Turnitin and plagiarism

As a PhD student, the work you produce in the early stage of your programme (1st Year Board Report) and in the latter stage (thesis submission) will be reviewed via the Turnitin Similarity Report.

This is to check for any issues that might impact on progression or any inadvertent plagiarism which can then be addressed.

From September 2019, Turnitin is in place for supervisors of PG research students to check for these issues. These checks are made on your:

1st Year Board Report (mandatory)
Thesis Submission (mandatory)
Ad hoc Documents (optional) - this may include chapter submissions or 2nd Year Annual Reviews

You must submit your work to the Turnitin system with enough time allowed for your supervisor to review and discuss any significant similarity issues with you should they arise. Your supervisor will not be notified of your submission, so you must contact your supervisor after you have submitted to let them know.

You can access the PGR Submission page via MyEd and clicking on the Learn button, then changing the "Terms" dropdown to Ongoing. Please read and use this PGR Submissions Process Guide for accessing the Learn page and submitting. If you cannot access this Learn page, please contact pgresearch.sps@ed.ac.uk.

Your work will not be stored in the Turnitin repository.

Turnitin timings:

1st Year Board Report - submit to Turnitin with enough time to have potential problems addressed before the Board meeting takes place
Thesis submission - submit to Turnitin with enough time to have potential problems addressed before you submit your thesis for examination
Thesis corrections - submit to Turnitin with enough time to have potential problems addressed before you submit your thesis corrections

How to avoid plagiarism

Please review the guidance on avoiding plagiarism. You should also ensure you have read the guidance on proofreading, and academic misconduct.

The College has also produced a document of their academic expectations which you are advised to review.

It is important you understand what plagiarism (and self-plagiarism) covers so you can avoid it and the penalties that may follow.

If you have any queries, you should discuss these with your supervisors.

PhD Students