Blackboard Ultra (Faculty) - Turnitin Assignments: Integrity Flags

Interpreting the Turnitin Similarity Report

When grading Turnitin assignments within Blackboard Ultra, the Similarity Report provides valuable insights into the originality of student submissions. However, a high similarity score doesn't automatically indicate plagiarism. It's crucial to carefully review the report and consider the context of the matches.

To locate the report from Turnitin and navigate ot the Integrity Flags, access the student's submission from the grade book or the assignment. The percent match will appear in the top left above the document's grading toolbar.  Click on the pill with the percent matched to open a new tab that shows Turnitin's report for that submission. 

Integrity Flags for Review

• Hidden text
• Suspicious Characters

Turnitin identifies these items to help instructors review if the submission indicated unusual activity that may indicate it was altered to bypass originality checkers.  

1. Turnitin will identify a paper with manipulated characters with Red Flag in the Assignment Inbox. Click on "Flags" to see more information. 
   
   
   
   
2. The type(s) of flags will be listed.
3. Click to expand the each catgeory of flag for more information.
   
   
   
   
4. Selecting the specific issue will also jump to the section of the paper with indicators locating each occurrence.  
5. Students may try to beat the similarity checker by replacing a letter with a symbol or letter from another alphabet. In the example below ¹, replacing the letter "a" with the Cyrillic "a" is not easily distinguished by the eye when reading. This is intended to trick the similarity checker into not matching the plagiarized text.
   
   
   
   However, Turnitin can identify foreign characters and will highlight and flag the paper. 
   
   
   
6. For more information about Red Flags, see the Turnitin article "Integrity Flags in the new, enhanced Similarity Report." 
   
   
   1. Example text above from "The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway": https://www.gutenberg.org/files/67138/67138-h/67138-h.htm

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