How to Reduce Your Similarity Score on Turnitin Properly

5 November 2026 · 6 min read

To reduce a high similarity score on Turnitin, fix the causes rather than the number: quote less and analyse more, put quotation marks and citations on every borrowed phrase, paraphrase by genuinely restating ideas in your own structure, and synthesise several sources instead of following one closely. A similarity score is not a plagiarism verdict. It shows how much of your text matches other material, and your instructor reads the report to decide whether those matches are properly credited.

This guide explains how to read your score and how to bring it down honestly. It does not cover ways to disguise copied text, which is still plagiarism however it is dressed up and usually leaves other traces.

What the similarity score actually means

Similarity checkers compare your submission with a large collection of web pages, published works and previously submitted papers. The report highlights matching passages and gives an overall percentage.

A few things that often surprise students:

• Correctly cited quotes still match. A properly quoted and referenced sentence will be highlighted, because it is identical to the source. That is fine.
• Common phrases match. Standard terminology, titles of laws or theories and stock academic phrases appear in many documents.
• Your reference list can match. Bibliographies look similar across papers that use the same sources.
• Your own earlier work can match. If you previously submitted a draft or a related paper, it may be in the database.
• There is no universal "safe" percentage. Instructors interpret the report in context, and many look at the individual matches rather than the total.

Depending on how your instructor configures the assignment, quotes, bibliographies or small matches may be excluded from the score. You usually cannot change those settings yourself, so focus on what you control: your writing.

Step 1: Read the report before you change anything

If your course lets you see the report before the deadline, open it and look at each highlighted passage. Sort them into groups:

1. Properly quoted and cited. Usually fine, unless there are a lot of them.
2. Cited but not quoted. You used the source's exact words without quotation marks. This needs fixing.
3. Closely paraphrased. Your sentence follows the source's structure with a few words swapped. This needs rewriting.
4. Uncited. A match with no reference at all. Fix this first.
5. Incidental. Common phrases, technical terms, your reference list. Usually no action needed.

Step 2: Cut down on long quotations

A paper built from long quotes stitched together will have a high score even if every quote is cited, and it also tends to get a lower grade, because the analysis is missing. Ask of each quote: do I need these exact words?

Keep a quotation when the wording itself matters: a definition, a striking phrase you are analysing, a legal text. Otherwise, summarise the point and spend your words on what you think about it.

Heavy quoting:

As Smith argues, "remote learning reduced peer interaction and increased feelings of isolation among first-year students, particularly those living away from home" (2021, p. 14).

Summarised with analysis:

Smith (2021) links remote learning to isolation among first-year students living away from home. That pattern matches our survey, but our commuter students reported the opposite, which suggests distance from family may matter more than the teaching format.

The second version is shorter on borrowed text and much richer in your contribution.

Step 3: Paraphrase properly

Real paraphrasing is not swapping synonyms. It means understanding an idea well enough to explain it from scratch:

1. Read the passage until you understand it.
2. Close the source.
3. Write the idea in your own words and your own sentence structure, as if explaining it to a classmate.
4. Reopen the source and check you have not reproduced distinctive phrases or got the meaning wrong.
5. Cite it. Paraphrased ideas still need a reference.

A paraphrasing tool can show you different ways a sentence might be phrased, which is useful practice. Do not rely on it to transform a source for you: the ideas still belong to the author, the result still needs a citation, and many courses restrict such tools. Check your rules.

Step 4: Synthesise instead of summarising one source at a time

Papers that walk through Source A, then Source B, then Source C tend to track each source's wording closely. Organise by idea instead. For each point, bring two or three sources together and explain where they agree and differ. You will naturally write in your own structure and words, because no single source is shaping the paragraph.

Step 5: Fix citation formatting

Sometimes matches look worse than they are because the citation is missing or malformed. Make sure each quote and paraphrase has an in-text citation in your required style, and that the reference list is complete. Tools like the APA citation generator or the MLA citation generator help you format references consistently. Check the output against your style guide, since database metadata is sometimes incomplete.

Step 6: Handle your own previous work correctly

Reusing your own earlier paper without permission is treated as self-plagiarism at many institutions. If you want to build on previous work, ask your instructor first, and cite your earlier paper if they agree. If a match is to a draft of the same assignment you submitted earlier, mention it to your instructor so they know what they are seeing.

Step 7: Add more of your own thinking

The most reliable way to lower the proportion of matched text is to increase the proportion of original text. That means:

• Analysis of what your sources mean for your question.
• Your own examples, data or case studies.
• Comparisons and evaluations: which argument is stronger, and why.
• A clear thesis that runs through the whole paper.

These are also what markers reward, so the work you put into a lower score usually earns a better grade too.

What not to do

Avoid any method meant to hide copying from the software rather than fix it. Those approaches tend to produce odd text that instructors notice, can be detected in other ways, and turn a citation problem into a serious misconduct case. If you are short on time, it is far better to ask for an extension or submit a shorter paper that is honestly your own.

FAQ

What similarity percentage is acceptable on Turnitin?

There is no single standard. Instructors look at what the matches are, not just the total. A paper with a moderate score made up of cited quotes can be fine, while a low score that includes one uncited copied paragraph is a problem.

Do quotes with citations count against me?

They will usually appear as matches, but correctly quoted and cited material is not plagiarism. If quotes make up a large share of the paper, cut some and add analysis.

Will paraphrasing lower my similarity score?

Genuine paraphrasing in your own structure, with a citation, usually reduces matches. Swapping a few words in the original sentence often does not, and it can still count as plagiarism.

Can I check my similarity score before submitting?

Some courses allow draft submissions that generate a report. Ask your instructor. If not, focus on careful quoting, citing and paraphrasing as you write.