What is Draft Coach?
Part of the University’s Turnitin license, Draft Coach is a formative writing support tool. It is designed to help students understand how to write academically and to improve their academic practice. Students can use Draft Coach within Microsoft Word to check their draft for similarity and make improvements before submitting their work online for marking. Running a similarity check generates a Similarity Report (just as submitting via a Turnitin Assignment draft submission point). The report identifies text matching online sources held in Turnitin’s databases and helps students identify incorrectly cited work.
A reminder about the Similarity Report
The Similarity Report, whether generated via Draft Coach or a Turnitin Assignment submission point, simply identifies text in an assignment that matches sources in Turnitin’s databases and assignment repository. It does not necessarily indicate plagiarism. The Similarity Report can help, but you should use your own judgment and knowledge of the literature to determine poor academic practice or suspected misconduct.
For more guidance on using and interpreting the Similarity Report, including what similarity percentage scores mean, see the Turnitin Staff guide on interpreting the Similarity Report.
Grammar and citation tools in Draft Coach
Draft Coach includes grammar and citation checking features. However, these are not recommended for student use:
- The grammar checker is very limited and does not provide reliable or discipline-specific academic writing feedback.
- The citation checker is basic and may not correctly identify required referencing styles or citation errors.
Students should be advised to use Draft Coach for similarity checking only. This is made clear to them in student guidance on using the tool.
Points to remember
- Draft Coach is for formative use only: It’s a student-facing drafting resource intended to build academic writing skills before submission.
- Staff cannot see Similarity Reports or checks generated by Draft Coach: The similarity checks students run in Draft Coach do not feed back into your marking tools or Turnitin Assignment submissions. Staff will see the Similarity Report generated when the assignment is submitted – which then can/should be used in any cases of academic misconduct.
- Draft Coach does not submit student draft content to Turnitin’s repository: Running Draft Coach checks will not affect the student’s final Turnitin Similarity Report once they submit their assignment.
How to support students
- For step-by-step guidance on accessing and using Draft Coach, signpost students to the TEL Student guide to using Draft Coach.
- Remind students that Draft Coach is not a replacement for final Turnitin similarity checks through Blackboard/Turnitin Assignment submission points.
- Encourage effective use by suggesting they spread out similarity checks across drafts and use the three available checks are meaningfully.
- Emphasise that similarity percentages reflect matched text, not necessarily plagiarism, and that correct citation and paraphrasing practices are important.
- For deeper academic writing or referencing support, direct students to:
You may also download and use the following Draft Coach slides with your students to support and advise them in their effective use of the tool:
Guide last updated on January 20, 2026