Using the Originality Report in Turnitin Student Guide

Transcription

1 Using the Originality Report in Turnitin Student Guide This guide describes how to view, operate and interpret the matches made in the originality report produced by Turnitin on your submitted assignments. Last updated By Learning Technologies Team On April 2013 This document and other Information Services documents are held online on our website: Printed Monday, 27 July 2015

2 University of Brighton Information Services Contents 1 What is an originality report? When is an originality report produced? How to find and view the originality report Navigating the originality report in the document viewer The Similarity Index percentage Does the percentage match indicate plagiarism? Does the overall percentage matter? Types of matching text Matches to another students work What if I have a large number of matches or a high percentage? What if I don t have many matches? View the source of a match Go to matches on the assignment Show an individual match and possible sources View the original website of an Internet source Filter and exclude sources in a report Filter out the bibliography, quotations and small matches Page 2 April 2013

3 1 What is an originality report? The originality report indicates similarities between your submitted work and a series of online sources that the software has checked the your work against. These sources are: The Internet, including archived web pages. Student assignments that have previously been submitted to Turnitin, including other Universities and Colleges. Electronic publications, where agreement has been reached with publishers. Reports do not pick up matches in your assignments to items such as images, drawings, diagrams or plans and older print books and journals. The originality report helps to: Check that online sources in an assignment have been properly cited and the text has not simply been copied without appropriate referencing. Ensure a level of equality and parity by checking all assignments against the vast range of possible online sources. Develop good academic practice and prevent accidental plagiarism, especially where your tutor allows you to see the originality report before the submission deadline. The Originality Report does not attempt to judge whether plagiarism has occurred, it only highlights text that matches another source. The originality report will pick up matches even when you have correctly referenced them. A decision of plagiarism remains the academic judgment of your tutors. The Turnitin originality report is used in conjunction with other methods of checking the academic integrity of assignments by your tutors. Watch the help video that accompanies this guide at 2 When is an originality report produced? If your tutor has enabled you to see the Originality Report then you can access this either before the online submission Due Date or after the due date has past, depending on the setting chosen by your tutor. An Originality Report is generated when you submit your work. While it only usually takes a few minutes to generate the Originality Report after you have submitted your work, it can take longer at busy periods. It is important to note that if you are allowed to re-submit your work to the same submission point then the generation of subsequent Originality Reports can be delayed by 24 hours. 3 How to find and view the originality report. Printed Monday, 27 July 2015 Page 3

4 University of Brighton Information Services 1. Go to the area where you submitted your work and open the assignment link by clicking View/Complete. 2. Click on the percentage score under Similarity to ope the full report in the Document Viewer. DO NOT click the View button. This is used for online feedback and may give you an error if used before online feedback is available (when the button is highlighted in blue). NOTE: If you see Not Available under Similarity, this means that you won t be able to see your originality report, (it may become available after the assignment Due Date) or an originality report is not being produced for this assignment. Talk to your tutor if you are unsure. Page 4 April 2013

5 4 Navigating the originality report in the document viewer. Printed Monday, 27 July 2015 Page 5

6 University of Brighton Information Services 5 The Similarity Index percentage. An overall percentage match is shown as the Similarity Index in the top right of the document viewer. This is the total amount of text matched to other sources as a proportion of the assignment. 5.1 Does the percentage match indicate plagiarism? No, don t worry! The percentage match doesn t always indicate plagiarism. It only identifies the amount of matched text in your assignment and should only be used as a guide. It is up to you to evaluate if the matches are correctly referenced. 5.2 Does the overall percentage matter? There is no ideal percentage. Your work is bound to contain words from other sources. The percentage will vary depending on the type and length of assignment and the requirements of the work involved. As you ll see, the report will show matches that you can safely ignore and also ones you may need to check. 6 Types of matching text. There are certain types of acceptable matched text that it is normal to find and your tutor will ignore. These include: Quotations: Properly referenced quotations can be ignored. These can be excluded using the filter. References and Bibliography: Other students will have used the same references at some point and these will show up. Matching formats such as the same essay title. Tables and Charts showing shared or copied data or statistics. Appendices may also have a large amount of matching text as other students may well have used the same sources. Small matches that form common phrases in a sentence or subject terminology will be detected. These can be removed using the small match filter. Paraphrasing text from a source will be highlighted even where words in the phrase have been changed. Your tutor will judge if the text has been suitably paraphrased. Talk to your tutor if you need advice. Page 6 April 2013

7 6.1 Matches to another students work. If the report shows that what you ve written matches text submitted by another student, it will show the date of submission and the University it is from. It won t show their text. If this isn t one of the acceptable matches already mentioned it could indicate collusion where two or more students have copied each other s work. Or it may also indicate that you have simply included text from the same written source, perhaps a textbook. The Turnitin database doesn t contain a comprehensive list of print books, and this is the most common reason for these types. If you have properly referenced your source as a quotation then this can be ignored. 6.2 What if I have a large number of matches or a high percentage? This can often indicate an over reliance on direct quotations and paraphrased text or text has been copied and pasted directly from the Internet. Make sure matches are converted into properly referenced quotations or if appropriate, re-write them into well-written and referenced paraphrases. You might also want to remove some of the matched text and use your own words instead. Think about using referencing software like Endnote to keep track of and recall all of your original sources. A 100% match means your assignment has previously been submitted to Turnitin. This can happen if you are re-submitting work and you have already submitted the assignment to the Turnitin database. Your tutor will recognise this is the case What if I don t have many matches? If you don t have any matches or a low percentage it could mean that the report is already excluding quotations and the Bibliography. But it could also mean that: There is little or no use of direct quotes and depending on the nature of the assignment this is not necessarily an issue. Text has been appropriately paraphrased or summarised from your sources. Ensure that all of them have been properly referenced. Printed Monday, 27 July 2015 Page 7

8 University of Brighton Information Services 7 View the source of a match. The Match Overview sidebar shows a list of the individual matches, with a suggested most likely source and a separate percentage score for each of these, as a proportion of the assignment s total text. 7.1 Go to matches on the assignment. 1. Click on one of the matches in the Match Overview sidebar to jump to the highlighted text in the assignment. 7.2 Show an individual match and possible sources. 1 Hover your cursor over the match in the Match Overview sidebar. 2 Click on the View Match Breakdown arrow icon that appears. The Match Breakdown shows: a. A full list of alternative online sources Turntin has identified for the match. b. The number of times the matched source appears throughout the assignment. Click the arrows on the grey menu bar to move to the location of each match. c. The Direct Source Comparison pop-up window. This window highlights where the match has been made in the original source text. Click the Full Source View link to see the full text in more detail. 7.3 View the original website of an Internet source. d. Click the web link in the Direct Source Comparison view. e. Or hover your cursor over a matched source in the Match Breakdown sidebar. And click the View source in web page arrow icon that appears. Page 8 April 2013

9 8 Filter and exclude sources in a report. Applying filters and exclusions will reduce the Similarity Index percentage and refine the number of matches shown in a report. 8.1 Filter out the bibliography, quotations and small matches. Acceptable types of matches can be filtered out of the originality report if your tutor hasn t done this when setting up the submission. The filter will only stay applied while you are viewing the report. To filter out matches on a single report in the Document Viewer: 3 Click on the Funnel shaped View / edit filter and settings icon at the bottom of the Match Overview sidebar. 4 Under Filters and Settings, tick the box to: Exclude Quotes - where text has either inverted commas ( ) around it or text has been block indented. Exclude Bibliography - Any references shown after a Bibliography or References heading. Exclude matches that are less than a certain number of Words or a percentage (%) of the assignment. Enter an appropriate number in the box provided. (E.g.10 words or 1%) 5 Click Apply Changes to revise the matches shown in the originality report. The Similarity Index percentage and the match Breakdown will be reduced where these filtered sources are removed. NOTE: Sources can be included again by un-ticking the boxes. Printed Monday, 27 July 2015 Page 9