❗Highlighted matches are instances of text similarity; they do not always indicate plagiarism. The match could be a quote or cited material listed in a bibliography. We aim to provide as much information for each match as possible to assist in your assessment of its legitimacy.
In this guide:
- Overall similarity
- What are submissions compared against?
- Similarity overview
- What are overlapping sources?
Overall similarity
The overall similarity is a percentage showing how much text from the submission matches to sources in our database. We calculate this percentage by dividing the number of matching words by the total number of words in the document.
What are submissions compared against?
A submission (with at least 20 words or more) made to an assignment generates a Similarity Report. The Similarity Report is the result of comparison between the text of the submission against the search targets, or databases, selected for the assignment.
Depending on your settings, these databases may include:
- billions of pages of active (and archived) internet information,
- previously submitted works,
- tens of thousands of periodicals, journals, and publications.
Any matching or highly similar text discovered is detailed in the Similarity Report.
Similarity overview
The new Similarity Report now provides two unique views for faster insights into instances of text similarity:
Match Groups
The Match Groups view breaks the overall similarity down into four categories: Not Cited or Quoted, Missing Quotations, Missing Citation, or Cited and Quoted. The text for each similarity match is highlighted in the corresponding match group color, depending on if citations or quotation marks are detected near that text.
Sources
Sources provides a list of sources organized in descending order by highest total similarity percentage. (These sources are the same as those detailed in source cards in the Match Groups view.)
What are overlapping sources?
It is possible that similar text can be found within multiple sources. When text is similar to more than one source, whichever source has the most matched words will display first.
When multiple sources are found matching the same exact words, the report will prioritize sources as best match, or top source, in this order:
- Internet
- Publications
- Submitted Works (student papers)
To reveal overlapping sources matched to the same text, choose the submission highlight or source card with the match in question, then select View other sources at the bottom of the card in the right-side panel:
To display individual cards for each matched source (including sources matched to the same text), select the Show overlapping sources option at the top of the Source list. Selecting a source card will highlight the matching text in the submission: