How to check your thesis for plagiarism before submission

Most universities run every thesis through similarity software before it is examined. The students who get into trouble are rarely the ones who set out to cheat — they are the ones who paraphrased carelessly, lost track of a source, or never saw their own report until an examiner did. Checking your thesis yourself, early enough to fix what you find, removes that risk.

Step 1 — Check a full draft, not fragments

Similarity problems hide in transitions: the paragraph you pasted from your notes "to rewrite later", the methods section modelled closely on a paper you admire. A chapter-by-chapter check is useful while writing, but run at least one check on the most complete draft you can, because that is the document your university will see.

Step 2 — Check before the deadline, not on it

A check is only useful if you leave time to act on it. Aim to run your final check at least a week before submission. Rewriting a badly paraphrased literature review takes days, not minutes, and discovering a problem at 11 p.m. before a 9 a.m. deadline is how panic — and worse decisions — happen.

Step 3 — Read the report properly

• Look at the largest matches first. One big block from a single source matters more than the total percentage.
• For every match, ask three questions: Is it quoted? Is it cited? Could an examiner mistake it for my own words? If the third answer is yes, rewrite it.
• Discount the innocent matches consciously: references, your institution's declaration page, standard phrases. Knowing why each match exists is the whole exercise.

Step 4 — Fix problems the honest way

Proper fixing means re-engaging with the source: read it, understand it, write your own sentence about the idea, and cite the source for the idea (not just for copied words). Do not use "paraphrasing tools" or synonym spinners to disguise copied text — the result still matches conceptually, examiners recognise the style instantly, and several universities treat spun text as a separate offence.

Step 5 — Re-check the changed sections

After substantial rewriting, check the revised document again to confirm the matches you fixed are gone and no new ones crept in. Then keep your final report — if a question is ever raised, "I checked, here is the report, and here is what I changed" is a strong, honest answer.

Choosing a checker

Whatever service you use, insist on three things: a report that lists the actual matched sources (not just a number), a clear statement that your document will not be stored or added to a database, and honest marketing. A checker that claims to be a famous institutional product it is not affiliated with is telling you something about how it will treat your thesis.

Check your thesis with MyThesisCheck — per-document pricing, matched sources listed, and your document is auto-deleted when your report is generated.