Are there any free articles I can use to submit to a few sites and add my site URL underneath the article to increase the backlinks my site?
Haha, that would be awesome, but no. Their is not (that I know of). You could rewrite article in article directories and submit them if you really want article directory links.
That means you have an original article, you write using different sentences and paragraphing to make it seem like a new article instead of the original.
In a sense yes! It is a better name for plaigarizing. For articles best if you can come up with your own, that would be unique content. Rewritten articles are just for those that want to fill up their sites without caring for the quality.
Yeap, might as well, heard that articles are sold for less than 1 cent per word. That's really cheap, but you get what you pay for I guess.....