The Student Room Group

Personal statement plagiarism on myself?

so I have recently sent of my Ucas and various other documentations, of course that includes my personal statement. Before I sent it off I put my personal statement through turnitin. That creates a digital record of my personal statement which was very original. Now, if a university had to run it through a plagiarism check would it show up as being plagiarised because there is now a record of it on turnitin. Can they call me out on plagiarising myself?
Yes. You should have used their sister service, WriteChecker which does not add submissions into the Turnitin database.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 2
can I actually get in trouble for that, I haven't really plagiarised. What should I do now?
Original post by Cahill
can I actually get in trouble for that, I haven't really plagiarised. What should I do now?


Contact UCAS to withdraw your application and re-write your personal statement. There is no way to prove that, that Personal Statement is your own work.
Reply 4
Hold on, if they run it through a plagiarism check, it comes up as student work, under my name. Therefore that it proof this is my work. I even have the digital receipt of this being sent to turnitin. I dont understand what is the point of such a plagiarism check... you check ur work for plagiarism but then cant submit it, that is kind of useless.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by Cahill
Hold on, if they run it through a plagiarism check, it comes up as student work, under my name. Therefore that it proof this is my work. I even have the digital receipt of this being sent to turnitin. I dont understand what is the point of such a plagiarism check... you check ur work for plagiarism but then cant submit it, that is kind of useless.


It would not come up with a student's name though it would just show a percentage match and the source of the match. Unless you have your name written in the document. The thing is, there is no point in a plagiarism check in this case if you use Turnitin, but there was a point in using its sister- WriteChecker, which is used for exactly this purpose. Withdraw your application or you are screwed.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 6
I regret to inform you that you are misinformed. I have spoken to my school, there are multiple solutions to this problem. First and most obvious is the school is going to contact the universities explaining my plight. Second, my school has the ability to request a deletion of a turnitin submission. This deletion process only exists because in the past, turnitin's record system has made Extended Essays and applications a pain. Furthermore, If a university sees a 100% plagiarism match, that looks very strange given my academic record and where I am applying. They will no doubt look into it. They will trace it back to turnitin. Moreover, if the universities check their database for personal statements in that particular subject there wont be a record of THAT one. Lastly, I have more than enough evidence to prove that this is my own work; emails with questions on little things in my PS, google doc record, academic courses mentioned which I have taken and have records of, books I have read and can prove purchase of long before I wrote the PS. Of course I can also show the submission, the digital receipt and my turnitin account.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 7
Original post by Cahill
I regret to inform you that you are misinformed. I have spoken to my school, there are multiple solutions to this problem. First and most obvious is the school is going to contact the universities explaining my plight. Second, my school has the ability to request a deletion of a turnitin submission. This deletion process only exists because in the past, turnitin's record system has made Extended Essays and applications a pain. Furthermore, If a university sees a 100% plagiarism match, that looks very strange given my academic record and where I am applying. They will no doubt look into it. They will trace it back to turnitin. Moreover, if the universities check their database for personal statements in that particular subject there wont be a record of THAT one. Lastly, I have more than enough evidence to prove that this is my own work; emails with questions on little things in my PS, google doc record, academic courses mentioned which I have taken and have records of, books I have read and can prove purchase of long before I wrote the PS. Of course I can also show the submission, the digital receipt and my turnitin account.


If you feel so confident, why did you create this thread?

Posted from TSR Mobile
Reply 8
Original post by *Stefan*
If you feel so confident, why did you create this thread?

Posted from TSR Mobile


At the time when I first thought about this issue I was not very confident. I searched everywhere trying to get some insight, hence the thread. My school came back to me informing me that this should not be a problem. It is only sensible to report my findings on the same thread rather than have other students cancel their Ucas because they are unaware of simpler and painless solutions.

What do you think of my issue and solutions?
Reply 9
Original post by Cahill
At the time when I first thought about this issue I was not very confident. I searched everywhere trying to get some insight, hence the thread. My school came back to me informing me that this should not be a problem. It is only sensible to report my findings on the same thread rather than have other students cancel their Ucas because they are unaware of simpler and painless solutions.

What do you think of my issue and solutions?


Well... I'd say your school is correct. Not sure of turnitin's policies, but if it's possible to delete it, do it.

I'd also suggest not to mention that to the universities yourself, as it may raise some suspicions. Ask your teacher to do it instead, if anything goes wrong in the end (which I very much doubt it will).

Posted from TSR Mobile
While it's good that it appears sorted now, for anyone else reading this - unless you have actively plagiarised (including using inspiration from websites and trying to rephrase things into your PS), the chances of actually being brought up for plagiarism is incredibly small. So if you know you haven't plagiarised, there is no need to go through checking it yourself :smile:
Original post by Cahill
I regret to inform you that you are misinformed. I have spoken to my school, there are multiple solutions to this problem. First and most obvious is the school is going to contact the universities explaining my plight. Second, my school has the ability to request a deletion of a turnitin submission. This deletion process only exists because in the past, turnitin's record system has made Extended Essays and applications a pain. Furthermore, If a university sees a 100% plagiarism match, that looks very strange given my academic record and where I am applying. They will no doubt look into it. They will trace it back to turnitin. Moreover, if the universities check their database for personal statements in that particular subject there wont be a record of THAT one. Lastly, I have more than enough evidence to prove that this is my own work; emails with questions on little things in my PS, google doc record, academic courses mentioned which I have taken and have records of, books I have read and can prove purchase of long before I wrote the PS. Of course I can also show the submission, the digital receipt and my turnitin account.

Hi, I just made the same mistake as you. I put my PS through turnitin before I submitted an assignment that was due and then resubmitted my assignment. Did you have any complications with your personal statement once it was deleted? Also, how did the unis respond? Thank you!
Original post by Suniya.m05
Hi, I just made the same mistake as you. I put my PS through turnitin before I submitted an assignment that was due and then resubmitted my assignment. Did you have any complications with your personal statement once it was deleted? Also, how did the unis respond? Thank you!

7 year old thread... the users are long gone.
Original post by sufys12
7 year old thread... the users are long gone.


I’m desperate 😭