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Turnitin: Interpreting Originality Reports from Turnitin

Originality Reports detail the matched text found in Turnitin’s database of student papers, current and archived internet and Periodicals, journals, & publications.

Match Overview

Only the top sources are shown in the Match Overview panel.

Matches are numbered, colour coded and listed in highest to lowest percentage of matching word area to the submission.

A screenshot of the Match Overview tab of Turnitin. An essay is shown with text highlighted, the colour of the highlight corresponds to a source shown in the Match Overview tab with high similarity.

Click to change between the Match Overview and All Sources screens.

A screenshot showing the similarity level and the 'Match View' which you can click to see which sources the work has matched with.

View Source

Click on the highlighted text in the paper to see the source of the matching text and some of the surrounding text.

A screenshot of highlighted text within an essay, a pop up menu is shown to display the source and original text snippet where a high similarity has been found.

View Full Source

To see the Full Source Text and origin of the match click Full Source View.

View Match Breakdown

  1. To view the Match Overview, click on the red, numerical similarity score from the product toolbar.
  2. The Match Overview will be displayed within the Match Overview side panel.
A screenshot of the Match Overview tab. Four sources are listed with descending levels of similarity. A chevron arrow is shown next to each source.
  1. Click on the source to see the ‘overlapping’ sources.
A screenshot that shows the overlapping sources from the similarity report. The Wikipedia website link is shown, with three sub links found on that website also with a similarity score.

Exclude Sources

If a match is not needed it is possible to exclude sources and recalculate the similarity index.

  1. Click the graph icon from the similarity toolbar.
  2. Click the Exclude Sources button at the bottom of the All Sources side panel.
  3. Use the checkboxes to select the sources that you’d like to exclude from the similarity report.
A screenshot of two website sources that have a similarity score of 26%. A button is shown to Exclude Sources.
A screenshot of the All Sources list. Check boxes are shown next to each source to allow the user to exclude those with a high percentage that should not be included in the similarity report.

Filters & Settings

A screenshot of the similarity toolbar. A funnel icon is shown and highlighted with a red background to show it is selected.

Click on the Filter icon to manage the filters and settings for that Originality Report e.g. exclude quotes, bibliography and small matches.

A screenshot of the Filters and Settings menu. The filters options include: exclude quotes, exclude bibliography, exclude items that are less than a word count or percentage.

Note: Excluding quotes, bibliography and small matches will result in a recalculation of the similarity index and can have a significant impact on the percentage.

View/Edit Excluded Sources

To restore sources you have excluded, click on the “no” symbol. Select the sources you would like to restore or restore all.

A screenshot of the Excluded Sources tab. Two buttons are shown to restore individual sources or restore all that have been excluded.

Extra options

The last two buttons shown in the Turnitin toolbar, the download arrow and the information icon, allow you to print or download a local copy of the paper, and allow you to access more information about the paper and the submission by the student.

A screenshot of the download icon and the more information symbol.
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