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SafeAssign and Turnitin: Home

This Guide has been created to help you understand your SafeAssign or Turnitin report.

What is SafeAssign and Turnitin?

SafeAssign and Turnitin are tools that identifies text matches in your assignment, which should be reviewed to ensure that they are appropriately cited and acknowledged. SafeAssign and Turnitin compare submitted assignments against a set of sources to identify areas of overlap between the submitted assignment and existing works.

After a paper is processed, a report is generated detailing the percentage of text in the submitted paper that matches existing sources. The report also shows the suspected sources for each section that returns a match. 

The originality report does not state whether a phrase that matches a source is properly referenced. 

You can use your SafeAssign or Turnitin report to check the highlighted text matches and evaluate if you need to rephrase, if you need to add an in-text citation or double check that you have done the right thing. 

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 FAQs 

How to access your SafeAssign or Turnitin report

  1. To view your Originality/Similarity report, return to the assignment submission point link where you submitted your assignment and click on the link. You will be taken to the Review Submission History screen.
  2. To access your SafeAssign report:
    1. Click on SafeAssign to open.  'Report in progress' message will display until report is fully processed (it may take some time to generate). A '..% overall match' will display when the originality report has been processed.
    2. Click View Originality Report to view the full SafeAssign report.
  3. To access your Turnitin report:
    1.  Click on the assignment link - this will take you to your Assignment Dashboard.
    2. Click on the Similarity percentage score to view the report.

How to read your Turnitin report

A Turnitin report opens in Feedback Studio. Use the navigation bar to view details. The report has three sections:

  • Match overview
  • Match details
  • Submission

Match overview

The match overview provides you with your overall score. 

Match details

Sources that matches the assignment's text are listed in the right panel of the report. Select the source type to learn more about the match. For each source, a number appears which corresponds with the highlighted text in the submission. You can select 'Open match' source to visit the matching source text in a new window.

Submission

The submitted paper appears in the left panel of the report. All matching blocks of text are identified. Each source has a color specific to the source and a number helping to match it to the information in the 'Citation panel'. 

Select a matching block of text to display information about the original source and the probability that the block or sentence was copied from the source.

Download/Print report

Click on the download icon at the bottom of the navigation bar to download and print your report. 

Interpreting your SafeAssign or Turnitin Score

The overall SafeAssign/Turnitin score indicates the probability that the submitted paper contains matches to existing sources. This score is a warning indicator only. Review the assignment to see if the matches are properly attributed.

Generally, you can ignore highlighted text from the following sections:

  • The reference list or bibliography of your assignment
  • Quotations and block quotations that are properly cited according to the relevant referencing style guidelines
  • Assignment titles and tables of contents
  • Common phrases or technical terms
  • Templates, cover pages, or assignment questions included in the assignment

Keep the above dot points in mind when considering your overall score: 

  • Scores below 15 percent: These papers typically include some quotes and few common phrases or blocks of text that match other documents. Typically, these papers don't require further analysis as there is no evidence of plagiarism.
  • Scores between 15 percent and 40 percent: These papers include extensive quoted or paraphrased material, or they include plagiarism. Review these papers to determine if the matching text is properly referenced.
  • Scores over 40 percent: A very high probability exists that text in these papers was copied from other sources. These papers include quoted or paraphrased text in excess, and need to be reviewed for plagiarism.

How to read your SafeAssign originality report

A SafeAssign originality report is divided into three areas:

  • Report information
  • Citations
  • Submission

Report Summary

Report Summary appears in the top panel of the report - click on 'View Report Summary'. 

Sources - Citations

Sources that matches the assignment's text are listed in the right panel of the report. Select the source type to learn more about the match. For each source, a number appears which corresponds with the highlighted text in the submission. You can select 'Open match' source to visit the matching source text in a new window.

Submission

The submitted paper appears in the left panel of the report. All matching blocks of text are identified. Each source has a color specific to the source and a number helping to match it to the information in the 'Citation panel'. 

Select a matching block of text to display information about the original source and the probability that the block or sentence was copied from the source.

Download/Print report

In the top right corner of the report you will find the option to print or download the report. 

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