iThenticate

The process for using iThenticate is simple and relatively fast, taking about 5-15 minutes to scan each document. 

1. iThenticate users upload a document into their private cloud-based iThenticate accounts.
2. iThenticate compares all text in that document to the text from an extensive and continually updated library of published materials and websites.
3. iThenticate generates an interactive report to highlight the text from the user’s document that matches text from outside published texts.

4. It is important to note that iThenticate itself cannot identify plagiarism specifically. It will provide a “Similarity Report” that will highlight text found in other published papers.  

This report can be exported and provides an overall similarity score denoting the percentage of the user’s document that matches text from the library of published materials. Once iThenticate creates the report, the user can evaluate whether any matching similarities found in the text will require further contextualization or re-writing. If revisions are made, the new version can be uploaded for a new scan and report.

See more information about the Similarity Report from the iThenticate user guide.. 

Faculty and Researchers

iThenticate helps you detect un-cited or improperly cited material in manuscripts, grant proposals, and other written documents so that you can correct the text before it is submitted. This is particularly useful because some publishers and funding agencies, such as NSF and NIH, may use plagiarism detection tools to screen manuscripts or grants upon submission.

You can use iThenticate to screen student dissertations, theses, capstone projects, and final papers before submission or committee review. If you do so, you must be transparent and inform students in advance. 

For most classroom uses, such as homework assignments, Turnitin may be a more appropriate tool. Students can also use Turnitin Draft Coach to get feedback on unintentional plagiarism.

Graduate Students

iThenticate can serve as a learning tool to help you identify sections of your writing that may need additional editing or re-writing if the tool detects matches to other published texts.