Can the similarity report be shown to students?
- No. University policy dictates that students do not see similarity reports except in a limited number of approved formative activities.
Which file types can Turnitin run a similarity report on?
- Turnitin’s online guidance indicates that a wide range of file types are supported. However, in our experience, some of these “approved” formats do not always transfer reliably between Canvas and Turnitin. The file types listed below have been tested and worked consistently in all cases. For submissions that require Turnitin, we recommend restricting accepted file types to these:
.docx, .pdf, .txt, .pptx, .rtf
How do I access the similarity report?
- Similarity reports are accessed via the Canvas SpeedGrader window, or alternatively, via the Gradebook. For full guidance, please see the guide below.
Accessing the Similarity Report with Canvas Plagiarism Framework
Can we de-anonymise a Canvas assignment in order to check a submission?
You can do this, but there are some important considerations. Once student names are revealed in Canvas, they are also disclosed in the Turnitin similarity report. While you can reapply anonymisation in Canvas, this change does not carry over to Turnitin.
If you need to view an individual student’s submission, it may be best to contact the eLearning Team, who can advise or assist.
Can we see an overview of the similarity scores, or export a list of them?
No. Similarity scores can only be viewed per individual assignment.
Why can’t I see a similarity score in SpeedGrader for the submissions in my Cadmus assignment?
Cadmus doesn’t have the ‘Turnitin Plagiarism Framework’ integration, so you will need to check the similarity scores in Cadmus. We have asked Cadmus if they can add this feature.
If a student submits work to both a draft and a final assignment within the same course, will the submission be matched against itself?
No. Turnitin automatically excludes “self-matches” from the same student within the same course.
There are some very rare situations where the exclusion can be removed. This has only been seen where either a staff member or a student has accessed the Similarity report and manually disabled the exclusion.
Please note, a match will occur if the work is submitted by a different student (including a test student account) or submitted to a different course (e.g. a Sandbox).
What do I do if I can’t see a similarity score?
If available, choose the resubmit to turnitin-plagiarism-framework-prod option within the SpeedGrader submission details tray.
If this is not available, or doesn’t generate a similarity score, please get in touch.
If you’re not seeing a similarity score for a particular submission, it is likely the student uploaded a file in an unsupported format. For future assignments, you may wish to restrict submissions to approved file types only.: .docx, .pdf, .txt, .pptx, .rtf
How do I exclude incorrect matches?
This can be achieved using filters and exclusions. For full guidance, please refer to the page below.
Managing filters and exclusions in the Similarity Report
If, after reviewing the similarity report, you feel the similarity score should be higher or lower, what steps should you take?
Contact the team and we will investigate further.