarding its difficulty and strategy. Research by Rahmatunisa (2014) investigate

the difficulties Indonesian EFL students had in writing an argumentative essay, the

researchers discovered that the students had difficulties in linguistics, cognitive

ability, and psychological development. Ariyanti and Fitriana (2017) reported that

Indonesian EFL university students were having difficulty dealing with grammar,

cohesion, coherence, paragraph organization, diction, and spelling errors when

writing essays in English.

Sarair, Astila, and Nurviani, (2019) revealed that students were still unable

to properly paraphrase English texts, with most of their work looking like an

imitation of the original. Since many students still copied the original texts by more

than 50%, most paraphrases were classified as near copies. Moreover, Ardelia and

Tiyas (2019) found that not all students understood how to properly paraphrase, and

as a result, many of them were accused of plagiarism.

Thadphoothon (2019) looked at how students felt about their paraphrasing

abilities after asking them a series of questions. A student survey revealed that

proficiency in paraphrasing was a necessity for language learning and development.

Paraphrasing skills are complicated and require a wide range of knowledge and

abilities. Their ability to paraphrase was also viewed as critically dependent on

 25

syntactic and lexical skills. Many of them claimed that they were unable to decode

the text and were unsure of the appropriate words to use in response.

More recent studies by Sulistyaningrum (2021) revealed that Mechanical

Engineering Vocational Education students are familiar with paraphrasing tool and

have been using it because it helps them with their grammar, structure, vocabulary,

and paraphrasing strategy. They come to the conclusion that online paraphrasing

tools can be an option or solution for beginner English learners, whether they are

English major students or non-English major students, such as Mechanical

Engineering Vocational Education students, who are experiencing paraphrasing

difficulties when writing certain pieces of text.

 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A. Research Design

In conducting the research, the researcher used qualitative-descriptive

method. Quality methodologies are comprised of the philosophical perspectives,

presumptions, postulates, and approaches that researcher employ in order to make

their work open to analysis and critique as well as replication, repetition, and/or

adaptation, as well as in order to select research methodologies. Accordingly,

qualitative methodologies are research approaches that researcher use to design

their studies, collect and analyze their data, as well as to conduct their research

(Given, 2008). Using a qualitative description approach, data can be collected and

analyzed from both a qualitative and a quantitative perspective, allowing for a

quasi-statistical analysis of content and a summary of the findings overall

(Vaismoradi, Turunen, & Bondas, 2013).

The findings of the qualitative study will be presented in a descriptive form.

According to Kontour (2005), qualitative descriptive study provides a detailed

description of the subject of research without providing any additional information.

The methods of interpretation and reflection were used in this study as part of the

methodology.

26
 27

B. Population and Sample

1. Population

Before selecting the sample, the researcher determines the population of the

study. The population is a generalization of objects or subjects with specific

qualities and characteristics that have been determined by researchers in order to

study them and then draw conclusions (Sugiyono, 2014).

Based on the description above, the population of this research is all seventh

semester students of English Language Education Department of UIN Ar-Raniry

who had passed Academic Writing course.

2. Sample

Sample refers to a smaller, manageable version of the population. In

selecting the sample, the researcher used purposive sampling. Purposive sampling

means choosing participants who can discuss the study's objectives and who are

knowledgeable about the phenomenon being studied (Ritchie, Lewis, Elam,

McNaughton Nicholls, and Ormston, 2013). The criteria that participants need to

meet to participate are, (1) Students in 7th Semester. (2) Has passed academic

writing course, and (3) Familiar paraphrasing tool.

In selecting samples, the researcher used a preliminary questionnaire to

determine which students used the paraphrasing tool. The preliminary questionnaire

was distributed to all students in the 7th semester of English Language Education

Department of UIN Ar-Raniry. From the preliminary questionnaire, 15 students

who filled out the questionnaire, 10 of them used a paraphrasing tool to help them
 28

in writing essays. The researcher sort from 10 sample candidates into 5 samples

who used different paraphrasing tools as the representative of the tools in order to

fulfill information related to the research. It is important to note that purposive

sampling is not a random technique because it does not require the use of underlying

theories or a predetermined sample size. Maximum variation sampling involves

selecting candidates across a broad spectrum relating to the topic of study (Etikan,

Musa, & Alkassim, 2016).

C. Methods of Data Collection

The qualitative-descriptive method was used to collect the data. The data

for this study was gathered through an in-depth interview with 5 students who used

paraphrasing tools to help them writing an essay. There are 5 open ended questions

that the researcher asked the participants, as follows; (1) What do you think about

paraphrasing tools? (2) What are your reasons for using a paraphrasing tool? (3)

How often do you use the paraphrasing tool? (4) Do you always check your

paraphrased text using the paraphrasing tool? (5) In your opinion, what is the impact

of using a paraphrasing tool?

The first and second questions of the interview aims to answer the first

research question, which is about students' perceptions about paraphrasing tools.

While the third, fourth and fifth questions aim to answer the second research

question, which is regarding the impact of paraphrasing tool on students

paraphrasing skills.
 29

The interview lasted approximately 15 minutes. Due to the limitations and

requests of respondents, interviews were conducted online. All personal

information of participants is confidential and their names are kept as initials.

D. Method of Data Analysis

Following the collection of data, the next step is the analysis of the data. As

stated by Lambert (2012), data analysis in qualitative descriptive research is data

driven, rather than using an approach that has emerged from a pre-existing

philosophical or epistemological perspective. It is the procedure that is used to

achieve the desired results. In qualitative descriptive research, content and thematic

analyses are the most frequently used data analysis techniques.

The approach used in analyzing the data in this research is thematic analysis.

The first step in thematic analysis’s process is becoming familiar with the entire

data set, which entails repeated and active reading through of the data (Braun and

Clarke 2006). After familiarization work, researchers begin to take notes on

potential data items of interest, questions, connections between data items, and

other preliminary ideas.

The second stage in the thematic analysis process is to start coding. Codes

can also be thought of as labels, or features contained in data associated with

research question. The code must be written as clearly as possible so that later

through this code the researcher becomes better understand the meaning of each

participant's statement. Therefore, the code does not have to be descriptive or length
 30

and width. This stage can only be said to be complete when all the data has been

coded and all codes that have the same meaning or meaning are grouped together.

As recommended by Braun and Clarke (2006), the third stage in thematic

analysis is looking for themes, themes that are in accordance with the research

objectives. This theme describes something important in the data related to the

formulation of the research problem. For example, at this stage the researcher

reviews all codes and groups that have been formed. Re-checking all these codes

needs to be done to make sure that the code in each group has the same meaning.
 CHAPTER IV

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The findings that were discovered as a result of the data collection are

discussed in this chapter. The researcher conducted interviews with 5 students in

the 7th semester of the English Language Education Department to answer the

research questions in chapter one. 1) What are students’ perceptions about

paraphrasing tools? 2) What is the impact of paraphrasing tools on students’

paraphrasing skills?

A. Results

The purpose of this study is to determine students' perceptions of

paraphrasing tools as well as the impact of using paraphrasing tools on students'

paraphrasing skills. These include the advantages and disadvantages of

paraphrasing tools, as well as the consequences that students face as a result of using

paraphrasing tools.

The researcher found two different views about students' perceptions of

paraphrasing tools. Some participants believed that paraphrasing tools are

beneficial to use because they can assist them in improving their grades and writing

skills, as well as introducing new vocabulary to students and assisting them in

understanding the context of a piece of written work. On the other hand, students

who believe that the paraphrasing tool is a bad tool thinks that employing the

31
 32

paraphrasing tool too frequently can result in laziness and reliance of using

paraphrasing tools.

Furthermore, when it comes to the impact of paraphrasing tools on students'

paraphrasing skills, the researcher discovered two different perspectives on the

subject. The paraphrasing tool, according to some participants, had a positive

impact on students' paraphrasing skills. Their belief is that by utilizing paraphrasing

tools, students will be able to learn how to paraphrase properly and effectively.

Students also believe that they have gained new vocabulary as a result of using the

paraphrasing tools, which they can use in the future. Some students, on the other

hand, are also aware of the negative consequences of using paraphrasing

tools. They added that using paraphrasing tools can make students lazy to think and

consequently impair their paraphrasing abilities.

1. Students Perception about Paraphrasing Tools

All participants had an opinion about the tools they used, and as a result, the

researchers discovered a wide range of perceptions about the tools they used to

assist them in writing their essays.

a. Students Believe That Paraphrasing Tools Are Beneficial to Help

Them Writing an Essay

Participants described their experiences using paraphrasing tools to help

them write essays. They revealed that the paraphrasing tools they used were very

useful in helping them understand the context of a text, and teaching them how to

paraphrase well and effectively. Fout of five students stated that the paraphrasing
 33

tool is an excellent tool for students to use to help them complete their assignments

more quickly and accurately.

1. Quillbot.com

Participants who use QuillBot.com believe that QuillBot.com is

extremely useful in expanding their own vocabulary. When you want to paraphrase

a piece of writing, you can use the QuillBot.com feature, which provides a list of

possible words to choose from when you start typing. This feature can be used in

the paraphrase box.

B.M. stated,

I think the paraphrasing tool is a tool that is quite helpful for

students, especially for English Language Education students.
Where with the paraphrasing tool the student will more easily
understand the context that are being discussed in a text. Namely
journals, books, magazines and more.

Another participant who used QuillBot.com said that using Paraphrasing

tools really helped students in saving time in doing assignments. With the

paraphrasing process that occurs in a short time, the quality of paraphrase obtained

by paraphrasing tools are also good.

F.B. stated,

In my opinion, the paraphrasing tool is very good for students. I

find many benefits when using the paraphrasing tool. One of them,
it saves time. If I don't use the tool, I think a lot of time is wasted
because I have to think. By using the tool, I only need to access the
online paraphrasing tool and then copy and paste the text and the
paraphrased text is done.
 34

2. Prepostseo.com

The perception of participant who use prepostseo.com to help them write

essays is that using prepostseo.com can help them in doing assignments quickly and

accurately. Because of the many features of prepostseo.com which are not only

limited to helping paraphrase but detecting plagiarism. Students think that

prepostseo.com is very beneficial in improving students' grades and writing skills.

A.R.A stated,

In my opinion, the paraphrasing tool is very good. Especially in

terms of improving student performance and students' writing
skills. For example, students are assigned to make assignments to
get good grades, students must make original assignments and may
not copy from others. You can copy, but don't forget to paraphrase
using your own words or the paraphrasing tool. There is no better
tool for paraphrasing than the paraphrasing tool. By using the
paraphrasing tool students can also save time in paraphrasing
compared to paraphrasing manually.

3. Paraprhasing-online.com

Participant who uses paraphrasing-online.com mentioned that by using

paraphrasing-online.com they can acquire new vocabulary that they did not know

before. The participant added that having knowledge of new vocabulary can make

it easy to compose new text.

I.J. stated,

I think paraphrasing tools are good for students, because by using

paraphrasing tools, students can learn how to paraphrase sentences
better. In addition, paraphrasing tools can also help students enrich
their vocabulary and ability to compose words better.
 35

b. Students Believe That Paraphrasing Tools Are Not Beneficial to

Help Them Writing an Essay

Participant who believes that paraphrasing tools are ineffective express

their thoughts on the subject. He stated that the use of paraphrasing tools is

equivalent to plagiarism. This is due to the fact that all thought processes involved

in paraphrasing a text are replaced by paraphrasing tools that are incompatible with

the purpose of paraphrasing, which is to understand a text.

M.I. stated,

In my opinion, the paraphrasing tool is not good for students

because it is like copying other people's work. So, when we use the
tool, we only need to copy and paste and then we get the results.
Sometimes we don't need to understand the meaning of a sentence.
What is meant by paraphrasing is using our own words and
abilities, not copying someone else's words.

2. The Impact of Paraphrasing Tool

The results of the interviews showed that the participants had two opinions

regarding the impact of paraphrasing tools based on their experience using

paraphrasing tools. The positive impact of using paraphrasing tools can help assist

students in paraphrasing a text. The negative impact of using paraphrasing tools is

that students develop a lack of confidence in their personal abilities and experience

dependence in using paraphrasing tools.

 36

a. Paraphrasing Tools Has a Positive Impact on Students

Paraphrasing Skills

Using paraphrasing tools can help students in the process of writing

essays. Using online paraphrasing tools can assist students in overcoming academic

writing issues in terms of content, structure, language use, and paraphrasing

approach (Sulistiyaningrum, 2021).

In the interview, participants shared their experiences in using

paraphrasing tools. Researchers found 4 positive impacts of paraphrasing tools;

help students in understanding the context of text; increase students' vocabulary;

help students to use correct approach in paraphrasing; and, avoid plagiarism.

1. Understanding The Context of a Text

Students can benefit from the use of paraphrasing tools to better

understand a text. Using artificial intelligence-based paraphrasing tools that can

assist them in breaking down a text that is difficult to understand into a simpler and

easier to understand text. With paraphrasing tools, writing long sentences becomes

more manageable (Rogerson & McCarthy, 2017).

B.M. stated:

I think the positive impact of this paraphrasing tool is enough to

help the continuity of student education, especially English
education students, where this paraphrasing tool help to
understand the content of reading.
 37

2. Increase Students Vocabulary

Using paraphrasing tools can increase students' vocabulary. This is

because paraphrasing tools have many word choices and work for content

improvement so that the words used are clear. Paraphrasing tools generate

sentences that are so clearly written and convey the same meaning as the original

(Rogerson & McCarthy, 2017)

I.J. stated:

The impact of the paraphrasing tool for students is that it can

enrich vocabulary, can increase students' knowledge of the
correct way of paraphrasing, and can also increase students'
writing scores.
F.B. also stated:

If I don't use the tool, I feel that the words I use in paraphrasing
are very limited and unacademic. I also feel that if I pursue tasks
without using tools, it takes up a lot of my time.

3. Help Student to Use Correct Approach in Paraphrasing

The Paraphrasing Tool generates new sentences that are slightly different

in wording but retain the same meaning as the original sentence. This is a good

example of how to paraphrase effectively. Along with changing the synonym,

paraphrasing tools alter the structure of sentences. When developing writing skills,

students should make use of paraphrasing tools (Sulistyaningrum, 2021).

I.J. stated:

The reason I use the paraphrasing tool is because it makes it easier

for me to paraphrase sentences that are difficult for me to
understand and helps me in paraphrasing if I don't know how to
properly paraphrase the text.
 38

4. Avoid Plagiarism

It is possible to use paraphrasing tools to detect plagiarism. Students can

avoid plagiarism by making use of paraphrasing tools. According to Rogerson and

McCarthy (2017), there are six ways paraphrasing tool avoid plagiarism; (1)

Transform a word into a different part of speech. (2) Replace the word with

synonym. (3) Reverse the word order. (4) Defines the term differently. (5) Make

use of different signals of attribution. (6) Change the structure of the sentence and

use a different transition word.

M.I. stated:

The main reason I use the paraphrasing tool is to avoid plagiarism.

When the lecturer checks my assignments that I do using the
paraphrasing tool, surely it will not be detected and I will be free
from plagiarism.
B.M. also stated:

…when students write scientific papers that contains several

expert opinions, students can quote expert opinions but not
illegally or plagiarize. So, with the paraphrasing tool this will
reduce plagiarism.

b. Paraphrasing Tools Has a Negative Impact on Students

Paraphrasing Skills

Paraphrasing is defined as the ability to take in, comprehend, synthesize,

and express information in a unique and creative way. The ability to paraphrase,

whether orally, visually, or in writing, is inversely proportional to how well the

material has been comprehended. It is also associated with paraphrasing skills.

 39

While paraphrasing tools may appear to be beneficial to students, particularly non-

native English speakers, they are flawed and inaccurate, and they should not be used

as a substitute for learning to paraphrase on one's own in order to be effective

(Rogerson & McCarthy, 2017). The negative impact of paraphrasing tools that the

researcher found in the interview are; weaken students paraphrasing skills; and

reliance on using tools rather than one’s own paraphrasing skills.

1. Weaken Students Paraphrasing Skills

Paraphrasing is a skill that requires much more than just good writing; it

allows for more advanced learning, thinking, and expression. Using a paraphrasing

tool can defeat the whole purpose of paraphrasing. Students do not need to use their

prior knowledge or think about the text to paraphrase it. This behavior can have an

impact on the development of students' paraphrasing skills.

B.M. stated:

On the negative side, maybe if we use the paraphrasing tool too

often, our ability to paraphrase will be decreased.

Furthermore, F.B. stated:

I think this paraphrasing tool has a very negative impact on

students because it can cause a sense of laziness to think and
create new paraphrased text not based on their knowledge of a
passage. I think the most prominent impact is the negative impact.

2. Reliance On Using Paraphrasing Tools

Excessive use of paraphrasing tools can show signs of dependence on the

use of tools in writing essays. When machines are relied upon to perform much of
 40

the work that our brains perform, these tools appear to be perfectly acceptable for

some people. It should be noted that excessive use of paraphrasing can lead to a

lack of confidence in one's own ability to paraphrase a text.

A.R.A. stated:

According to my experience, when I already know about paraphrasing

tools, and know the benefits of using paraphrasing tools, then I will
rely more on paraphrasing tools than my own paraphrasing skills.

B. Discussion

The results of interviews with five students who used the paraphrasing tool

to help them write essays, the researchers found that the paraphrasing tool was very

useful for students. Not only helping to complete their assignments, paraphrasing

tools can also help students understand the context of a text, increase students'

vocabulary, avoid plagiarism and help students in using proper paraphrasing

approach. According to Sulistyaningrum (2021) using online paraphrasing tools can

assist students in overcoming academic writing issues in terms of content, structure,

language use, and paraphrasing approach.

Aside from helping students paraphrase the right discourse markers,

paraphrasing tools may also assist them with modifying parts of speech, using the

proper tense, rewriting the source text into a paraphrase with various writing styles,

and changing words from the source text (Sulistyaningrum, 2021). Three out of five

respondents mention that the paraphrasing tool is great. While using paraphrasing

tools, students can learn about new word sets that they might not have known about

before, and they can use more academic words to improve their essays.
 41

Students use paraphrasing tools for a variety of reasons, one of which is to

save time on assignments. Despite the fact that the results of the paraphrasing tool

are immediate, they are considered to be of high quality. Other factors that

encourage students to use paraphrasing tools are to avoid plagiarism checkers like

Turnitin. Rogerson and McCarthy (2017) mention that to avoid being detected by

plagiarism detection software such as Turnitin, students can use online paraphrasing

tools or article spinners to write their papers.

According to the results of the interviews, students were aware that using

paraphrasing tools on a regular basis could have a negative impact on the students.

The use of the paraphrasing tool may interfere with their ability to improve their

paraphrasing skills Rogerson (2010). On the positive side, students also think that

paraphrasing tools can be used as learning aids to improve their skills of

paraphrasing. Eastwood, Gallo, and Piggot (2012) mention in their study, in order

to teach writing skills in an interactive manner, the use of web-based tools can be a

valuable resource. Proactive approaches can aid in the promotion of learning

development and support services provided by the educational institution, such as

providing students with advice on paraphrasing and strategies for improving their

writing skills, thereby avoiding problematic practices (Rogerson and McCarthy,

2017).

Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that, many studies have

found that the paraphrasing tool is a useful tool for student learning aids. Students

believe that using a paraphrasing tool is a beneficial study tool with numerous

advantages. Some of the reasons students use paraphrasing tools are to save time,
 42

expand their vocabulary, understanding the context of text, and avoid plagiarism

checkers. However, despite being aware of the negative impact of using

paraphrasing tools, which includes a sense of laziness in developing personal skills,

students continue to use the paraphrasing tool because they believe that if used

properly, paraphrasing tools will have a positive impact which is as a learning tool.
 CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

A. Conclusion

From the data obtained by interviewing five students using paraphrasing

tools, it was found that student’s perception about the paraphrasing tools they used

is very beneficial to help them writing essay. Students who use QuillBot.com

revealed that using QuillBot.com can expand the word choices in their writing.

With various modes offered by QuillBot.com, the demands of creating a high-

quality text are possible. Moreover, students who use Prepostseo.com stated that

with many features Prepostseo.com offers including plagiarism checker, students

can avoid being detected by plagiarism checker as Turnitin. Furthermore, students

who use Paraprhasing-online.com stated that while using paraphrasing tools, they

can learn about new vocabulary that they never aware of. They also stated that using

in using paraphrasing tool, they can compose new sentences easily.

The results of the interview also found two opinions regarding the impact of

using paraphrasing tools on students' paraphrasing skills. Some students think that

paraphrasing tools can have a good impact on their paraphrasing skills. Students

argue that by using tools as learning aids, students gain knowledge about proper

paraphrasing approaches, increase English vocabulary, understand the context of a

text and avoid plagiarism checkers. On the other hand, the negative impact of

paraphrasing tools, students revealed that, by using paraphrasing tools all the

43
 44

thought process of creating paraphrased text was passed which shows that students

do not understand the context and meaning of a text that defeats all purpose of

paraphrasing. The findings also showed that students are growing a sense of

dependency using paraphrasing tools rather than their own paraphrasing skills.

B. Recommendation

1. For Further Researcher

Because of some limitations of this study, the researcher believes that

additional research with a larger number of participants is necessary in order to

obtain more information on the use of paraphrasing tools at the Department of

English Language Education at the University of Ar-Raniry. Furthermore,

experimental studies are suggested for future researchers in order to be able to

directly test paraphrasing tools, which can reveal the impact of paraphrasing tools

on students' paraphrasing abilities. A variety of research instruments should be used

to gain a thorough understanding of the use of paraphrasing tools in the classroom.

2. For Teachers

Given that the use of paraphrasing tools can be one of the aids in helping

students learn paraphrasing, as explained in chapter 2, it is hoped that teachers can

incorporate paraphrasing tools into learning activities as an example of

paraphrasing and can provide input to students about how they should not rely on

paraphrasing tools and how they should be confident in their own abilities.
 45

3. For Students

The findings of this study reveal that students are extremely reliant on the

use of paraphrase tools in their academic work. This may have an impact on

students' self-confidence and their ability to paraphrase. The researcher expects that

using the information gathered, students will be able to review the use of paraphrase

tools and be more cautious when employing paraphrasing tools in the future.

4. For The Institutions

The researcher hopes that this research can prove that the use of

paraphrasing tools is a common thing for students at the university level. The

researcher hopes that the institution can take serious action for students who are

proven to have committed plagiarism violations in order to form more brilliant

students.
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 Appendix A
Appointment Letter of Supervisor
 Appendix B
Interview Protocol

Greetings:
Assalamu'alaikum Wr. Wb.

First of all, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Desra Miranda, a

student from the 2017 English Language Education Department. I am currently

doing my research to complete my thesis entitled “The Impact of Paraphrasing Tool

on Students Paraphrasing Skills.” Are you willing to participate in this interview?

Please note that, firstly, there are no right or wrong answers in this interview.

This interview aims to determine the knowledge, perspectives and experiences of

the respondents related to the title in question. Second, all conversations in this

interview will be recorded to help the researcher to save important data. Third, all

respondents' personal information is confidential. Finally, respondents can use a

language that is comfortable to use, Indonesian or English. Before starting this

interview are there any questions regarding the interview procedure?

Research Question 1: What are students' perceptions about paraphrasing

tools?

1. What do you think about paraphrasing tools?

2. What are your reasons for using a paraphrasing tool?

Research Question 2: What is the impact of paraphrasing tools on students'

paraphrasing skills?

1. How often do you use the paraphrasing tool?

2. Do you always check your paraphrased text using the paraphrasing tool?

3. In your opinion, what is the impact of using a paraphrasing tool?

Finally, I would like to thank the respondent for being willing to take your time to

participate in this interview.

 Appendix C
Interview Transcript Sample

Interviewee :ARA
Date : 7 December 2021

Q: Assalamu'alaikum Wr. Wb. First of all, I would like to introduce myself.

My name is Desra Miranda, a student from the 2017 English Language

Education Department. I am currently doing my research to complete my

thesis entitled “The Impact of Paraphrasing Tool on Students Paraphrasing

Skills.” Are you willing to participate in this interview?

A: Yes.

Q: Please note that, firstly, there are no right or wrong answers in this interview.

This interview aims to determine the knowledge, perspectives and

experiences of the respondents related to the title in question. Second, all

conversations in this interview will be recorded to help the researcher to

save important data. Third, all respondents' personal information is

confidential. Finally, respondents can use a language that is comfortable to

use, Indonesian or English. Before starting this interview are there any

questions regarding the interview procedure?

A: No, it is very clear.

Q: Alright, I will start the interview now.

A: Okay.

Q: What do you think about paraphrasing tools?

A: In my opinion, the paraphrasing tool is very good. Especially in terms of

improving student performance and students' writing skills. For example,

students are assigned to make assignments to get good grades, students must

make original assignments and may not copy from others. You can copy,

but don't forget to paraphrase using your own words or the paraphrasing

tool. There is no better tool for paraphrasing than the paraphrasing tool. By

using the paraphrasing tool students can also save time in paraphrasing

compared to paraphrasing manually. For example, I have to rewrite a 1000-

word essay, even the brightest student will need hours to do the assignment.

By using a paraphrasing tool, we can save time.

Q: How often do you use the paraphrasing tool?

A: Very often, especially if the assignment is a scientific assignment that will

be checked for plagiarism by the lecturer. When faced with such situations

I always use the paraphrasing tool.

Q: Do you always check your paraphrased text using the paraphrasing tool?

A: Yes, I always check my writing with paraphrasing tool first, then recheck it

with my own skill of paraphrasing. If I think the use of the words in the

paraphrase is appropriate, then I completely will use the text from the

paraphrasing tool. If it doesn't match, I use another paraphrasing tool to

rephrase the sentence.

Q: In your opinion, what is the impact of using a paraphrasing tool?

A: In my opinion, the use of paraphrasing tools can hinder students'

paraphrasing skills. Because, according to my experience, when I already

know about paraphrasing tools, and know the benefits of using paraphrasing

tools, then I will rely more on paraphrasing tools than my own paraphrasing

skills.

Q: What is your reason for using the paraphrasing tool?

A: The first reason, I can create plagiarism-free content. Second, I can save

time on assignments. Then, I can improve the quality of my writing, such as

grammar errors, by using this tool, grammar errors are also be detected and

corrected by the tool.