Understand your results

Similarity percentage

The similarity percentage estimates how much submitted text overlaps with sources available to ScholarScan. It is a review aid, not a misconduct verdict.

A higher score can result from legitimate material such as:

• Correctly quoted passages.
• Bibliographies and reference lists.
• Required templates or standard terminology.
• Assignment questions included in the response.
• Earlier drafts or related work stored by the institution.

A low score does not prove that every source was acknowledged. ScholarScan can only compare against sources available to the configured checks.

Matched sources

The report can show matched text, source text, source type, and source-level similarity. Review each match in context. The overall score and individual source percentages answer different questions and should not be added together.

Exclusions

The lecturer may configure ScholarScan to exclude quotations or the bibliography. Exclusion depends on how reliably the document structure can be recognized, so review the detailed matches if the score seems unexpected.

AI writing indicator

When enabled, the report may show an AI indicator percentage, risk label, confidence level, reasons, and individual language signals. Hover over an indicator name or use its help icon to see how it is calculated and the associated research reference.

The indicator examines patterns such as sentence-length uniformity, lexical diversity, repeated phrases or openings, transition density, and hedging language. These patterns also occur in human writing.

Danger

The AI indicator is not proof that AI was used. It must not be treated as an authorship detector or disciplinary decision by itself.

Insufficient text

Insufficient text means the document did not contain enough extractable language for a meaningful AI review. Common causes include a short answer, an image-only document, extraction failure, or a file dominated by tables, formulas, or references.

What to do with an unexpected result

1. Open the matched-source details.
2. Compare the highlighted text with your citations and quotation marks.
3. Check that the correct file was submitted.
4. Keep drafts, notes, source material, and revision history.
5. Ask the lecturer for clarification rather than trying to force a particular percentage.