Check Turnitin: How to Read the Report and Revise Your Thesis Before Submission

What does checking Turnitin mean in a thesis?

Checking Turnitin means submitting your writing to Turnitin to generate a similarity report, usually called the Similarity Report. The report shows passages in your thesis whose wording is identical or close to wording in sources identified by the system. The result usually appears as a similarity percentage together with highlighted areas in the manuscript.

You need to understand what this check is for. Checking Turnitin helps you review your citations, paraphrasing, reference list, and use of sourced passages. The software does not automatically conclude that your thesis is plagiarism. You still need to inspect each source, compare the context, and assess how clearly you have acknowledged another author's ideas.

In a quantitative thesis, sections such as the theoretical foundation, construct definitions, method description, and reference list may show some similarity. Your research results, interpretation of the data, and discussion should be written closely around your own data. Looking only at one overall percentage is therefore not enough to decide whether the thesis needs revision.

If you are completing your undergraduate thesis, check each version separately. Keep the original file, the revised file, and the time of each check so you can identify which changes actually made the report clearer.

The standard structure of a Turnitin check

A sound Turnitin check should be part of your thesis writing and review process rather than something you do at the last minute. You can divide the work into the following parts.

Keep the sections that your institution requires in the version used for checking. Some institutions allow or require you to exclude the reference list, direct quotations, appendices, or small sources. The rule depends on your account, supervisor, and managing unit, so ask the appropriate person before choosing exclusion settings.

The table below gives you a practical way to classify what you see in the report. It is a content-handling guide, not a rule that sets one percentage for every institution.

Steps for checking Turnitin

Step 1: Prepare the thesis before uploading it

Open the final Word file and check the sections that can create misleading results. Review the research topic, institution name, student name, table titles, appendices, questionnaire items, and reference list. If you upload an old version by mistake, revising the report afterward will take time and will not reflect the thesis you are preparing to submit.

Use a clear file name, such as KLTN_NguyenVanA_v3.docx. Keep separate versions in a dedicated folder rather than overwriting the previous file. If the thesis contains respondents' personal data, check your institution's rules on uploading files to its system, because uploading may involve access and manuscript storage issues.

Step 2: Read the Similarity Score on the overview screen

After the system finishes processing, review the similarity percentage without rushing to a conclusion. This number is only an aggregate of the areas identified by the system, while each area may have a different cause. Two theses with the same similarity percentage may differ considerably in how much revision they need.

Record three pieces of information: the total percentage, the sources with the largest percentages, and the chapters with the most highlights. If the report has exclusion options, record exactly which sections you excluded. This record helps you explain to your supervisor that you read the report source by source rather than simply searching for a low number.

Step 3: Open each highlighted passage

Click the colored areas in the preview and open the corresponding source list. Read the sentence before the match, the sentence after it, and the excerpt from the source. In many cases, the match consists only of a technical term such as a model name, test name, or common method description. You need to distinguish this from copying an author's entire argument.

If a passage is highlighted against several sources, identify the source closest to the version you used. Also check whether the sentence already has an in-text citation, whether the cited work appears in the reference list, and whether the citation accurately represents the source's meaning.

Step 4: Classify the passages so you know what to revise

You can classify each highlighted area into four groups: direct quotation, paraphrase, common terminology, and text that you wrote yourself but structured too closely to the source. This approach is more practical than revising every colored passage at once.

For a direct quotation, check the rules for quotation marks, page numbers, and source formatting. For a paraphrase, read the source, close the original document, and rewrite the idea according to the logic of your own topic. Replacing a few words with synonyms while keeping the same sentence structure is usually not enough to create an independent paraphrase.

For common terminology, scale names, or test names, you can keep the standard wording. If the system highlights text you wrote yourself, check whether the sentence follows an overly common template or presents an idea that needs a citation.

Step 5: Revise and keep a record of the changes

Start with passages where one source accounts for several consecutive sentences, followed by passages that are almost identical to the original. Do not delete a citation just to reduce the similarity percentage. A citation identifies the source of an idea, while revised wording shows your own understanding of that idea.

Turn on Track Changes or save separate versions. In a tracking table, you can record the chapter, page, highlighted source, action taken, and reason for keeping or revising the passage. If your supervisor asks why a passage still shows similarity, you will have a basis for explaining the decision instead of trying to reconstruct it later.

Step 6: Check the revised version again

After revising, read every changed passage to check its coherence. A paraphrase that remains too close may still be highlighted, while a paraphrase that moves too far from the source may change the academic meaning. In particular, quantitative methods require consistent use of terms such as Cronbach's Alpha, EFA, outer loading, VIF, and bootstrapping.

If you are allowed to check again, upload the correct new version and compare it with the previous report. When the percentage changes, inspect which areas disappeared and which new areas appeared. A new report does not replace reading the content. Your aim is a thesis with clear sources, an independent argument, and accurate citations.

Usable sentence templates

You can use the sentences below as frameworks and replace the bracketed information with the actual content of your topic. Do not copy the same template into every chapter, because each sentence needs to match your source and your presentation of the research.

How to write this in your thesis

You could write: "The Turnitin check was used as a step for reviewing citation and wording practices. The highlighted passages were compared with each source, then retained when they represented necessary terminology or revised when the wording did not clearly show the source and the thesis author's argument." Replace the description with the process you actually followed. Do not report a percentage unless you have an official report.

When describing the method, you could also write: "The manuscript was checked for similarity before submission. The author reviewed the highlighted passages, checked the consistency between in-text citations and the reference list, and saved the revised version." This sentence is appropriate only if you actually completed those steps.

A short Turnitin checking example

Suppose Chapter 2 contains a passage describing a research model. The report highlights four consecutive sentences and links them to one main source. When you read the passage again, you realize that the three sentences follow the source's argument in the same order, even though you replaced some words with synonyms. You do not delete the citation because the idea still belongs to the earlier author.

Close the original document, record the main ideas as bullet points, and reorganize them around your research question. The new passage can begin with the context of your topic, define the concept, and then explain why the variable was included in the model. At the end of the passage, cite the appropriate source and connect it to your study's hypothesis.

For example, the revised version could say: "In the context of [industry or market], [concept X] is considered through [A], [B], and [C]. Based on the argument of [author, year], this study assumes that [X] is related to [Y]. The hypothesis is tested using data collected from [survey population]." This is an illustrative framework, not the result of a real study.

After revising, you check again and see that some phrases are still highlighted because they are variable names, model names, and method terms. Keep those phrases when they are technically necessary, but review the surrounding argument. Read the report together with the manuscript rather than separating it from the academic content.

If you are writing other sections of your thesis, apply the same logic: identify the source, understand the idea, write it through the flow of your own research, and acknowledge the material you used. When you need to review the boundary between incomplete citation and potentially plagiarized content, you can also read the guide on plagiarism.

Common mistakes that make the committee ask follow-up questions

The first mistake is saying that the thesis is acceptable because the similarity percentage is low without explaining the largest sources. The committee may open a specific passage and ask where the idea came from. Your answer needs to rely on the content and references, not only on the total percentage.

The second mistake is deleting every highlighted passage. This can remove a necessary definition, condition of application, or argument. Revise the wording and retain the necessary academic information, while making sure the source is recorded correctly.

The third mistake is paraphrasing by changing individual words. If the sentence structure, order of ideas, and reasoning remain the same as the source, the report may continue to highlight the passage. Read to understand the content, close the source, write around your research question, and then check the accuracy again.

The fourth mistake is using one sentence template throughout the chapter. Phrases such as "the results show" or "this study contributes" may need to recur, but each claim must be connected to your specific variables, sample, method, and results.

The fifth mistake is checking immediately before the submission deadline. If you discover that a chapter needs to be rewritten, you may no longer have enough time to check the argument, references, tables, data, and formatting. Put the check into your writing schedule together with your review of tables, results, and document formatting.

You can also review the related guides in the Undergraduate Thesis topic and scientific research topic sections to keep your topic, sources, and scope consistent before revising the manuscript.

Frequently asked questions

What is a Turnitin check, and do I need to check before submitting my thesis?

A Turnitin check generates a similarity report for your manuscript. You should check before submission if your institution or supervisor requires it, because the report can reveal missing citations, overly close paraphrasing, and inconsistencies in the reference list.

What Turnitin percentage is acceptable?

There is no single correct percentage for every institution and every type of thesis. Check your institution's rules, how it excludes references and quotations, and the content of the highlighted sources.

A low percentage can still include one significant copied passage. A high percentage can result from the research topic, technical terminology, reference list, or commonly used method descriptions.

How can I reduce the Similarity Score without violating academic standards?

Read each source, rewrite the idea in your own words, cite it correctly, and use quotation marks when you reproduce the original wording according to the rules. Do not delete sources, insert meaningless words, alter the formatting to mislead the system, or deliberately make the writing difficult to read.

The goal is to make authorship and the source of each idea clear. If a technical term must remain unchanged, focus on revising the argument, paragraph structure, and connection to your topic.

Why does Turnitin still show a match after I paraphrase?

Your paraphrase may still retain the original order of ideas, sentence structure, or long phrases from the source. Close the source, record the main points, rewrite them around your research question, and then check that the meaning remains accurate.

Some technical terms and model names may also continue to appear in the report. Read the context in those cases instead of automatically replacing the terms with different wording.

Should I remove the reference list when checking Turnitin?

Exclude the reference list only if the system or your institution's rules allow it. When submitting the official version, follow the settings required by your supervisor. Removing the reference list from the file only to lower the percentage may leave the submission missing a required component.

Does checking Turnitin replace a plagiarism review?

No. The report is a review tool, while assessing plagiarism requires examining the source, context, extent of idea use, and way the author has been acknowledged. You still need to read the content, compare the references, and take responsibility for your thesis.

Open your thesis file now, create a separate copy, list the highlighted passages by source, and begin with the passages showing the highest similarity and academic risk. If you need help writing and reviewing the quantitative chapters in your own manuscript, see module M5 at DoThesis.