Interpreting the Turnitin Originality Report for Staff
Assignments submitted to Turnitin through the Assignments Tool in eBridge will produce an
Originality Report. The report highlights matches with other documents scanned by Turnitin and it
will also show the source for that match. Viewing the report will help: detect plagiarism; identify the
evidence to support an unfair means claim and to understand some of the student’s approach and
failings with regard to academic practice. For those not using eBridge with Turnitin, Originality
Reports can be accessed through http://submit.ac.uk.
Detecting plagiarism
Turnitin does not identify plagiarism, it simply matches text. The report doesn’t separate correctly
cited work from attempts to cheat. The report will also show common phrases such as ‘on the one
hand’. Turnitin will also fail to identify where text has been paraphrased from another source without
reference. The University Regulations on the Use of Unfair Means identify The primary test of
plagiarism as follows ‘This is the presence or absence of quotation marks, and adequate
acknowledgement of sources and authorities in text and/or reference notes in bibliographies or lists
of sources.’
After students submit work to Turnitin via eBridge, the Originality Report is generated and a report
icon will be visible in the Turnitin column. The colour of this icon will vary depending on the
similarity score given by Turnitin. If it is red, then the similarity against other documents is 75-100%,
orange 50-75%, yellow 25-50%, green 1-25% and blue no matching text. The percentages themselves
should not be taken as the only measure of plagiarism as there are a number of reasons why 25% may
in fact have less plagiarism than a piece of work reporting 12%, for example. A high percentage may
indicate poor academic practice, overuse of quotations or plagiarism. Where the score is nearer to
100% this is likely to be erroneous resubmission of a previous piece of work or completely copied or
purchased work.
For useful ways to identify plagiarism in work view Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research Papers
(Harris, 2012)
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Understanding the report
Moving your mouse pointer over the report icon causes a pop-up to show the exact similarity figure.
When the icon is clicked the Turnitin Originality Report will open.
You can download or print a PDF version of the report. This contains the same information but loses
the interactivity of the web interface. Click either of the two icons
at the top of the
screen.
There are three areas in the Originality Report screen. The document viewer frame shows the
Similarity Index for the work and the Title and Author of the work. The left-hand panel displays the
paper text and the right-hand panel displays the matching sources of text.
The example report below shows that 55% of the work has been matched to other sources. The red
section  shows that 22% of the essay can be found at http://dictionary.reference.com.
percentages matched
to other sources
Figure 1. Example Originality Report
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Checking matched text
same text, minor
discrepancies in grey
Figure 2. Matching text
Where Turnitin has found matches it will report them in different ways. Websites, books and journals
will be identified. Student papers within the repository will identify the institution to which the work
was submitted. You will not be able to view the work without contacting the institution to ask them
for permission. Where plagiarism is suspected you may need to request a copy of the work from
another institution. This can be done by clicking on the matching text in the left panel. A popup will
show the text and ‘Submitted to <name of institution>’. Clicking on the name of the institution will
open a screen allowing you to request the work. Turnitin will then send an email to the instructor
responsible for the class to which the work was submitted asking them to email the work to you.
It can be helpful to filter the details in the report to lower the number of matches. Bibliographies,
quotations and word groupings can be excluded using the links above the document text panel.
Quotations in ‘single quotes’ rather than “double quotes” will still be highlighted if the option to
exclude quotations is selected.
It is worth noting that Turnitin will not be able to check all possible sources. Turnitin keeps secret the
exact sources they do check against, but mention 20 billion web pages, 220 million student papers at
10 thousand educational institutions and 90 thousand other publications. On occasion Turnitin will
identify an incorrect source. This can occur because the text appears in more than one place e.g.
multiple websites.
Where matching text has been identified you should consider whether the text represents an attempt
to present the work of others as their own or simply poor academic writing. Using the Originality
Report can help identify issues with the student work and give feedback and directions to support.
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A large number of generic resources to support students with academic writing are available on the
Skills Team web pages at http://libguides.hull.ac.uk/skills.
Other questions
What file formats will Turnitin accept?
Most common word-processing formats are accepted. Turnitin will accept documents in
Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, PostScript, PDF, HTML, RTF, and plain text.
Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel documents and formats for computer programming languages are not
accepted.
What is the maximum file size that Turnitin accepts?
The maximum file size is approximately 20MB.
What help is available

Turnitin: General advice on managing formative and summative assessments

eBridge/Turnitin Guide for Students

Turnitin submission in eBridge: Guide for Staff (includes anonymous submission guidance)

Training and support from the eLearning team.
References
Harris, J (2012). Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research Papers. [online]
Available at: < http://www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm > [Accessed 29 August 2012]
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