Enabling the Turnitin Similarity Report
Note: From 2026 Semester 1, Block 1 (H1B1), Turnitin's AI Writing Detection feature has been switched off by default
Turnitin compares submitted work to an extensive database of web pages, journals, articles, and other student submissions, producing a Similarity Report that highlights matched text, identifies sources, and provides an overall similarity percentage. This guide shows how to enable the Similarity Report in the Assessment Dropbox in VU Collaborate.
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Assessment Dropbox
1. In your space on the main menu, select Assessments, then Dropbox.
2. From a Dropbox, select Edit Folder, or to create a new Dropbox, see Creating an Assessment Dropbox.
Manage Turnitin
1. Expand the Evaluation & Feedback panel.
2. Then select Manage Turnitin, at the bottom of the panel.
Similarity Report settings
Enable settings to generate similarity checks.
1. Select Enable Similarity Report for this folder (1), to turn on the similarity check.
2. Select Allow learners to see similarity scores in their submission folder (2), to allow students to be able to view the reports.
3. Select Automatic similarity checking on all submissions (3), to generate checks automatically (rather than the teacher manually selecting individual submissions).
More Options
1. Select More Options, to open the Optional Settings window.
Submission settings
- Submit papers to (1)
-
- Standard paper repository, submitted to Turnitin's database, the default setting.
- Institutional paper repository, sed for documents with sensitive data.
- do not store the submitted papers.
- Allow submission of any file type, set by Dropbox settings.
- Allow late submissions, set by Dropbox settings.
- Optional settings (2)
- Enable Translate Matching, optional.
- Enable grammar checking using ETS e-rater, optional.
- Attach a rubric, don't select, use Dropbox rubric.
Compare against (3), select all options.
- Student paper repository
- Institutional student paper repository
- Current and archived website content
- Periodicals, journals, and publications
Similarity Report
Generate similarity Reports for student submissions (4)
- Generate reports immediately (students can't resubmit)
- Generate reports immediately (students can resubmit up until the due date), after 3 resubmissions, reports are generated every 24 hours, most frequently used setting
- Generate report on the due date (students can resubmit up until the due date)
Exclude settings (5), leave unselected, can be toggled on and off in the similarity report
- Exclude bibliographic materials
- Excluded quoted materials
- Exclude small sources
Exclude assignment template (6)
Upload documents i.e. forms, and questions, to be excluded from the matched text in the similarity report. Templates can be modified up until the first assessment submission.
Additional settings
Tick to save these settings for future use (7).
Select Submit to save settings.
Save changes
1. Select Save to save settings and return to the Dropbox.
2. .When complete, select Save and Close, to save changes to the dropbox.
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
Why can't students see the Turnitin Report?
In the Assessment Dropbox, expand Evaluation & Feedback, then select Manage Turnitin. Under the Similarity Report settings check Allow learners to see similarity scores in their submission folder is selected.
See Manage Turnitin for more details.
Support and Resources
Turnitin guides
- Visit The Similarity Report, for a list of instructor guides by Turnitin.
Academic Integrity
- Library: Academic Integrity at VU: Home
- Library: Workshops and Drop-In Sessions
- Learning Hubs: Academic & Study Skills
- VU referencing style guides
Policy and Guidelines
- Assessment for Learning Policy
- Academic Integrity Policy
- Academic Integrity Guidelines
- Student Misconduct Procedure