I cannot view the similarity percentage (%). What should I do?
Similarity Reports are typically completed within 10-15 minutes for the first submission, but may take longer if there is heavy usage or for very large submissions. Similarity Reports for any resubmission will require an additional 24 hours to generate. Please refresh the page and wait until the report is generated.
My percentage is higher than 20%. What should I do?
You should carefully review the Similarity Report and resolve any issues where whole sentences seem to have been copied from one source. Reformulate/paraphrase these sentences regardless of whether a reference has been included or not. Changing one or two words is not enough. If you want to use the exact wording may be able to put the whole sentence in quotation marks. If there are many small parts of sentences or formulae indicated as
copied, discuss this with your supervisor to see how you can address the issues.
What does benchmark mean?
Benchmark is the maximum similarity index. In GSM, an absolute maximum of a 20% is set for Turnitin similarity
reports to give students an idea about the interpretation of the similarity index and additional guidance in
avoiding plagiarism. If your similarity index is above 20%, GSM assumes that your report is plagiarized and if
proven so, the Research Projects Committee will generate a detailed report documenting the plagiarized parts and forward it to the Dean. However, just because a similarity index is below 20% does not mean that the Research Project contains no plagiarized material. Students should review any Turnitin similarity report with a similarity index of 10% or above and strive to avoid any kind of plagiarism.
Can I submit my paper multiple times?
Yes, you can submit it multiple times before the submission deadline. However, always use the resubmit function in the same class - do not submit the revised paper in a separate class so that Turnitin does not compare this new version with the earlier version (see the following Q). Please also note that similarity reports for any resubmission will require an additional 24 hours to generate. Furthermore, please make sure that the final
version of your paper is submitted to the correct class by the submission deadline.
My paper has an extremely high similarity with a paper submitted to another APU class. Why is this? What should I do?
This is very likely to happen if you are submitting a version of a text that you or someone at APU has earlier already submitted to Turnitin (for instance the proposal you used upon enrollment to APU) as all admissions documents are checked through Turnitin. Please contact the class instructor. The class instructor can request a
permission to view the matches with the paper submitted to the other class(es).
What is the benchmark for GSA?
Currently, GSA does not have an exact benchmark for Turnitin similarity reports. Students should consult with their supervisors and receive further guidance on how to interpret similarity reports. Note, the similarity index does not necessarily mean that the Master’s Thesis / Research Report is plagiarized or contains no plagiarized material. Students should strive to avoid any kind of plagiarism at all.