LibAnswers: FHS Library, Dar es Salam, Tanzania​

Turnitin is plagiarism-detection software that examines student work for text matches by comparing it to a sizable database of other students' written work, publications, and other resources.

To submit a paper in Turnitin users must:

• Go to the Turnitin homepage at turnitin.com using your favourite web browser.
• Another quick way to locate it is to start up Google, enter the word “turnitin” in the    Google             search box. From the search results displayed, click on the Turnitin homepage link and you will be taken to its homepage

• Sign in to Turnitin using your registered e-mail address and own password (if you’re not already signed in).
•  You should see your list of enrolled courses for the current semester. Click on your course name link to view your assignment portfolio.
• In the assignment Inbox, you will see the assignment(s)  created by your Tutor.
• To submit your assignment, click the “Submit” button. By now, you should know the title of your assignment and where that document file is kept in your PC.
•  A new page appears for you to fill in the required information.
• Even though Turnitin accepts several file types, please bear in mind that AKU requires you to submit your text document in the Microsoft WORD format.
• Click choose from this computer to browse and select the file you want to upload.
• Click “upload” button to submit your file.
• As a precaution, before you finally click the submit button, Turnitin will let you preview your submission on a separate page as shown on the right. Once you’re sure that the content is correct, then click the “confirm” button to submit your paper to Turnitin for originality checking.

Return to your class portfolio page by clicking Return to assignment list.

• Once back in your class portfolio page, wait for a while and refresh your page (press F5 key from your keyboard) and you will see your Similarity Index result (%).
•   The “Submit” button has turned into a “Resubmit” button. This indicates that you can resubmit your paper   for checking as many times as you wish.

To download the current view

• Go to Turnitin's student submission list as normal, then click the submission you want to download's similarity percentage.
• In the similarity report view, click the Download button.
• click the Current View option.

To interpret the Turnitin Report

• A paper submitted to Turnitin will be compared against millions of internet documents, published journals, periodicals, and even previously submitted papers stored in Turnitin’s own databank.
• The comparison document is called an Originality Report which provides a summary of matching text found in a submitted paper with the matching sources.
• The amount of matching content is indicated by an index of similarity expressed in percentage (%). The higher the % value, the greater the amount of matching content.
• On the Assignment Inbox section, look under the Similarity column. Double click on the index box to display the full Originality Report on your submitted paper.
• In advance of the deadline, you may be allowed to amend your work based on your Turnitin report, and then re-submit the assignment.

• Where you have copied text from a source word-for-word, ensure you are using quotation marks around the copied text and that the source is correctly referenced.
• Where you are paraphrasing from a source, ensure that you have NOT copied the text word-for-word and that the source is correctly referenced.
• Some common phrases and short pieces of text (typically 5-10 words) may show as matches just because they are in common usage. Unless they are particularly relevant phrases in your subject or have a particular relevance to your work that you wish to emphasize, they do not need to be referenced.