Three students open their dissertation reports and see 24%. In the first draft, an entire literature review paragraph follows a journal article almost line for line. In the second, most of the highlights appear in the references, quotations and university declaration. In the third, one source accounts for much of the overlap and turns out to be the student’s own proposal. If you searched for how to reduce your Turnitin plagiarism percentage, these three drafts show why your first step is to open the source list. The percentage measures matching text. The passages themselves tell you where to start.
Quick answer
Open your largest match and check where it appears in the dissertation. A close paraphrase needs rewriting and a citation. A quotation or reference needs a formatting check. If the source is your own earlier submission, identify the file and ask your supervisor how to handle the overlap.
Case 1 — The 24% Includes a Literature Review Paragraph That Follows One Source
You open Chapter 2 and find a highlighted paragraph about why working students miss online classes. There’s a citation at the end, so at first the passage looks fine. But when you compare it with the journal article, you notice that both paragraphs move through the same points in the same order. Your draft changes several words, but the explanation still closely follows the author’s sentences.
Here’s a fictional example showing what that looks like.
Sample source
Working students often miss live online lectures when their shifts change at short notice. Recorded lectures help them catch up, although recordings give them fewer opportunities to ask questions during class.
Close paraphrase
Students who work often miss live virtual classes when their work shifts change unexpectedly. Lecture recordings allow them to catch up, but they have fewer chances to ask questions during the session (Rao, 2024).
Revised paragraph
For this study, access to lecture material and access to classroom discussion are two separate concerns. Rao (2024) explains that recordings can help students keep up with course content when an unexpected shift change prevents them from attending live. The interviews will therefore ask working students both how they catch up on missed material and how they get their questions answered afterwards.
The revision uses the source to explain a choice in the student’s research design. It credits Rao for the finding about recordings, then makes clear that the interview questions come from the student’s own study. That gives the paragraph a reason to exist in this particular dissertation.
If you’re working out how to lower the similarity in Turnitin, try this with one flagged paragraph. In your notes, write down the author’s claim and finish the sentence, “I’m using this source here because…” Draft from those notes, then reopen the source to check that you kept the meaning and cited it correctly. If your analysis depends on the author’s exact wording, use a properly marked quotation and follow your citation style’s requirements.
Case 2 — The 24% Is Concentrated in References, Quotations and the University Template
In this draft, many highlights appear before the introduction or after the conclusion. The declaration follows the university’s prescribed wording. The reference list contains article titles that also appear in other dissertations. In Chapter 3, two short quotations from a published framework are highlighted.
Start with the quotation in Chapter 3 because it sits inside your own discussion. Check that the quotation marks or block formatting show exactly where the borrowed text begins and ends. Then check the citation and any page number your style requires. If you only need one phrase to explain the framework, quote that phrase and use your own sentences to explain how it applies to your study.
Next, check the references against the original publications. Verify the author names, titles, publication years and other details required by your citation style. Keep accurate titles as published. For the declaration, compare your draft with the template your department requires and retain the prescribed wording.
Students searching for how to reduce Turnitin percentage often focus on filters at this stage. Ask your department whether it assesses the full report or uses approved exclusions for items such as the bibliography and quotations. If exclusions are permitted, follow the review procedure your department specifies. Keep the citations and required wording in the dissertation itself.
Case 3 — The 24% Includes a Match to Your Own Proposal
You expect the largest source to be a published paper. Instead, the report identifies a student submission. When you look at the highlighted section, you recognise the research objectives and sampling plan from the proposal you submitted last semester.
First, work out which version the report is matching. Write down the earlier submission’s title, approximate date and assignment name. Then list the sections that overlap. If the report limits access to the matched submission, share the source label and the passages it highlighted in your dissertation. Your supervisor can use that information to advise you on the next step.
Now check whether those passages still describe the study you conducted. Your proposal might say you plan to interview 20 participants across four colleges. If your completed study involved 14 participants across three colleges, the final methodology should report what actually happened and explain the change where relevant. That edit improves the accuracy of the dissertation regardless of the score.
You can send your supervisor a short note like this.
My dissertation report shows a match in the research objectives and sampling sections. The wording appears to come from the proposal I submitted for Research Methods in March. I’ve checked the final methodology against the study I completed. Could you advise how I should document the overlap with my earlier submission?
If the earlier file was submitted to a separate assignment or stored for comparison, it may appear as a match. Follow your programme’s guidance on reusing earlier work and your assignment’s rules on resubmission.
Before You Submit, Check What Changed on the Page
The most practical way to learn how to lower Turnitin similarity score is to track what you corrected. Open the revised dissertation and work through the passages you flagged. Check whether each paraphrased claim still points to its source. Read the sentence before and after each edit to make sure the paragraph still supports the chapter’s argument.
A close paraphrase in the literature reviewThe passage explains the idea in your own structure and keeps the citation.A highlighted direct quotationThe wording is accurate, the quotation is clearly marked, and the citation is complete.A reference entry or required declarationThe reference follows your citation style and the declaration follows the current university template.A match to your earlier proposalThe final draft reflects the work you completed and follows your supervisor’s guidance on reuse.
If your assignment allows resubmission, check the new report against this list. A quotation you kept may still be highlighted. What matters for that passage is whether you can account for the wording, formatting and attribution. Confirm that the report belongs to the version you intend to submit.
FAQs About the Turnitin Similarity Score
Can a low Turnitin score still include copied text?
Yes. A copied paragraph can account for only a small share of a long dissertation. If you find a passage that repeats a source without proper attribution, correct it even if the overall score falls within your department’s stated limit.
Why does Turnitin highlight text that already has a citation?
Turnitin can identify matching wording even when the source is cited. Check how you used the text. Exact wording generally needs quotation formatting as well as a citation. A paraphrase needs enough independence in its wording and structure for the reader to recognise it as your explanation of the source.
How can I avoid unnecessary similarity in my next draft?
If you’re searching for how to avoid similarity in Turnitin, change how you take notes. Put quotation marks around any sentence you copy into your notes and record its page number. When drafting, start each paragraph with the point you want to make and bring in the sources that support it.
Why does Turnitin match my previous submission?
An earlier file may be available for comparison if it was stored in a repository. This can happen when you submit related work to different assignments. Identify the earlier file and ask your supervisor how your department expects you to handle the overlap.
Is 24% acceptable for a dissertation?
Check the requirements for your programme and submission type. Ask your department which report settings it uses and whether it reviews any particular matches separately. Then go through the highlighted passages so you can explain the matches that remain.
Conclusion
Pick one highlighted paragraph today. Open the source, identify why the wording matches, and make the edit that passage needs. If the match comes from a required template or an earlier submission, check the applicable guidance before changing it. Need help interpreting your report? Ask ThesisLikho for a review of your highlighted passages and citations.
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