What is a Similarity Report?
The Similarity Report provides a comprehensive summary of any matching text found within a student's submission. When a paper is submitted, Turnitin compares it against our extensive database, which includes:
Billions of web pages: Both current and archived internet content.
A global student repository: Papers previously submitted to Turnitin by students worldwide.
Premium academic content: Thousands of leading periodicals, journals, and publications.
Does Turnitin check for plagiarism?
No. Turnitin does not check for plagiarism, nor does it define whether a paper has been plagiarized. Turnitin detects text matches to help educators identify where a student has drawn from external sources. The instructor—as the subject-matter expert—uses their academic judgment to determine if those matches represent legitimate citation, poor paraphrasing, or plagiarism.
What is an "acceptable" Similarity score?
There is no single "acceptable" or "perfect" Similarity score. The percentage returned is a Similarity score, not a plagiarism score. It simply indicates how much of the paper matches text found elsewhere in our database.
High scores do not automatically mean a student plagiarized. A paper can have a high score because it contains a large amount of properly cited, legitimate quotes.
Because Turnitin highlights matches for correctly cited sources, bibliography sections, and common phrases, a human review is always required.
Learn more
For a deeper dive into analyzing matching text, reviewing source cards, and filtering your results, please check out our comprehensive guide on Understanding the Similarity score.