Turnitin assignments and Similarity Reports
When setting up an assignment in Canvas LMS, staff have the option of generating a Turnitin Similarity Report for each student submission.
Turnitin is an integration available in the LMS that provides staff with the ability to generate Similarity and AI probability Reports.. To find out more about this tool, refer to our Turnitin learning technology information.
Turnitin may only be used in accordance with Turnitin’s end-user license agreement. Please familiarise yourself with these terms before agreeing and using the service.
Marking of Turnitin assignments in the LMS is performed via the Canvas SpeedGrader or Turnitin Feedback Studio, depending on how the assessment is configured. All configurations provide staff and students with access to the Turnitin Similarity Report. Additionally, staff are also provided with the AI Writing reports.
It is very important to understand that:
- Similarity Score does NOT indicate whether plagiarism has taken place.
- AI Writing report is not conclusive evidence of the presence AI writing.
Refer to interpret the Similarity Report below and accessing and interpreting the AI Writing Report for more information..
Create an assignment using Turnitin
- Navigate to your Subject in the LMS and click Assignments in the subject navigation menu.
- Click the Add Assignment button and enter the assignment name and instructions. The settings required to generate Turnitin Similarity Reports are specified below. For other assignment settings, refer to the how do I add or edit details in an assignment? guide for the instructions on how to configure them.
- Set the Submission Type to Online, and select the File Uploads checkbox. The Restrict Upload File Types checkbox can be selected to ensure students only submit file types that are accepted by Turnitin.
Note, the Restrict Upload File Types option can be checked to ensure students can only submit file types accepted by Turnitin, such as PDF and DOCX, for example.
File Uploads are required to generate the Turnitin Similarity Report
- In the Plagiarism Review dropdown, select Turnitin.
Note: If you prefer to use the new Canvas Document Processor, skip the this setting and refer to notes on configuring the Document Processor. - The Turnitin settings for Plagiarism Review will appear. Review and change these settings as required. Our recommended settings are:
Recommended Plagiarism Review settings
- Store submissions in: Standard paper repository - to ensure these files are recorded in the Turnitin database and compared to future submissions.
- Compare submissions against: All options selected - all available documentation will be included in the Similarity Report.
- Student repository: Student work that was previously submitted to the Turnitin paper repository database
- Website content: Turnitin keeps a repository of publicly available websites that is constantly being updated
- Periodicals, journals and publications.
- Do not exclude any materials - exclusions can be applied as needed when viewing the report.
- Exclude bibliographic materials: The report will not include the bibliography/works cited
- Quoted materials: The report will not include any similarities in quotations that are used in the submission (anything within quotation marks)
- Small sources: When the number of matching words is really low.
- Select Save as default settings to ensure these settings are applied in your future assignments.
- Important: Choose the appropriate setting to control when or if students will see their Similarity Report in the dropdown for Show report to students. This will vary depending on your subject or Faculty requirements.
- Click Save & Publish to make your assignment visible to students. If you would rather publish your assignment later, click Save.
Access the Similarity Report
Once a student has submitted a file to an assignment with Turnitin enabled, a Similarity Report will be generated according to the settings chosen when the assignment was set up. The file is matched against the information available in the Turnitin repository to produce a Similarity Score.
Similarity Reports are accessible from within the SpeedGrader.
- Click Assignments in the subject navigation menu.
- Open the relevant assignment (in which Turnitin has been enabled) and then click SpeedGrader from the right-hand Related Items section
- SpeedGrader will load in a new window. The Similarity Score is displayed as a percentage number in a coloured square in the right-hand section. Click on Similarity Score to open the Similarity Report.
- Turnitin Feedback Studio will load in a new window, displaying in the Similarity Report.
View more detail in the report
Further detail and insights are available in this view by accessing the options in the Similarity Layer.
Flags for Review: If there are any inconsistencies such as hidden text or replaced characters detected in the submission, they will be available for review.
Match Overview: Displays the overall Similarity Score and a list of sources that match the text in the assignment. Click a match result from the right side of the screen to see that text displayed and highlighted within your assignment.
Clicking on the numbered flag on any highlighted text within your assignment to see identified sources displayed in a pop-up box.
All sources: A list of every source that contains a section of matched text. The Similarity Score (the % match you receive) does not always match the sum of the sources due to overlap in similarity.
Filters and Settings: Displays options to exclude quotes, bibliography, or sources that are less than a specified size. These settings will change your view of the Similarity Report, but will not change the Similarity Score.
Excluded Sources: Displays a list of any sources that have been excluded from your current view of the Similarity Report.
Interpret the Similarity Report
It is very important to understand that the Similarity Score does NOT indicate whether plagiarism has taken place. Similarity Reports only indicate non-original text. A high score may contain legitimately cited text, and so is not a problem. Conversely, a low score may contain text that does cause concern.
When papers are submitted into Turnitin, sections of the papers that match other sources are highlighted and identified in the Similarity Report. Turnitin does not make a judgement as to whether plagiarism has occurred. It is the responsibility of teaching staff to determine the quality of the Similarity Report and to assess whether parts identified by Turnitin as non-original may be reasonably considered as plagiarism.
Refer to Turnitin's guide to interpreting the Similarity Report for more information. This guide goes into detail about matches vs. sources, scoring ranges, and different marking scenarios.
This guide was last updated 19 Mar 2026.
Submit an LMS support request for further assistance or to report any errors or omissions in this guide.