Turnitin
What is Turnitin?
Turnitin is a text matching tool used at Queen's University. Students upload papers in order to receive originality reports that show text matches to the following sources:
- Student paper repository
- Current and archived web site content
- Periodicals, journals, and publications
Turnitin has three main tools:
- OriginalityCheck: text-matching tool that presents results in the Originality Report.
- GradeMark: a tool for digital assessment (annotations, comments, and grade).
- PeerMark: a tool for peer-assessment of assignments (not available in the onQ integration currently).
How does it work?
Instructions on how to use Turnitin and frequently asked questions are available in the documents below.
Instructions for Students
Upload an Assignment to Turnitin
To upload an assignment to a Turnitin Assignment Submission folder in onQ:
- You will now be taken to the Assignments Dashboard.
- To upload an assignment, click the Upload button, locate the file and click open.
- OR drag and drop the file on the submission window.
- Add any comments to the comments box.
- Click the Submit button.
- You will now be sent a confirmation email to confirm you have successfully uploaded a file.
Review Similarity Score and Originality Report
Once you have uploaded an assignment to Turnitin through onQ you will be able to access your Similarity score and Originality report if your instructor has given you permission to see them.
- On the navbar, select Assignments under the Assessments tab.
- On the Assignment Submission Folder page click the number (1 in example below) under the Submissions column of the Assignment you want to view.
This will take you to the Submission History page for this assignment.
- Submissions Folder – access to all assignment submission folders.
- Submission(s) - original submission files.
- Turnitin Similarity – percentage match to periodical, journals, publications, previously submitted papers, and internet content. See Similarity Score Index below.
- If you have been given access to see the Turnitin Originality Report you can access it by clicking on the Similarity Score.
Similarity Score Index:
Blue: No matching text
Green: One word to 24% matching text
Yellow: 25-49% matching text
Orange: 50-74% matching text
Red: 75-100% matching text
The icons indicate the percentage of the similarity score and the corresponding color on a blue (0%) to red scale (100%).
View the Turnitin and/or GradeMark Feedback
NOTE: What feedback you receive will depend on what the instructor has given you permission to view. It could be just one or all of the following:
- Similarity score
- Originality report
- GradeMark feedback (annotations, comments, and grade).
If you are unsure, please check with your instructor.
Accessing Assignment Feedback
- On the navbar, select Assignments under the Assessments tab.
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- On the Assignment Submission Folder page click the View Feedback under the Feedback column of the Assignment you want to view.
Viewing Assignment Feedback
- Submissions Feedback – view the Turnitin report.
- Score - grade associated with the submission.
- Submission(s) - original submission files.
- Turnitin Similarity – percentage match to periodical, journals, publications, previously submitted papers, and internet content. See Similarity Score Index below.
- Turnitin GradeMark - view the Turnitin report with GradeMark feedback.
Similarity Score Index:
Blue: No matching text
Green: One word to 24% matching text
Yellow: 25-49% matching text
Orange: 50-74% matching text
Red: 75-100% matching text
The icons indicate the percentage of the similarity score and the corresponding color on a blue (0%) to red scale (100%).
Understanding the Similarity Report
Match Overview
Turnitin compares papers against an ever-expanding database of Internet pages, archived pages that might not be available anymore, a subscription repository of periodicals, journals, publications, and a repository of previously submitted papers.
The similarity score is a percentage of the paper's matches to other sources; it is not an assessment of whether the paper includes plagiarized material. The similarity report is a tool for instructors and students to easily find matches or similar text within submitted work.
Match Overview |
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The Match Overview gives you a breakdown of all the matches that have been found in the paper and allows you to clearly view the similarity score. Matches are ordered by the highest instance of similarity down to the lowest. Each match has a color and a number attached to it. These color tags will help you to find the match on the paper itself. |
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1. To view the Match Overview, click on the red, numerical similarity score from the product toolbar. |
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2. The Match Overview will be displayed on the Match Overview side panel. |
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3. Having clicked the Match Overview icon, this will also highlight any matches within the paper itself. Each match can be color-coded to help you identify them easily. |
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4. By clicking on one of the sources from the Match Overview side panel, you can discover how many matches have been found for each source. Click the navigation arrows to jump from one match to the next; this will move you through the paper itself. |
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5. Should you wish to see a match breakdown for each source, click the arrow to the right of the source. |
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6. You can now see a large list of all the sources concerning this particular match. Click any of these matches to be directed to it on your paper. |
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Viewing Source Details
Viewing Source Details |
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1. If you would like to see more information regarding the text that has matched to a source, click on the source number from within the paper |
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2. A pop-up box will appear; this will show you further details relating to the source that your writing has been matched with. |
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3. Should you wish to view the source in more depth, click on the Full Source View icon in the top right-hand corner of the pop-up. |
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4. The right-hand side panel will change to Full Source Text, which you can scroll through to read in detail. |
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5. Click the X icon in the top right-hand corner of the side panel to return to the Match Overview. |
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All Sources
All Sources |
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In the All Sources side panel, all of the sources that have been found are displayed and sorted by highest percentage to lowest percentage match. Clicking on any source will change the navigation bar at the top of the page, displaying how many times that this source has matched in the paper. Clicking the arrows will allow you to see where these have matched on the page. You can further refine this navigation by clicking on an individual page within a source; this will simply show you matches from that specific sub-source. |
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1. To view All Sources, click on the red graph icon from the similarity toolbar. |
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2. You can now see a large list of all the sources for this paper. Click any of these matches to be directed to it on your paper. |
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3. Click the X icon in the top right-hand corner of the side panel to close the full panel. |
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Changing Filters and Settings
Changing Filters and Settings |
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You may apply several different filters to your report, should you wish to make any exclusions. |
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Exclusion by Text Type1. Click the red Filter icon from the similarity toolbar. |
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2. From the Filters and Settings side panel, use the check boxes to make bibliography and quote exclusions from the similarity report. |
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3. Click Apply Changes to confirm this change. This will regenerate the similarity report to include your exclusions. |
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Exclusion by Number1. Click the red filter icon from the similarity toolbar. |
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2. From the Filters and Settings side panel, use the radio and text boxes to make report exclusions. You may exclude sources that are less than a certain number of words or a certain percentage of words. For example, filtering by 10 words will exclude all sources with a cumulative match word count that is less than 10 words. |
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Report Multi-Color Highlighting1. To apply multi-color highlighting to the similarity report, click the red Filter icon from the similarity toolbar. |
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2. From the Filters and Settings side panel, use the Multi-Color Highlighting checkbox to turn multi-color highlighting on and off in the similarity report. |
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3. To save your filters and/or settings, click the Apply Changes button. |
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Download Instructions
- Student - onQ - Upload an Assignment to Turnitin
- Student - onQ - Review Similarity Score and Originality Report
- Student - onQ - View the Turnitin and/or GradeMark Feedback
- Student - onQ - Understanding the Similarity Report
Turnitin FAQs
Turnitin File Size and Types
Turnitin will only accept files:
- that are less than 40 MB;
- that have a minimum of 20 words; and
- that are less than 400 pages.
Turnitin currently accepts the following file types for upload into an Assignment folder:
- Microsoft Word™ (doc and docx)
- Microsoft PowerPoint (ppt, pptx, and pps)
- Portable Document Format (pdf)
- HTML
- Plain text (txt)
- Rich Text Format (rtf)
- Adobe PostScript®
- Corel WordPerfect®
- Hangul (hwp)
My first few Turnitin reports generated immediately on assignment submission, but now when I submit an assignment to Turnitin it is not creating a new report?
If your instructor has allowed you multiple submissions to Turnitin by selecting Generate reports immediately, you can resubmit until due date.
The first 3 assignment submissions will generate Similarity Reports immediately.
After the first 3 submissions reports will take 24 hours to generate.