As a student, you cannot self-check a paper within Turnitin without uploading it to an official assignment created by your instructor, unless your institution has enabled Turnitin Draft Coach.
If Draft Coach is not available to you, your ability to check your work beforehand depends entirely on your instructor's assignment settings.
Option 1: Use Turnitin Draft Coach (if available)
If your institution provides Turnitin Draft Coach, you can run your own Similarity Reports, as well as citation and grammar checks, directly within Google Docs or Microsoft Word before turning in your work.
Check with your institution to see if Draft Coach is available to you.
Option 2: Check via assignment resubmissions
If Draft Coach is not available, you can only check your Similarity score by submitting your draft to an assignment that allows resubmissions. If enabled, any new upload will overwrite your previous draft.
However, Turnitin generates reports differently depending on the assignment version your instructor uses:
š¹ Classic Standard Assignments
First 3 attempts: Your Similarity Report will generate immediately.
4+ attempts: If you resubmit more than three times, you must wait 24 hours for the next Similarity Report to generate.
š¹ New Standard Assignments
Daily limit: You can resubmit up to 3 times within a 24-hour period.
Exceeding the limit: If you exceed 3 resubmissions, you must wait until the next calendar day to upload and view a new report.
What if my assignment does not allow resubmissions?
If your instructor has disabled resubmissions, your first attempt is final, and you will not be able to check your paper beforehand.
If you wish to check a paper beforehand, you will need to contact your instructor directly to ask if they are willing to set up a temporary, separate practice assignment for this purpose.