Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Turnitin

  • 15-11-2011 12:08am
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 140 ✭✭


    is there anyway of checking at what time the report actually went through on turnitin?

    also is "27%" similar a good score for an assignment?


Comments

  • Registered Users, Moderators, Education Moderators, Sports Moderators, Regional South Moderators Posts: 15,247 Mod ✭✭✭✭rebel girl 15


    Check the time by you or by the lecturer? afaik the lecturer gets an email to say that someone submitted the material, so that would be time coded. As for checking the students one, think you should get a receipt after you submit it - been a while since I used it tbh, so not 100% sure


  • Registered Users Posts: 22 Liona


    yeah you get an email receipt.. so that should tell you what time it went through.
    As for the originality report... if you look at the document you can actually see what is highlighted. I guess it would be bad if a whole paragraph would be highlighted as that would lead to assume that you copied that one from the internet. in my assignments it highlighted the coverage declaration, words like 'that' and my whole bibliography. :rolleyes:

    But usually they say you shouldn't be concerned about that report... only if the department contacts you about plagiarism you should start thinking about it...


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 8,867 ✭✭✭eternal


    yes it is bad.anything over 8% and you have to change it .sorry for the bad news


  • Registered Users Posts: 22 Liona


    i still think it depends (despite the fact that my department head said anything under 50% shouldnt worry us)
    cuz why would i change my bibliography? thats just BS... but for sure other people in college have used the books i referenced from so they are gonna count into that percentage. which my bibliography alone made for 16% similar in my essay


  • Registered Users Posts: 759 ✭✭✭Plautus


    eternal wrote: »
    yes it is bad.anything over 8% and you have to change it .sorry for the bad news

    No it's not. Turnitin is not a plagiarism detector but rather a tool used to investigate plagiarism - it highlights areas of similarity with texts in the public domain and its database.

    Only a lecturer reading the highlighted passages can consider if they represent plagiarism. I had direct quotations and citations highlighted by Turnitin as well as my bibliography, essay title etc. But none of it was plagiarism.

    The higher the score, the higher the probability of plagiarism. So no, you can't say that a given score in isolation from the text itself is damning. And there is no cut-off as ridiculously arbitrary as 8%

    I've had no trouble with assignments of mine OP that scored 30% in turnitin. A lecturer can read something with a middle-of-the-range score like that and decide for themselves that Turnitin is showing up false positives.


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 1,724 ✭✭✭The Scientician


    As Plautus says it merely indicates there might be plagiarism, it doesn't prove there is. A densely cited assignment might have a majority of its text from other sources, if everything quoted is properly attributed though it's still not plagiarism.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 8,867 ✭✭✭eternal


    Plautus wrote: »
    eternal wrote: »
    yes it is bad.anything over 8% and you have to change it .sorry for the bad news

    No it's not. Turnitin is not a plagiarism detector but rather a tool used to investigate plagiarism - it highlights areas of similarity with texts in the public domain and its database.

    Only a lecturer reading the highlighted passages can consider if they represent plagiarism. I had direct quotations and citations highlighted by Turnitin as well as my bibliography, essay title etc. But none of it was plagiarism.

    The higher the score, the higher the probability of plagiarism. So no, you can't say that a given score in isolation from the text itself is damning. And there is no cut-off as ridiculously arbitrary as 8%

    I've had no trouble with assignments of mine OP that scored 30% in turnitin. A lecturer can read something with a middle-of-the-range score like that and decide for themselves that Turnitin is showing up false positives.
    ACTUALLY its not arbitrary.its what one of the tutors said.im outta here.i was only trying to help.talk about being lectured at.i had enough that in ACTUAL lectures.


  • Registered Users Posts: 759 ✭✭✭Plautus


    It doesn't matter who told you it, it's still wrong. And apologies for the tone, but I don't think it was particularly helpful to tell the OP, so confidently, to throw out everything they've written because of a turnitin score higher than 8% :/


  • Registered Users Posts: 164 ✭✭corcaighabu92


    Can someone tell me where I can copy and paste and essay into someplace and it will give me the exact percentage.


  • Registered Users Posts: 22 Liona


    to get the originality report you have to submit your essay through turnitin. but be aware not every assignment can be resubmitted and i think it only gives you the report once in 24hours.


  • Advertisement
  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3 lorraine!


    Hey Guys,
    Just wondering if anyone knows whether or not Turnitin will pick up if I were to use alot of the content from a previously submitted assignment?
    This work being my own of course.


  • Registered Users Posts: 22 Liona


    as far as i know it does check against the college database, which your previous assignment should be registered in there but i think it ll only pick up if you use the exact same wording.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3 lorraine!


    I see! That's great to know, thanks a mill :-)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,419 ✭✭✭tommy21


    From the point of UCC, it doesn't matter if your using your own work from another essay. It is still plagiarism as it is unoriginal content. The whole point of Turnitin is that it is a continuously expanding database of assignments etc. that gets ever more accurate the more content is uploaded to it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 759 ✭✭✭Plautus


    tommy21 wrote: »
    From the point of UCC, it doesn't matter if your using your own work from another essay. It is still plagiarism as it is unoriginal content. The whole point of Turnitin is that it is a continuously expanding database of assignments etc. that gets ever more accurate the more content is uploaded to it.

    'Plagiarising' one's self is news to me ...

    Plagiarism would be the passing off of the work of others as your own (i.e. without citation or acknowledgement.) The originality (or not) of what you write would be a separate matter entirely.

    Some departments stipulate that you do not present for examination, in the same session, material which you have presented elsewhere for examination (i.e. submitting the same assignment twice to different modules), but that, possibly, would be a form of cheating, not plagiarism.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,419 ✭✭✭tommy21


    Plautus wrote: »
    'Plagiarising' one's self is news to me ...

    Plagiarism would be the passing off of the work of others as your own (i.e. without citation or acknowledgement.) The originality (or not) of what you write would be a separate matter entirely.

    Some departments stipulate that you do not present for examination, in the same session, material which you have presented elsewhere for examination (i.e. submitting the same assignment twice to different modules), but that, possibly, would be a form of cheating, not plagiarism.

    Hmm fair distinction I guess. Either way its not kosher in my dept. and have seen students fail for it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 67 ✭✭MariaBlaah


    i had an essay due in yesterday but i only got it in today - ran out of ink and queue at the printing place on campus blahblah! - submitted it to turnitin yesterday though so will it be ok for the late submission or will i lose the 5%?


Advertisement