Originality checker

Note: Please review our (opens in a new window)UCD Knowledge Base articles(opens in a new window) for support information.

(opens in a new window)Ouriginal by Turnitin (formerly known as Urkund) is UCD’s originality/similarity checking or plagiarism prevention tool in Brightspace.

We call it originality checking as Ouriginal compares text in student assignments with the text in documents in its archives to see if there are any matches. It is up to the lecturer to determine whether any such matches constitute plagiarism. The Ouriginal archive includes all UCD submissions (including those imported from SafeAssign), student submissions from other participating universities, material publicly available on the world wide web and a wide range of academic databases and journals.

You can view the status of Ouriginal (opens in a new window)here, this will have details of any current issues.

A recording of a UCD Ouriginal virtual training session can be viewed (opens in a new window)here.

Ouriginal provide a series of guides including an (opens in a new window)Analysis report quick start guide (new design).

Ouriginal - the New Analysis Report

Overview of Turnitin Originality

Originality is an originality checker that is designed for classroom use with students and is integrated into Brightspace.  It checks against the internet, a wide range of professionally published works and student submissions to Turnitin to ensure academic integrity on student submissions. 

Pilot of Turnitin’s Originality tool

In the academic year 23/24, UCD is piloting (opens in a new window)Turnitin’s Originality tool in participating modules in Brightspace. The pilot is open to all UCD instructors.  Instructors who are interested in piloting Turnitin Originality in Brightspace can complete this (opens in a new window)form to join the pilot. 

Please note: Students cannot join the pilot. However, students can use Turnitin Originality if it has been enabled by their instructor within their modules.

Support information

Support information is in the IT Services knowledge base:

• (opens in a new window)Pilot - Turnitin originality checker in Brightspace (Instructors)
• (opens in a new window)Pilot - Turnitin Originality reports in Brightspace FAQ (Instructors)
• (opens in a new window)Pilot - Turnitin Originality reports in Brightspace (Learners)

Overview of iThenticate

iThenticate is an originality checking tool  which is targeted at researchers and academics publishing articles.  iThenticate compares submissions to premium scholarly journals, books, law reviews, patents, dissertations & theses, pre-prints, conference proceedings, and internet pages. More detail on how iThenticate works is here (opens in a new window)https://www.ithenticate.com/resources#ithenticate-faq

Note:  iThenticate does not review student assignment submissions and should not be used for this purpose. If you are looking to review student submissions you should join the originality pilot. 

Pilot of Turnitin’s iThenticate tool

UCD will pilot iThenticate in the Spring Trimester 2024 and are seeking participants for the pilot and to help inform the direction of travel for iThenticate within the University. 

(opens in a new window)iThenticate enables authors to do an originality check on draft articles, book chapters, grant proposals, theses, etc. which are to be submitted for publication.  

Commencing in February 2024, there will be a 6 month pilot of Turnitin’s iThenticate tool. If you are interested in piloting iThenticate, please complete this (opens in a new window)form and a member of the project team will be in touch with next steps shortly.

Support Information

Support information is in the IT Services knowledge base:

(opens in a new window)Pilot - Turnitin iThenticate