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Document details

In this guide:

Accessing document details

To access the Document Details side panel, select the Document Details icon in the Similarity Report.

The Document Details side panel will provide insights on a submitted file’s metadata, as well as images and spelling usage.

What is metadata?
Metadata is descriptive data that is contained in a file. For example, when you create a document in Microsoft Word, that document contains the date and time of its creation in its metadata. The Document Details side panel extracts useful metadata from the submitted file and presents it in an easily digestible way. 

Files that are .docx can pull the most complete information. Turnitin is unable to pull document metadata from .doc files. If the submitted file is .doc there will be nothing visible in the Document Details section.

If Anonymous Marking is enabled, Document Details will be hidden as it will reveal information about the student. The panel will become visible once the assignment post date has passed.

File Information

Document metadata is often used by investigators of academic misconduct as key evidence in their cases.

Author Name

The Author Name is the name given to the file’s creator.

In .docx files, the author is the name of the license holder. This could be a parent, peer, or institution.

The data for the Author Name can be retrieved from .docx and .pdf files.

Last Modified by

This is the last user to open the file and make a change before submission. Assuming the student used one device, the name here should be the same as the name shown in Author Name.

A student may ask a parent or peer to spell check a file before submission, or they may make final amendments on a different machine before they submit.

Last Modified by data can only be retrieved from .docx.

Submission Timestamp

The Submission Timestamp is the date and time that this file was submitted to Turnitin.

Page Sizes

Page size can reveal the origin of a document. There are three types of results:

  • US Letter
  • A4
  • Other

US Letter is the paper standard in the United States, while A4 is standard in other countries. Files listed as Other use a different page size than US Letter or A4. If there is more than one identifiable page size, this section will display Multiple.

If you are based in the UK or Australia, the standard paper size is A4. If you are based in the US, the standard paper size is US Letter. It would be unusual if a file was not the standard paper size for your region. It is worth investigating all paper size inconsistencies.

Page sizes can be retrieved from .doc, .docx, .pdf, and .rtf files.

Assignment

This is the assignment that the file was submitted to.

Class

This is the class that the assignment has been created in.

Software

This data reveals the software, along with the version, that was used to edit the file last.

Look out for software such as Kingsoft or WPS Office. While popular in Asia, it would be unusual for a student in an English language speaking country to use this software.

Fonts

Font data includes:

  • the font families (for example, Times New Roman, Arial, etc.) used in a file
  • the font sizes used in a file
  • the font color hex code (for example, #000000)

Subtle differences in font size and color can indicate the copy and pasting of content. For example, a student may write an essay in a black (#000000) size 14 font. They then may copy a large portion of text from a different file that is dark grey (#22222) size 13.5 and paste this content into their essay.

Fonts can be retrieved from .docx, .doc, and .pdf files.

Language

Spelling

Many words have different spellings depending on the nationality of the author. For example, color (American spelling) vs. colour (British spelling). This section will show the distribution of American and British spelling in the file.

Examine the content to see if discrepancies are the result of referencing a source.

Document Details can identify the following word patterns:

  • -ER vs. -RE
    For example, meter (American) vs. metre (British)
  • -OR vs. -OUR
    For example, color (American) vs. colour (British)
  • -SE vs. -CE
    For example, realize (American) vs realise (British)
  • -IZE vs -ISE
    For example, organize (American) vs. organise (British)
  • Scientific American vs. Scientific British
    For example, pediatric (American) vs. paediatric (British)
  • Single consonant vs. Double consonant
    For example, tons (American) vs. tonnes (British)
  • No silent e/ue vs. Silent e/ue
    For example, dialog (American) vs. dialogue (British)

If a student has used spell-checking software, they could inadvertently use a spelling variation other than their expected one.

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