Interpret a Turnitin Originality Report

The VLE @ GSA

How to…

Interpret a Turnitin Originality Report

• Turnitin is a text matching tool that can be useful in helping students develop critical writing skills and evaluate their use of evidence.

• An Originality Report is generated that outlines where particular excerpts of text may have come from.

• There are a number of things to be aware of in interpreting the Originality Report, such as the assessment requirements, inclusion of bibliographic information, etc.

• Whilst a similarity percentage is generated, this should not be considered in isolation from the text that constitutes the submitted piece.

In your course, go to Control Panel > Course Tools > TurnitinUK Assignments.

Choose the link for the Turnitin Assignment you created and whish to give feedback on.

In the Assignment Inbox, you will see a percentage and coloured bar beside each submission.

< 24% 25 – 49% 25 – 49% > 75%

The coloured bars indicate how much text has been matched. This should be closely considered with the Originality Report itself and not used as a final score.

Click on the percentage or coloured bar to go to the Originality Report.

If not already active, click on the Originality button to show the Originality Report pane.

This pane allows you to view a digest of where text has come, what sources have been used and how evidence has been incorporated into an assessment.

Click on a Match to see its source and incorporation.

The Match Breakdown helps to interpret the Similarity Index. E.g. There is a fairly large highlighted section here, but it is properly referenced and clearly a quote.

To exclude bibliographic material or quotations, click the filter icon at the bottom right. You can then choose which aspects you may wish to exclude. Then click Apply Changes.

If there is a reference list this will now be excluded from the Similarity Index.

You can save or print a copy of the highlighted Originality Report by clicking the printer icon.

You can also now use Turnitin on the iPad. Download and install the Turnitin App from the App Store. You can then click on the iPad icon to generate a Class Access Code to take you straight to the Assignment Inbox – click to generate and enter into the App on the iPad.