Turnitin is a text matching service that checks your writing for citation mistakes or inappropriate copying. Turnitin does not check for plagiarism in a piece of work.
When you submit your paper, Turnitin compares it to text in its massive database and if there are instances where a student's writing is similar to, or matches against, one of their sources, it will be flagged in the similarity report for you to review. The Turnitin database includes billions of web pages: both current and archived content from the internet, a repository of works students have submitted to Turnitin in the past, and a collection of documents, which comprises thousands of periodicals, journals, and publications.
Turnitin will check and return your assignment, highlighting text that looks as though it has been copied from the web, journals and other sources. Check your work and make sure that you have included citations to your source material and a list of references.
If you need help and advice about how to do this, please ask a member of library staff.
NB: Turnitin will attempt to generate a similarity report for any text-based file. Supported file types include: Microsoft OneNote, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PostScript, PDF, HTML, .HWP, RTF, OpenOffice(ODT), WordPerfect, and plain text.
5. When you're happy with your file selections, use the Turn in button to submit your files. This will make them available to your instructor and sends them to Turnitin to generate a Similarity Report.
6. If the file shows as 'Turnitin report pending...', it means your instructor has not yet viewed it. You can use the Refresh link to ask Turnitin to generate the file similarity report now.
Similarity Reports are available for review shortly after submission. Each file you submitted for your assignment will have an individual Similarity Report generated for it.
Each submitted file will display a similarity score, with the oercentages colour-coded in this way:
To view more information, click 'View Turnitin report'. This will open your assignment in a web window. Parts of the text which have been identified as similar to other sources will be highlighted, and information about these matching sources will be provided in the 'Source overview' on the right.
Each matching source can be opened to provide more detail.
The file upload allows you to submit your assignment by directly loading the file from your device.
1. Select Submit Paper from the submission inbox.
2. Enter a submission title.
3. Drag and drop your file into the submission inbox.
4. Check your submission details and select the Add Submission button.
Alternatively, select the upload file icon to select the file from your device manually.
5. Select Upload File from the left hand menu.
6. Select Choose File to locate the file on your device.
7. Hit the Upload this File button to continue.
8. Check your submission details and select the Add Submission button.
Once your upload is complete, make a note of your submission ID. If you do not receive a submission ID, double-check that your submission has been successful before exiting Turnitin.
Turnitin accepts the following file types for upload into an assignment:
The file size may not exceed 40 MB. Files of larger size may be reduced in size by removal of non-text content or the instructor may be contacted to request multiple assignments to submit the document in sections. Text only files may not exceed 2 MB.
Once you have submitted an assignment, the submission inbox will contain your submitted paper. If your instructor has allowed you to view the similarity report for your paper, a percentage match will appear once the report has been generated.
Note: overwritten or resubmitted papers may not generate a new similarity report for 24 hours. This delay is automatic and allows resubmissions to generate again, without matching 100% to the previous draft.
The My Submissions tab contains the following columns:
Submission: contains the title of the paper submitted and the status of the submission.
Submitted: contains the date and time of the submission.
Similarity: contains the similarity score for the submission, which displays the percentage of text within the paper that matches content in the Turnitin database. The similarity score is colour-coded in the following way:
Grade: contains the grade received for your paper, if your tutor is using Turnitin to mark your work. Clicking on the GradeMark icon opens up the graded paper. The grade and GradeMark will be available to view after the post date of the assignment.
The Similarity Report
Click on the coloured similarity score to open the full similarity report. Text which has been identified as similar to other sources will be highlighted in your assignment and more information about these matches are provided in the 'match overview' column on the right.
Turnitin does not check for plagiarism in a piece of work. It checks a student's work against the Turnitin database, and if there are instances where a student's writing is similar to, or matches against, one of their sources, it will be flagged in the similarity report for you to review.
It is perfectly natural for a well-researched assignment to match against some of the Turnitin database. If you have used quotes and have referenced correctly, there will be matches in your work. The similarity score highlights any matches and helps your tutor to determine if the match is or is not acceptable.
What is a reasonable Similarity Score?
There is no fixed number to receive as a score in your Turnitin Similarity Report.
Example:
Student A has good knowledge of a topic, and has conducted thorough research. They have gathered information from several sources to cite in their assignment, and have referenced the paper correctly. Their similarity score is 22%.
In comparison, Student B has done little research, and has copied and pasted a chunk of text into their paper, due to a lack of knowledge on their topic. They have not acknowledged where they found this information. Their similarity score is 20%.
Both students have matches against the Turnitin database and a similarity score in the same range; however, Student A has provided properly sourced quotes, while Student B has copied directly from a website.
What can I do with the information in my report?
The information in your Turnitin Similarity Report should help you make decisions about how to improve your writing, whether that is in later drafts of the same assignment or on future assignments of a different nature. If you have the opportunity to revise your writing based on your Similarity Score, consider the following:
Watch this video for more explanation about the difference between text similarity and plagiarism, how to avoid plagiarism and ensure your text similarity is appropriate.
Upload your work to the Library Assignment Checker to check for accidental plagiarism before you submit your work.
