To view the originality report for a submission – in the student submission list click on the percentage score under the Similarity column to open the full Similarity Report.

The percentage score is the total amount of the submitted assignment text that has been matched to other sources. This score is not necessarily a measure of plagiarism – further scrutiny of the submission is required to determine if it might be plagiarised.

Navigating the Similarity Report

Click the red Match Overview button in the similarity toolbar to show the Match Overview panel.

Matched text is highlighted on the assignment and each match is numbered and colour coded in the Match Overview sidebar for easy reference. In this example there are three different matched sources which total 88% of the submitted assignment text.

It is important to note that correctly referenced text will still be highlighted as a match and count towards the overall match percentage. For example, all three of these paragraphs have been highlighted as matches. However, only the first paragraph may be an indication of plagiarism, as the other two have been correctly referenced.

View the source of a match

The Match Overview sidebar shows a list of the individual matches, with a suggested source and a separate percentage score for each of these, as a proportion of the assignment’s total matched text.

Click on one of the matches in the Match Overview sidebar. This will open a panel which shows the matched text within an extract of the article/website where it appears.

Should you need to see the full text of the matched article/website click the Full Source View button.

This will show the full text of the matched source with the matched text highlighted.

If the matched source is from the internet, clicking on the web address in the panel will open the website where the text match can be found.

NOTE: this does not highlight the matched text on the internet source itself – it simply opens the internet source which contains the matched text.

View a match made to another student’s paper

If there is a match to another student’s paper – which could indicate collusion. E.g.

Click the arrow to the right of the match listing.

The panel will display a list of matches to other papers submitted at other universities/colleges/schools as well as any submitted to DMU.

To view the match report for a paper previously submitted to DMU. Click on the match that you want to view.

This will display a panel which shows the matching text in the previously submitted paper.

If you click the ‘Submitted to . . .’ title on the panel an information window will appear which gives details of when and to which module/assessment the matched paper was submitted. There is also the option to download the originally submitted paper – if you need to check it in more detail.

View the match report for a paper previously submitted to somewhere other than DMU

Click on the match that you want to view.

The following message will appear. If you need to view the submission you will need to request access to it from the place to which it was submitted. To do this click on the title of the panel.

You will then be asked to add an email address before sending your request.

Any tutors connected to that student’s submitted paper automatically receive your request. Turnitin sends them the text of the paper in an email and they are asked to forward the email to the person requesting access. This decision to give you access to the submission is at the academic’s discretion. And you may not receive any reply or acknowledgement that your request was received.

NOTE: Only make requests to view papers where there is a substantial match to another paper that cannot be explained after looking closely at the report.