How Inspera Originality works

Inspera Originality replaces Ouriginal

On October 31, 2025, Ouriginal will be shut down and replaced by the new plagiarism checking tool: Inspera Originality. The change is due to the fact that the provider behind Ouriginal has been acquired and has chosen to discontinue the service.

Just like Ouriginal, Inspera Originality is used to analyze student submissions and generate reports to support your own assessment. The system will be available directly through Canvas, and there will also be an option for independent reviews.

Video tutorial: How to download an Ouriginal report

Before the transition, it’s important that anyone using plagiarism checking does the following:

• Save reports from Ouriginal. After October 31, you will no longer have access to them. In the linked video, you can see how to do this.
• Select Inspera Originality for assignments in Canvas. When Ouriginal is discontinued, you will need to manually select Inspera Originality in the settings for your current and future assignments.

Read more about the transition here: News about the transition from Ouriginal to Originality

What are the sources checked in Originality?

Originality compares the student’s text against three sources:

• Websites – Publicly available web pages.
• Academic databases – Published research material.
• Student submissions at KTH – Previously submitted documents within the organization, if this option has been activated.

Review generates a report

When a student submits their text in Canvas, a similarity report is automatically generated in Originality, provided that you as the teacher have activated the function when creating the assignment. The report includes how much of the text is original text and how much is plagiarized. You can also see the sources of any plagiarized material.

Requirements for submitted texts

For Originality to be able to analyze a text and generate a report, the following conditions must be met:

• The text must contain at least 20 words and 430 characters.

• Plagiarism review must be enabled before any student submissions have been made.

If these requirements are not met, no plagiarism check will be performed.

How the review works

When a student submits their text via Canvas, the assignment is automatically linked to Originality, provided that you as the teacher have activated the function when creating the assignment.

The analysis starts once the submission has been registered, and the system needs about 100 seconds per 1,000 words to process the text. An originality report is usually available within 15 minutes after the assignment has closed.

The teacher’s assessment is most important

Originality reviews texts, but you as the teacher need to actively evaluate the reports that the system provides. Originality is not a replacement for the teacher’s judgment, but a tool to facilitate and support the assessment of students’ work. A high or low match in the review report does not necessarily mean anything. It is the teacher’s responsibility to review the information from Originality and determine whether it constitutes plagiarism.

Approach to Originality for different roles at KTH

The following applies to the use of Originality depending on role/title and purpose:

Teaching staff

Originality is intended to support teachers’ assessment work within the framework of teaching, or in similar situations such as supervision. Teachers in courses hosted in Canvas may use Originality to check students’ texts for plagiarism.

Doctoral students

Doctoral students who teach may use Originality to check their students’ texts for plagiarism but should generally not use it to review their own documents. If a doctoral student wishes to check, for example, their thesis, this should be done in consultation with the supervisor. The plagiarism check is then carried out either by the supervisor submitting the material to Originality, or by the doctoral student emailing the material directly to the supervisor’s analysis address. In both cases, the Originality report is sent to the supervisor.

If you supervise theses, doctoral students, or licentiate students

You can use Originality standalone if you do not have a Canvas course linked to your teaching. This may be relevant if you supervise theses, doctoral students, or licentiate students. Read more about how to use Originality standalone.

Contact and support for Inspira Originality

Do you have questions or do you want guidance?

For general support: it-support@kth.se

For educational support: e-learning@kth.se  (response time: within 2 working days)

You can also turn to the Inspera Help Center  to find guides and information. 

More support from E-learning

Contacts for education support at KTH