Not usually, however you can ask for your lecturer to set up a 'draft' Turnitin dropbox for the assignment that students can opt to use if they want to improve their academic writing skills.
NoteNever use drop boxes for other units! This can lead to unexpected matches in other units and cause other problems. |
This depends on the settings for your assignment. Not all lecturers will allow you to make multiple submissions. If you want to know in advance, check the information in your assessed task instructions, or ask in the forums before submitting your work.
If your lecturer has set up Turnitin to allow multiple submissions, you must do so during the ‘draft’ stage (before the final submission). Instructions are on the ‘how do I use Turnitin?’ page.
NoteThe original submission date and time will be overwritten when re-submitting. If the due date for the assignment has already passed, the re-submitted paper will appear as ‘late’ (highlighted in red) in the Submission Inbox. Make sure you finalise your submission before the deadline to avoid any penalties for late submission. |
The answer to this question is a little different depending on whether the similarity comparison is between multiple submissions you have made, or between your own work and other students’ work.
If your assignment is still in draft form, you may be able to click ‘edit submission’ and upload the correct file.
If your assignment is no longer in draft form, and you have submitted the wrong document for grading, we suggest that you contact your lecturer or tutor by email and ask them to delete the submission.
When you resubmit, it will overwrite any previous submissions and Similarity Reports.
Not all assignments are connected to Turnitin. It can depend on the settings, as there is an option for assessors to hide the report. So, if you do not see a report when you would otherwise expect to, it is worth contacting your lecturer.
On the other hand, if you suspect that Turnitin is not functioning correctly, please contact eSolutions by selecting ‘Service request’ and the request item ‘Get Moodle/Learning Systems Support’. Make sure you attach a screenshot if possible and leave a contact number.
No, Turnitin is not available to be used for research work at Monash. It is also not recommended that you use Turnitin for this purpose.
iThenticate may suit you as an alternative. It is a plagiarism detection technology which is used globally by scholarly publishers and research institutions to ensure originality of work before publication. For more information about how to access and use iThenticate please see the iThenticate guide.
Some students may see an error message (Error M14:11) similar to the one shown below.
If the due date for the assignment has not been reached and you are allowed to resubmit: return to your document and save it in a different format before re-submitting the assignment. If, for example, the paper is a Microsoft Word (.docx) file type, it may be better to open the document and then re-save it with a Word 97-2003 .doc file type or a .pdf file type. This may improve the chances of the paper being processed correctly.
Similarity Reports should usually be generated within 15 minutes. However, it may take longer for large files, or during peak times when many assignments are being uploaded to Turnitin, so it can frequently take half an hour or longer for the first three submissions.
After the first three submissions (if permitted), Turnitin will take at least 24 hours to generate a Similarity Report for each resubmission.
We recommend that you plan to submit early, well in advance of the deadline, not only so that you have the chance to read the Turnitin report and act on the information it gives you, but also just in case of any technical difficulties you may experience during the upload process.
The similarity percentage indicates the proportion of the text in your document that matches text in other sources. Your assessed task instructions may indicate an acceptable similarity percentage. Alternatively, you can ask your lecturer.
However, the percentage itself is not as important as the reasons for the similarity, so if you are concerned, speak to your lecturer. You can also book a consultation with a Learning Adviser for individual support regarding academic integrity principles.
You can download your Similarity Report if you want to, or are required to, by clicking the download icon at the bottom of the navigation bar on the right-hand side of the Turnitin report page.
Pending means that your report has not yet been generated. Check back again later to see if the status has changed.
In rare circumstances, submissions can remain in a 'Pending' state due to a technical error. If your report remains pending for longer than 1 hour for the first 3 submissions, or for longer than 24 hours for subsequent resubmissions, please contact your Lecturer or eSolutions.
Turnitin uses two pieces of information to identify quotations:
If both of these elements are used to include the quote in your assignment Turnitin generally will ignore this text, however this can depend on the settings used by your unit coordinator. If your unit coordinator has set up the assignment to include text within quotation marks, you can temporarily change the settings to focus on other parts of the text while reading the report. To access that option, click on the filters and settings icon 
on the right-hand navigation bar when viewing the Similarity Report. The settings will revert to their original state when you close the report.
Some referencing styles (such as Harvard) require single quotation marks (‘...’), however Turnitin only recognises double quotation marks, not single ones. So, Turnitin may incorrectly identify these as text matches rather than quotations. It is more important to follow the guidelines for the specific style you have been instructed to use, than to worry about your similarity percentage in Turnitin. If you have quoted the source correctly following relevant guidelines, your lecturer will take this into account when assessing your work.
As mentioned, both elements listed above are needed. So, if you have not cited the source of the quote, it will be flagged by Turnitin even if it is included in quotation marks. This would represent an issue of Academic Integrity, so it is important to make sure that you correctly cite and reference all your sources. Turnitin will not always identify the actual source of information - it will indicate a matching source, not necessarily the original source. If you have lost track of which source you were quoting, you need to either find the quote and author in materials you have read or find other evidence to cite instead.
It is also good to consider whether all the quotations you have used are relevant. If you have a high percentage similarity mostly due to direct quotes, perhaps you are relying too heavily on quotations. In that case, even though the similarity percentage is not an issue, you may still lose marks because you have not sufficiently demonstrated your own understanding of the topic.
This may be an indication that you need to improve your paraphrasing skills.
Some people cut and paste from original sources, then change some words to make the text appear different. This is NOT how to paraphrase, and not good practice. Most words will still match the original text and Turnitin will recognise this as a significant match.
Good paraphrasing skills are based on critical reading and note making skills.
The basic steps of paraphrasing are to:
For more information and tips on developing your paraphrasing skills, visit Paraphrasing, summarising and quoting.
Lots of small matches may represent an issue if they are all matched to the same source, and they are extremely frequent throughout a given paragraph or more. That sort of matching could indicate that your paraphrasing skills could be improved. If you are concerned, you can book a consultation with a Learning Adviser for individual support.
There are some exceptions where Turnitin may identify small matches even if you have excellent paraphrasing skills.
When creating the assignment, your unit coordinator is able to tell Turnitin to ignore small matches; if this setting is not enabled you might see a number of small text matches for common phrases in academic language, and disciplinary-specific language.
Examples
...represents an under-researched area,
several studies indicate that...,
...results indicate a positive correlation between...
Examples
Specialist terminology such as:
forensic examination of the evidence,
implementation of the Australian curriculum.
Names such as:
Department of Education and Training Victoria,
The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital.
Lots of minor text matching can also occur when large student cohorts enrolled in the same unit are provided with the resources to be used in an assignment, for example, if the assignment requires everyone to critically analyse the same academic publication or provide a written reflection on a shared learning experience. This kind of matching occurs because there are only so many ways to restate the same information. In this scenario, your work may end up with many low-percentage matches with submissions from other students’ work. You cannot fix or change this, just understand that it can happen and don't panic when it does!
Note however that this is only relevant where the assessment requires you to use a common resource. If that is not the case, and you think your similarity percentage is due to use of common resources, you may benefit from improving your search skills to find a wider range of high-quality academic sources.
NoteYour assessor can see the settings that have been chosen for Turnitin in the assignment, so they will understand the situation and take it into account when marking your work, however if you are concerned, it is a good idea to get in touch with your lecturer or unit coordinator well in advance of the deadline for the assignment so that you have time to make any changes to your draft if necessary. |
This relates to the way your unit coordinator has set up the assignment in Moodle. There is an option to exclude bibliographies, however some academics may not choose this option or have accidentally switched this off. Turnitin also does not recognise every reference format, and might not identify the reference list.
Reference lists are meant to exactly follow the citing and referencing style, so if you have followed the guidelines, you do not need to worry or do anything about it. Your assessor can see the settings that have been chosen for Turnitin in the assignment, so they will understand the situation and take it into account when marking your work.
A similarity match in Turnitin does not mean that you have plagiarised anything. It just identifies that your text is similar to that in another source. If your text is similar to a source that you used, and another text used that source (and is also similar), then Turnitin may identify your text as similar either to the actual source you used, or to other texts which have used that source poorly. The way to fix this problem is to generally work on improving your paraphrasing and quoting. For more information see Paraphrasing, summarising and quoting.
If you are concerned about the similarity Turnitin has identified your writing, are having trouble understanding the report, or would simply like to improve your academic integrity practices, you can book a consultation with a Learning Adviser for individual support.
You can also access the following for further information and support: