{"id":7255,"date":"2018-05-24T15:24:39","date_gmt":"2018-05-24T15:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northampton.ac.uk\/learntech\/?p=7255"},"modified":"2023-12-06T15:17:04","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T15:17:04","slug":"reading-turnitin-similarity-reports-look-beyond-the-score","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northampton.ac.uk\/learntech\/2018\/05\/24\/reading-turnitin-similarity-reports-look-beyond-the-score\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading Turnitin similarity reports \u2013 look beyond the score"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Jim Lusted, Learning Designer\/Senior Lecturer in Sport Studies<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Since the University moved to online assignment submission some years ago it has been much easier to judge the originality of student work. If an assignment is set up using a Turnitin submission point<\/a>, a similarity report<\/a> is automatically generated for each assignment. This provides the marker with a % score of how much of the student work matches material contained in Turnitin\u2019s vast database – some 62 billion webpages, 734 million student papers and 165 million academic sources.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While this automated process has really helped staff judge the credibility of student assignments, your own judgement is still needed to interpret the similarity report. This blog offers some tips about how to \u2018read\u2019 Turnitin reports \u2013 and to consider a range of factors beyond just the overall similarity % score to help you make a judgement about whether you should refer an assignment to the academic integrity and misconduct process.<\/p>\n

Get the set up right to get the most accurate report<\/h3>\n

Start by making sure the similarity report generated is as accurate and useful as possible. When you first set up a Turnitin submission point in NILE, you are offered a daunting list of options to select from. Follow this help guide<\/a> from the LearnTech team\u00a0to ensure your similarity reports check exactly what you want them to.<\/p>\n

Before you begin marking, a useful tip is to overlay the similarity view with the marking view of the Turnitin site (see right).\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/a>This allows you to continually keep a check on originality as you go through the process of marking the work \u2013 and helps you contextualise the areas of similarity. You\u2019ll be able to easily spot where exactly the larger pockets of similarity are being used across the assignment.<\/p>\n

Look beyond the percentage score..<\/h3>\n

The overall % score gives us a quick, rough indicator of how original a student submission might be. It\u2019s certainly a good starting point, but it shouldn\u2019t solely determine your verdict of the assignment and it\u2019s really best not<\/strong> to set a benchmark score to guide your overall judgement – the process ultimately requires a qualitative judgement to be made. Let\u2019s look at a couple of scenarios where the percentage originality score (high or low) might not necessarily tell the full story of who has written the assignment.<\/p>\n

a) A small score but a big problem?<\/h4>\n

Anything below 20% is fine, right?<\/em> A score like this does indicate that the vast majority of the assignment is original. But\u2026<\/p>\n