Interpreting Turnitin reports
Answer
Where instructors have set it up, students can see the detail of their Turnitin reports in their assignment Dropbox in D2L.
- Navigate to your submitted assignment in D2L.
- Click on Submission link (in the completion status column) to the right of your assignment to open it.
- The submission history opens up. Click on the Turnitin Similarity score (percentage) to open your report.
A similarity report is divided into three areas:
- Your name and the name of the assignment are displayed at the top.
- The assignment takes up most of the screen. Areas that are highlighted are where Turnitin has found matches to other content.
- Your overall similarity score and the external sources that have been matched to the paper are listed in the Match Overview column on the right.
If the Match Overview column is hidden, click on the Match Overview button (the number in the red box) to display it.
The text in your submission and the sources that were found that match your text are highlighted. They are numbered and colour-coded for easy detection.
If you click on a highlighted number on the report, a popup showing the matched section from the external source will be displayed.
What does the matching text mean?
There are a few reasons why your assignment might get matches. Below are 5 common types of matches and directions on what to do if it happens with your assignment:
Example 1: Quote with in-text citation
What should I do in this case?
| Ask these questions: | Answer: | Is this plagiarism? |
|---|---|---|
|
Are there quotation marks (“ ”) around all the words that were copied? |
Yes |
No. In this case the copied words are quoted and cited properly so it is not plagiarism. You can also check the reference list at the end of the assignment to ensure the in-text citation has a corresponding reference entry. |
|
Is there an in-text citation that is properly formatted in APA style (i.e. with author(s) or organization, date, and page or paragraph number)? |
Yes |
Example 2: Quote with no in-text citation
What should I do in this case?
| Ask these questions: | Answer: | Is this plagiarism? |
|---|---|---|
|
Are there quotation marks (“ ”) around all the words that were copied? |
Yes |
Yes. In this case the copied words are quoted but not cited properly so it is plagiarized. You would need to include an in-text citation and ensure there is a reference entry at the end of the assignment in the reference list. Directions on how to format in-text citations and references are in the library’s online guide for APA style. |
|
Is there an in-text citation that is properly formatted in APA style (i.e. with author(s) or organization, date, and page or paragraph number)? |
No |
Example 3: Paraphrase with in-text citation
What should I do in this case?
| Ask these questions: | Answer: | Is this plagiarism? |
|---|---|---|
|
Are there quotation marks (“ ”) around all the words that were copied? |
No |
Yes. In this case there is an in-text citation but most of the words are copied with no quotation marks, so it is plagiarized. There are two options to fix this:
You should also check that there is a reference entry that corresponds to the in-text citation at the end of the assignment in the reference list. |
|
Is there an in-text citation that is properly formatted in APA style (i.e. with author(s) or organization, date, and page or paragraph number)? |
Yes |
Example 4: Paraphrase with no in-text citation
What should I do in this case?
| Ask these questions: | Answer: | Is this plagiarism? |
|---|---|---|
|
Are there quotation marks (“ ”) around all the words that were copied? |
No |
Yes. In this case most of the words are copied with no quotation marks and there is no in-text citation, so it is plagiarized. There are two options to fix this. In both cases, you would also need to include an in-text citation properly formatted in APA style:
You should also check that there is a reference entry that corresponds to the in-text citation at the end of the assignment in the reference list. |
|
Is there an in-text citation that is properly formatted in APA style (i.e. with author(s) or organization, date, and page or paragraph number)? |
No |
Example 5: Reference List Entry
What should I do in this case?
| Ask these questions: | Answer: | Is this plagiarism? |
|---|---|---|
|
Are the reference entries properly formatted according to the directions in the library’s online guide for APA style? |
Yes |
No. It is okay for reference list entries to match. You do not need to do anything in this case. |
From: Bow Valley College. (2017). Business Administration: Turnitin originality report - information for learners. https://d2l.bowvalleycollege.ca