Thesis process

No. Only graduate students in thesis-based programs are typically eligible to request access to Turnitin Similarity through the webform. Note: if you would like access to Turnitin Similarity for a graduate course, please contact your instructor.

Yes, as a co-author you are permitted to analyze your document using Turnitin Similarity.

No. Only the author can upload unpublished/unsubmitted drafts of a sole-authored work to Turnitin Similarity. However, after a thesis (or thesis-related document) has been formally submitted for examination it may be submitted to Turnitin Similarity by other members of the University (e.g., Examining Committee, GPD, SGS, etc.). A supervisor may upload a student’s unsubmitted thesis draft to Turnitin Similarity if the student grants explicit written permission to the supervisor to do so.

Any written component that is part of a thesis-based graduate program, such as a research proposal document. Other such documents may vary widely from program to program.

By not agreeing to the terms of use, you relinquish your opportunity to use the tool. Even so, following formal submission for examination, your thesis may still be analyzed by other members of the University. Be aware that even if you initially refuse to accept these terms, you may decide to agree to them later to get an account.

Yes. Once your thesis is publicly available in Spectrum it can be analyzed by anyone using Turnitin Similarity or other text-matching software.

Please consult Turnitin Similarity guides on the Enhanced Similarity Report.

It is important when using Turnitin Similarity to know how to interpret a Similarity Report correctly. If you are a student, please talk to your supervisor or consult a Learning Specialist about how to revise your drafts accordingly.

If you suspect research misconduct or plagiarism in a formally submitted thesis containing original research, contact the Concordia’s Research Integrity Officer immediately for information on how to proceed. For all other non-thesis related infractions, please contact the Academic Governance Assistant.

The first three resubmissions will generate a new Similarity Report straight away. After three resubmissions, a 24-hour wait is enforced to generate Similarity Reports for all subsequent resubmissions. Therefore, Similarity Reports for a fourth resubmission and onward will take 24 hours to generate.

Similarity checks student work against the following databases:

• Internet: an active archive of 90+ billion current and archived web pages
• Publications: a collection of over 80 million articles from library databases, textbook publishers, digital reference collections, subscription-based publications, homework helper sites, and books
• Crossref: a collection of published scholarly works
• Crossref Posted Content: a collection of scholarly works that have been submitted but not yet published
• Submitted works: all items previously submitted to any of the repositories that are part of the account, including both public submitted works and a repository for Concordia University