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    How to Check an Essay for Plagiarism

    Running your essay through a plagiarism checker before you submit can catch missing quotation marks, forgotten citations and paraphrases that stay too close to a source. But a similarity score isn't a verdict — what matters is which passages match and whether they're properly quoted and cited. This guide shows how to check your work, read the report and fix problems honestly, and compares the checkers students can use.

    Check your school's tools and AI policy first. Your college may already give you a checker such as Turnitin Draft Coach, so look before you pay. Never use an AI rewriter to 'beat' a plagiarism checker — rewording a source without credit is still plagiarism, and Turnitin says its AI detection can flag AI-paraphrased text.

    How to Check Your Essay for Plagiarism, Step by Step

    1. 1

      Look for tools your school provides

      Some colleges license Turnitin Draft Coach for Google Docs or Word for the web, or offer checks through the writing center. Ask before you pay for a checker.

    2. 2

      Finish your citations first

      Add quotation marks around every direct quote and an in-text citation for every quote, paraphrase and borrowed idea before you run a check. Otherwise the report will be full of matches you already planned to fix.

    3. 3

      Run the check on your full draft

      Upload or paste the complete essay, including quotations. Free plans often have word limits, so check your longest documents with a tool that covers their length.

    4. 4

      Read the matches, not just the score

      Open each highlighted passage and its source. Properly quoted and cited text, common phrases and your reference list can all match without being plagiarism. Focus on unquoted or uncited passages that match a source closely.

    5. 5

      Fix each real problem

      Either put the exact wording in quotation marks with a citation, or rewrite the idea fully in your own words and sentence structure and cite it. If you reused your own earlier paper, ask your instructor whether that's allowed.

    6. 6

      Re-check the passages you changed

      Run the check again or review the revised passages against the source to make sure the fix worked.

    7. 7

      Keep a record of your process

      Save your drafts and version history. Grammarly's free Authorship feature can record what you typed, pasted or generated, which helps if your work is ever questioned.

    Plagiarism Checkers for Students

    Prices and features as of November 2026 — check the official site for current details

    #1

    Scribbr Plagiarism Checker

    Best for: a thorough one-time check of a big paper, thesis or dissertation

    Scribbr's plagiarism checker compares your document to billions of web pages, books and articles, including 99.3 billion current and historical web pages and 8 million publications from more than 1,700 publishers such as Springer, IEEE, Elsevier, Wiley-Blackwell and Taylor & Francis. You upload a Word, PDF or ODT file and get a report with highlighted matches, usually within about 10 minutes. It's a one-time purchase per document, not a subscription: $19.95 for up to 7,500 words, $29.95 for 7,500–50,000 words and $39.95 for 50,000+ words. Scribbr says documents are not added to its database and won't be visible to other plagiarism checkers, including those used by universities. A free Self-Plagiarism Checker add-on lets you compare against your own earlier papers, and an AI detector is available as an add-on.

    Why students use it:

    • Compares against a large set of web pages and academic publications
    • Pay once per document — no subscription
    • Submissions aren't added to a database other checkers can see
    • Free self-plagiarism add-on
    Downside: There's no free plagiarism check, you pay again for every document, and Scribbr notes that universities may also check against private student-paper databases it can't access, so your school's result can differ.

    Scribbr ranks first for a thorough, one-time check of an important paper. If you need regular free checks, start with Paperpal's free plan or Turnitin Draft Coach if your school offers it.

    #2

    Paperpal

    Best for: free monthly plagiarism checks for academic writing

    Paperpal is an AI writing assistant built for academic writing, with plagiarism checks included on every plan. The free plan includes plagiarism checks for up to 7,000 words a month with a standard report, plus 200 language suggestions a month. Paperpal Prime costs $144/year ($12/month billed annually) or $25/month and includes 10,000 words of plagiarism checks a month with a full report and 25,000 words of AI detection. Paperpal Pro costs $348/year or $59/month with 30,000 words of plagiarism checks a month. It works on the web, in Microsoft Word, and through Chrome and Edge extensions for Google Docs and Overleaf. Paperpal says it offers discounts to students who register with their institution email.

    Why students use it:

    • Free plagiarism checks up to 7,000 words a month
    • Built for academic and research writing
    • Works in Word, Google Docs and Overleaf
    Downside: Monthly word caps apply on every plan, the free plan gives only a standard report, and Paperpal doesn't list the size of its student discount.
    #3

    Grammarly

    Best for: checking for plagiarism and polishing your writing in the same tool

    Grammarly (now part of the company Superhuman) checks grammar, spelling and tone as you type in Google Docs, Word, your browser and its apps. Grammarly Pro includes a plagiarism checker and an AI detector, along with full-sentence rewrites and 2,000 AI prompts a month, for $12/month billed annually or $30/month billed monthly. The free plan includes corrections, 100 AI prompts a month and Authorship, which records what you typed, pasted or generated so you can show your writing process.

    Why students use it:

    • Plagiarism checker and grammar checks in one place
    • Works inline wherever you write
    • Free Authorship reports to show your writing process
    Downside: The plagiarism checker and AI detector require Pro, monthly billing is expensive at $30/month, and the 50% student discount is only a limited-time offer.
    #4

    QuillBot

    Best for: students who already use QuillBot for paraphrasing and citations

    QuillBot is an AI writing toolkit with a Paraphraser, Grammar Checker, Summarizer, AI Detector, free Citation Generator and a Plagiarism Checker that's part of QuillBot Premium. Premium costs $19.95/month, $39.95 every 3 months or $99.95/year, and verified students can get up to 25% off through StudentBeans.

    Why students use it:

    • Plagiarism checker bundled with paraphrasing and grammar tools
    • Free citation generator to fix missing citations
    • Student discount on Premium
    Downside: The plagiarism checker requires Premium, and using its paraphraser to reword matched passages can still be plagiarism without a citation — Turnitin says it can flag AI-paraphrased text from tools such as QuillBot.
    #5

    Turnitin Draft Coach

    Best for: free checks if your college licenses it

    Turnitin Draft Coach is an add-on for Google Docs or Microsoft Word for the web that gives similarity, citation and grammar feedback while you draft. It's only available if your institution has licensed and enabled it, and each school turns on either the Google Docs or the Word version — it doesn't work in desktop Word. Its similarity check compares your draft against internet pages, journals and publications, and student-paper repositories. Turnitin says Draft Coach does not submit your paper to its repository, so you won't match your own draft when you submit the final version.

    Why students use it:

    • No cost to you if your school provides it
    • Checks against the same kind of sources instructors use
    • Drafts aren't stored, so no self-match on final submission
    Downside: You can only use it if your college licenses it, it works in just one of Google Docs or Word for the web depending on your school, and it isn't available in desktop Word.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    There's no universal acceptable percentage. A score counts quoted and cited material, common phrases and reference lists along with real problems, so instructors look at what matched, not just the number. Check every match and make sure quotes and paraphrases are cited.

    Paperpal's free plan includes plagiarism checks for up to 7,000 words a month, and Turnitin Draft Coach is free to use if your college licenses it. Grammarly and QuillBot include plagiarism checkers only on their paid plans, and Scribbr charges per document.

    Turnitin says Draft Coach doesn't submit papers to its repository, and Scribbr says documents aren't added to its database or visible to other checkers, including universities'. For any other tool, read its privacy policy before you upload.

    Checkers compare against different sources. Scribbr notes that universities may also check against private student-paper databases it can't access, so small differences are normal.

    A plagiarism check looks for text that matches existing sources, which is different from AI detection. Some tools offer a separate AI detector, such as Grammarly Pro, Paperpal Prime and Scribbr's add-on, but AI detectors aren't fully reliable, so don't treat their scores as proof either way.

    Yes. Forgetting quotation marks, leaving out a citation, paraphrasing too closely to a source or reusing your own earlier paper without permission can all count as plagiarism. Checking your draft before you submit helps you catch these mistakes.

    Want help paraphrasing and citing correctly?

    See our how to paraphrase with AI without plagiarizing and how to cite sources with AI guides.

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