How long does it take for Turnitin to check an uploaded paper?

It takes approximately one hour to check for an assignment when first uploaded.  Please note that results may be returned quicker than one hour depending on the volume of users.     

It can take up to 24 hours to return results after the first three submissions.  This policy is in place by Turnitin to avoid people making minor changes and continually resubmitting their assignment as opposed to understanding plagiarism and how to reference correctly and ensuring their assignment is correctly referenced before submitting.

When draft submissions are allowed prior to the due date, the comparison of submissions within the same Turnitin Assignment link will not take place until after the assignment due date passes. This means that similarity to your classmates’ work will not show in the Originality Report prior to the due date.

Reports are regenerated by Turnitin at the due date and therefore the percentage similarity may change at this time.

For example, students may notice an increase in similarity after the due date if an assignment template has been used. In a situation where students have used template text such as table headers or report sections, these sections of text will only show as matches within the class group after the due date has passed, and will probably increase originality percentages for the whole class group.

Likewise, if two or more students have included the same piece of text, Turnitin will display the existing external database matches prior to the due date; but once the due date passes these student papers will also match against each other.