Using iThenticate, for graduate students

The Graduate School offers graduate students iThenticate, a resource and tool to help with their major papers, such as theses and dissertations. Students and faculty can use iThenticate to verify originality of documents prepared by graduate students. 

• Graduate students can use iThenticate to review their written materials (e.g., papers, article drafts, responses to qualifying or prelim exam prompts, drafts of thesis/dissertation)
• Faculty can use the software to review their written documents (e.g., articles, grant proposals)

Graduate students and their advisors must verify that the ETDs (electronic theses and dissertations) are appropriately written and cited, using the iThenticate system. Use the highlighted hyperlink to access the iThenticate portal.  If you receive an error message when accessing the system via this link, please email us at grads@vt.edu.

iThenticate similarity reports are useful to identify potentially problematic areas of insufficient citation. They should be used as a guide to trigger a closer examination of the reasons for similarities and to determine whether there is a reasonable explanation for the level of similarity identified. Our Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) review staff look for less than 25% overall and less than 5% per single source in the iThenticate similarity report submitted with your ETD. Percentages equal to or higher than these will result in an additional review by an Associate Dean within the Graduate School. However, even lower or higher percentages may be found problematic or acceptable upon detailed review.

Videos to help access and use the tool

Although the tool isn’t difficult to use, it is very important that you view the videos about accessing and using the tool, and especially interpreting the similarity report.

To open an account, please see the video below.

For instructions on how to submit a paper to iThenticate for review, watch the video below.

To learn how to read and review an iThenticate similarity report, watch the video below.

As you will learn from the videos, the link to iThenticate can be found on the main Faculty and staff resources webpage under "Admission and Academic Process" on the Graduate School website. You also can reach the portal with this hyperlink.

Training

The Graduate School and the TLOS Professional Development Network offer training sessions throughout the semester on using iThenticate for staff, students, and faculty. Visit the Professional Development Network course page and search for iThenticate.

Filters

1. In the ETD document you are going to upload to iThenticate, exclude the title page and bibliography/works cited/references.

2. In iThenticate, set the folder filters to exclude:

• Quotes
• Small matches; word count 9 words
• Small sources; word count 9 words

3. Set the folder filters to include:

• Academic Abstract through the end of the body of the document
• Appendices
• All repositories to search

The following steps are required for approval of the final examination and the ETD:

1.    Students must run their ETD through iThenticate and the similarity report must be reviewed by the student and advisor prior to scheduling the final examination.

2.    The final similarity report must be included in the submission of the ETD to the Graduate School. This report will be archived separately from the ETD.