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. It’s important and more meaningful to interpret the findings of the Originality Report in detail.

Return to upload link and click View/ Complete.

On this page you will see your Similarity Index (a percentage and coloured bar) and possibly an option to Resubmit (not always the case). Click on your Similarity Index to access your Originality Report.

< 24% 25 – 49% 25 – 49% > 75%

The coloured bar indicates how much text has been matched. Don’t worry about this too much – it’s more important to make sense of the report.

What do the percentages mean?• Generally under 15% indicates good use of resources, over

25% (yellow, orange or red) could indicate difficulties.• Depends on remit of assessment and your use of evidence.

Quotation and references• You can exclude quotes and bibliography when viewing your

work.

Paraphrasing• Can help to pick up bits of texts that are not far enough away

from original to help develop your writing style.

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.