AI scan: a guide to choosing before you submit

Decision in three questions

1. Have you used sources, quotations or paraphrases? Then the plagiarism scan makes sense. It helps you find conspicuous overlaps before you submit, at the exact passage and not just as a percentage.
2. Was AI used while writing, or does a passage seem unusually machine-like? Then the AI scan gives you an additional assessment of language patterns, with a rating for each sentence.
3. Do both apply? Then choose the combo. It does not replace the individual findings with a mixed value but keeps the two purposes of checking cleanly apart.

A check like this does not change your text. It gives you pointers for your own revision. That is exactly why it is worth knowing beforehand which question you actually want answered.

What the source comparison finds

The plagiarism check compares passages of text with accessible sources and reports similar wording. This is especially helpful for paraphrases, direct quotations, definitions and borrowed sentence structures. A hit does not automatically mean that plagiarism has occurred, however. Correctly marked quotations, references, fixed technical terms and standard methodological phrasing can also appear as matches.

So read every marked passage in context. Check whether a source is named, whether quotation marks are needed and whether a paraphrase is worded independently enough. The size of a percentage alone does not decide whether there has been academic misconduct. Details on the software used are on the page about PlagAware plagiarism software.

What an AI scan rates

An AI detector does not look for a copied source. It analyses regularities in language and calculates how conspicuous a passage is with regard to typical AI patterns. Systems like this give useful pointers, but they do not know how a text was actually produced. Even a text you wrote entirely yourself can look conspicuous, while a thoroughly revised AI text can stay inconspicuous.

So treat the result as a reason to check. Look at marked sentences one by one, compare them with your usual style and document your way of working if your university sets rules on AI use. To see how individual providers differ, see the comparison of AI detectors.

When the combo makes sense

The combo is worthwhile above all if you have used academic sources and have also worked with an AI system. That can already be the case in idea generation, outlining, translation or language revision. The two risks are independent of each other: a text can copy no sources and still contain conspicuous AI patterns. Conversely, a text you formulated entirely yourself can contain problematic borrowing from sources.

Separate reports help you choose the right next steps. For a source match you check the quotation, the reference and the paraphrase. For an AI pointer you check independence, documentation and your university's rules. This separation prevents a high value from one check from being wrongly read as proof for the other. Price and process of the combo are described on the combo bundle page.

What to do after the result

1. First open the specific matches and not just the overall value.
2. Separate source matches, correctly cited passages and possible AI pointers.
3. Revise only passages where the context actually shows a problem.
4. Go through quotations, the reference list and your university's rules.
5. After larger changes, have the text checked again if needed.

In a plagiarism check, the quality of the interpretation counts for more than the lowest possible number. The same applies to the AI scan: a single value replaces neither reading the text nor a traceable record of how it came about. Keep drafts, notes and versions if you want to explain your way of working later.