SafeAssign Originality Reports

A SafeAssign Originality Report provides detailed information about the matches found between a student's submitted paper and existing sources. Both instructors and students can use the report to review assignment submissions for originality and create opportunities to identify how to properly attribute sources rather than paraphrase. When instructors create an assignment and choose to use the SafeAssign service, they determine if students can see the results of the report.

The report identifies all matching blocks of text. Instructors and their students need to determine if the matching text is properly referenced. Investigating each match prevents detection errors due to differences in citing standards.

The Originality Report displays the list of potential sources, and each source is highlighted in a different color. The report can display up to 30 colors to represent 30 different sources.

Originality Report information adapts to the screen it appears on, such as an iPad® or iPhone®.

Access the report

When a SafeAssign report has finished processing, you can access it on the Grade Assignment page. Access the Grade Assignment page from the Grade Center or the Needs Grading page.

In the Grade Center, locate the assignment that you enabled the SafeAssign options for. When students have made their submissions, you see the needs grading icon. Access the cell's menu and select the attempt.

On the Grade Assignment page, a SafeAssign section appears in the grading sidebar. While the report is processing, the following statement appears: Report in progress...

When the report is ready to view, a percentage appears in the grading sidebar. Expand the SafeAssign link and select View Originality Report to view the results in a new window.

Report layout

A SafeAssign Originality Report is divided into three areas:

Report information
Citations
Manuscript text

If you need more room for viewing the paper's text, you can collapse the right panel with the right-pointing arrow. The highlighting colors remain in the collapsed view.

Report information

Report information appears in the right panel of the report. When you reduce the width of the viewing area, this information appears at the top. You can view data about the paper, such as the percent of matching text, word count, and when it was submitted. If you included multiple attachments, they appear with the report information. You also have an option for viewing a printable version. This printable version is the most effective view of the report for users who rely on assistive technology to access Blackboard Learn. At the top of the page, select Print to view the printable version. Download the PDF to email to others.

Citations

The sources that include text that matches the submitted paper's text are listed in the right panel of the report. If Another student's paper is listed as a citation, the submission is associated with another institution and you may not be able to view it due to privacy laws.

Manuscript text

The submitted paper appears in the left panel of the report. All matching blocks of text are identified. Each source has a color specific to the source-up to 30 unique colors for 30 different sources. Text matching a source is highlighted in the source color and identified with a number. In the right panel, you can select Show/Hide All Highlighting to turn source highlighting off and on for all sources at one time. You can turn the highlighting off and on for only one citation. Select Remove or Show Highlighting next to a citation.

Select a matching block of text to display information about the original source and the probability that the block or sentence was copied from the source.

Multiple attachments and attempts

SafeAssign recognizes your multiple attempts for an individual assignment as submitted by the same student for the same assignment. SafeAssign doesn't check the contents of your current attempt against content from previous submissions.

If you include more than one attachment with an assignment, they are listed in the report. Select a file name link to view the file's text in the left panel and view its word count in the right panel.

Interpret SafeAssign scores

Sentence matching scores represent the percentage probability that two phrases have the same meaning. This number reflects the reciprocal to the probability that these two phrases are similar by chance. For example, a score of 90 percent means that there is a 90 percent probability that these two phrases are the same. There is a 10 percent probability that they are similar by chance and not because the submitted paper includes content from the existing source-whether appropriately attributed or not.

The overall SafeAssign score indicates the probability that the submitted paper contains matches to existing sources. This score is a warning indicator only. Review papers to see if the matches are properly attributed.

Scores below 15 percent: These papers typically include some quotes and few common phrases or blocks of text that match other documents. Typically, these papers don't require further analysis as there is no evidence of plagiarism.
Scores between 15 percent and 40 percent: These papers include extensive quoted or paraphrased material, or they include plagiarism. Review these papers to determine if the matching text is properly referenced.
Scores over 40 percent: A very high probability exists that text in these papers was copied from other sources. These papers include quoted or paraphrased text in excess, and need to be reviewed for plagiarism.

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