Is a paper that receives a high similarity rating necessarily plagiarized?
No. Originality Reports are simply tools to help instructors find sources that contain text similar to submitted papers. There are a number of perfectly legitimate reasons for a paper receiving a high similarity rating. For example, a properly cited paper with numerous references may show a high similarity. Likewise, a paper previously submitted to Turnitin by the student for self-checking prior to final submission (if an instructor allows that capability) will show a high similarity. The decision to deem any work plagiarized is still left of to the careful judgment of the instructor.
