Confused about the difference between Turnitin and iThenticate? You’re not alone; many people mix them up. While they share similarities, they are built for different users and purposes.
This post will help you understand their roles, features, and uses. Keep reading to clear the air!
Key Takeaways
- Turnitin and iThenticate both check for plagiarism but serve different users. Turnitin helps teachers and students, while iThenticate is for researchers and publishers.
- Turnitin scans 47 billion web pages, 81,000 academic journals, and over a million theses using its vast database. iThenticate focuses on research-heavy databases with 90 million titles and trusted publishers like MEDLINE or PubMed.
- Turnitin’s AI writing indicator detects content made by tools like ChatGPT since April 2023. iThenticate will add an AI detection feature in its 2024 update (iThenticate 2.0).
- Universities often provide access to these tools; Turnitin supports education settings, while PhD students use iThenticate during exams or journal submissions.
- Both tools promote originality and protect academic integrity by preventing plagiarism in student assignments or professional scholarly work.
Understanding Turnitin and iThenticate
Turnitin and iThenticate both focus on plagiarism detection, but they cater to different groups. Their tools help check scholarly content, research papers, and academic work for copied text.
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Purpose and primary users of Turnitin
Turnitin helps instructors and students maintain academic integrity. It compares student submissions like essays, research papers, or theses with millions of sources. These include journal articles, conference proceedings, open access content, and even pre-prints.
It then generates “Originality Reports” that highlight text matches.
Teachers use these reports to check for plagiarism and improper citations. Graduate students also benefit by learning proper referencing practices through this tool. Since April 2023, Turnitin introduced an AI writing indicator accessible only to educators and administrators, aiding the detection of AI-generated text in assignments.
Purpose and primary users of iThenticate
iThenticate checks research articles, theses, and journal submissions for originality. It helps researchers avoid copyright infringement by comparing text to a vast database. Faculty members and graduate students often use it before submitting papers or grant proposals.
Major academic publishers rely on iThenticate to screen manuscripts. Over 1,500 top publishers trust it to maintain research integrity. Universities like the University of Waterloo provide access for authors working on abstracts or doctoral dissertations.
Graduate students may even need iThenticate for PhD exams as stated in academic policies.
Key Differences Between Turnitin and iThenticate
Turnitin and iThenticate may seem similar, but they serve different crowds. Their tools fit specific needs, like student papers or professional research.
User interface and functionalities
iThenticate supports file types like MS Word, PDF, RTF, HTML, and ODT. It allows up to five document revisions per submission. Its interface is straightforward but targets professionals handling journal articles or grant proposals.
Users can focus on producing scholarly content while reviewing detailed similarity reports.
Turnitin generates Originality Reports with highlighted matches for academic papers. It features an AI writing indicator that detects potential AI-generated text. Unlike iThenticate’s clean layout for publishers, Turnitin suits educators managing student theses or dissertations through its integrated dropboxes in university libraries.
Tools should fit their users—one size never fits all.
Target audience and applications
Turnitin focuses on instructors and students. It works best in classrooms, helping check homework, theses, and dissertations for plagiarism. Schools use it to promote academic integrity and prevent academic misconduct like copying or cheating.
On the other hand, iThenticate serves faculty members, researchers, staff, and graduate students. It supports scholarly content such as journal articles, grant proposals, and conference proceedings.
Universities like the University of Waterloo require graduate students to use it during PhD exams or for co-authored works.
Database and plagiarism detection capabilities
Turnitin scans 47 billion web pages and compares content with 81,000 academic journals. It also checks against 190 million articles, including 1.4 million theses from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses.
Its database includes U.S. law reviews and multilingual articles in Spanish, Chinese, French, and German since 2016. This wide coverage helps spot both subtle and obvious plagiarism across extensive sources.
iThenticate focuses on research-heavy databases. It verifies originality using over 90 million subscription-based titles and screens manuscripts for more than 1,500 top publishers globally.
Unlike Turnitin’s educational reach, iThenticate caters to professionals creating journal articles or grant proposals for organizations like MEDLINE or PubMed. These tools excel at handling scholarly content with precision while scanning a vast range of reliable sources efficiently.
Common Features of Turnitin and iThenticate
Both tools scan for copied or reused text using advanced algorithms. They help maintain honesty in writing, whether it’s for a thesis or a journal.
Shared databases for plagiarism checks
Turnitin and iThenticate use shared databases for scanning content. Turnitin compares against 47 billion web pages, including archived sites. It also checks 52.5 million Wikipedia articles and over a million items in Spanish, French, German, and Simplified Chinese.
iThenticate focuses on research content with access to 90 million titles from publishers like EBSCOhost and Cengage. Shared resources make their text-matching software effective for detecting plagiarized academic publication or scholarly content across various sources.
Commitment to upholding academic integrity
Both Turnitin and iThenticate work to protect academic integrity. They fight plagiarism by comparing texts against massive databases, which include journal articles, theses, dissertations, and conference proceedings.
Universities and publishers use these tools to prevent research misconduct that could harm reputations or lead to retractions.
Misuse of generative AI can also cause trouble. AI writing detection features help users find such issues in grant proposals or graduate students’ submissions. Ensuring originality supports better academic content while reducing risks tied to copyright infringement or decreased citation rates after retractions.
Use Cases for Turnitin and iThenticate
Turnitin works well in classrooms, helping graduate students check theses and papers. iThenticate shines in research, protecting scholarly content like journal articles and grant proposals from plagiarism.
Turnitin: Ideal for educational settings
Instructors and students rely on Turnitin to uphold academic integrity. It checks assignments against billions of web pages, previously submitted papers, and subscription databases.
Teachers use its “Originality Report” to highlight text matches and potential plagiarism. This helps students learn proper citation methods for theses, dissertations, or research papers.
Its AI writing indicator detects content likely created by artificial intelligence tools. Early draft submissions are encouraged so students can revise their work before the final submission.
By promoting ethical writing practices in schools, it aids graduate students preparing journal articles or conference proceedings.
iThenticate: Best for researchers and publishers
iThenticate helps researchers and publishers check originality in their work. It reviews manuscripts for over 1,500 major publishers. This tool is great for journal articles, conference proceedings, grant proposals, and theses.
It protects scholarly content from plagiarism and copyright infringement. Unlike Turnitin, it doesn’t store submitted documents in a database.
Graduate students use iThenticate during PhD exams or when preparing research funding materials. Universities like the University of Waterloo offer access to faculty and staff too.
Its advanced text-matching software creates accurate similarity reports using vast databases and web crawler tools.
Benefits of Using Plagiarism Detection Software
Plagiarism detection tools help protect original work and maintain trust in writing. They’re a safety net for researchers, educators, and writers aiming for honest, high-quality content.
Enhances research integrity
iThenticate checks research papers, conference proceedings, and journal articles for originality. Its text-matching software helps publishers spot copied content before publication.
Universities rely on it to review theses and dissertations for scholarly content.
Misuse of generative AI like GenAI risks research misconduct. Turnitin’s AI writing indicator detects such issues in grant proposals or academic work. Both tools ensure high-quality publications by flagging similarities in documents like PDFs or Microsoft Word files.
Prevents academic misconduct
Reducing plagiarism protects scholarly content. Turnitin and iThenticate detect copied work with precision. They flag similar text using their vast databases, including journal articles, theses, dissertations, and conference proceedings.
Retractions caused by plagiarism drop citation rates by 10%-20%, harming reputations.
Turnitin provides instructors tools like Originality Reports to check student work early. Excluding bibliographies or quotes refines results for fairness. Researchers using iThenticate safeguard grant proposals and high-stakes publications from copyright infringement or research misconduct risks.
Supports high-quality publications
iThenticate scans content for 1,500 leading publishers. It checks journal articles, conference proceedings, and grant proposals with precision. Publishers use it to avoid copyright infringement and plagiarism in scholarly content.
This tool helps researchers create work that stands up to scrutiny.
Both Turnitin and iThenticate support academic integrity. Their text-matching software highlights similarities so writers can fix issues early. They help maintain originality in theses, dissertations, and scholarly publications.
These tools play a vital role in preventing research misconduct.
Next: Use Cases for Turnitin and iThenticate
FAQs About Turnitin and iThenticate
Got burning questions about Turnitin and iThenticate? Here’s where we clear the air, so you can make sense of their tools and features!
Can students use iThenticate?
Graduate students can use iThenticate, but only for specific purposes. It helps them check theses, dissertations, and grant proposals. Some universities, like the University of Waterloo, provide access to graduate students for PhD comprehensive exams or scholarly content reviews.
Students cannot use iThenticate for regular coursework. Instructors are also not allowed to check student assignments with it. Co-authored works such as journal articles or conference proceedings can be reviewed using this tool, with similarity reports shared among co-authors in formats like PDF or DOCX.
How do Turnitin and iThenticate support AI writing detection?
Turnitin uses an AI writing indicator in its similarity reports. It shows the percentage of content likely created by tools like ChatGPT. This feature helps instructors and administrators spot potential misuse of generative AI, ensuring academic integrity.
The AI detection tool fights issues tied to research misconduct in theses, dissertations, and scholarly content.
iThenticate does not yet offer an AI detector but plans to release this feature in 2024 with iThenticate 2.0. The update will include advanced workflows for researchers handling journal articles, conference proceedings, and grant proposals.
Both tools aim to maintain high-quality publications while adapting to new challenges from AI writing trends.
Next: “How often does Turnitin update its database?”
How often does Turnitin update its database?
Turnitin updates its database regularly, pulling in vast amounts of data. It compares against over 47 billion web pages and adds fresh content frequently. This includes 52.5 million Wikipedia articles and materials from 81,000 academic journals.
Over time, it has also added documents like US Law Reviews and theses from ProQuest.
The platform supports texts in 176 languages, ensuring wide coverage for plagiarism detection. Since 2016, new articles in Spanish, Simplified Chinese, French, and German were included too—expanding its global research scope.
These updates strengthen Turnitin’s plagiarism-checking capabilities daily for scholarly content like journal articles or graduate students’ theses writing in Portable Document Format (PDF) or Rich Text Format (RTF).
Conclusion
Turnitin and iThenticate serve different needs but share a common goal—promoting originality. Turnitin fits well in classrooms, helping students learn about plagiarism. iThenticate is the go-to tool for researchers aiming to protect their work from copyright issues.
Both ensure quality and integrity, each in its own way. Choose based on your purpose!
