Turnitin has the facility for assignment submissions to be checked for matches to other online sources. This can help determine originality and be used in formative assessment to assist students’ understanding of academic integrity. When setting up a Turnitin Assignment, the option exists to generate a Similarity Report for the submission. Turnitin will compare work against:
- Internet pages and archived internet data
- Previously submitted student assignments (from UK institutions that use Turnitin)
- Subscription periodicals, journals, and publications. (Publishers partnered with Turnitin).
The comparison it produces is called a Similarity Report. This document details the matches made between a submitted assignment and the online sources it was checked against.
At the discretion of the instructor, students can view the Similarity Reports for their own submissions on Turnitin.
Please note: Turnitin does not determine if work is plagiarised. The judgement about whether a student has plagiarised still lies with the academic. The similarity report is simply a tool to help both academics and students identify the sources of matched text.
For more information on the Turnitin Similarity Report and and step-by-step guides on using and interpreting it, please see our Blackboard Help for staff site.
