# Unicheck

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**Unicheck** (previously known as **Unplag**) is a [cloud-based](/source/Cloud-based_integration) [plagiarism](/source/Plagiarism) detection [software](/source/Software) that finds similarities, [citations](/source/Citation) and [references](/source/Reference) in texts.

Unicheck is primarily used in [K-12](/source/K-12) and [higher education](/source/Higher_education), and is utilised by more than 400 institutions worldwide. The tool is also used as a stand-alone checker by individual users like writers, editors, bloggers and lawyers.[1]

## History

Unicheck was produced and launched by IT company [Phase One Karma](/source/Phase_One_Karma) in 2014 under the name Unplag. In 2016 Unicheck partnered with the XСulture project and became a Certified Partner with the Canvas [learning management system](/source/Learning_management_system) by [Instructure](/source/Instructure)[2] (in 2017 it gained a status of Canvas Alliance Partner).[3] In the summer of 2017, Unicheck became the first plagiarism checker to integrate with [Google Classroom](/source/Google_Classroom).[4] It has also released a new type of integration with Canvas, called “native” and based on both [LTI](/source/Learning_Tools_Interoperability) and [API](/source/API). After that in January 2018 Unicheck released an Add-on for Google Docs.[5]

In 2020, Unicheck created by Phase One Karma was acquired by Turnitin.[6] Unicheck will continue to operate as a separate plagiarism service.

## Functionality

Unicheck offers search and recognition functionality for similarities, [citations](/source/Citation), and [references](/source/Reference) in texts. It can also discover characters that have been replaced in the text from another [alphabet](/source/Alphabet) — for example, similar characters from the [Cyrillic](/source/Cyrillic_script) and [Latin](/source/Latin_script) alphabets. To find similarities and paraphrases, checks are performed against the Internet (web pages indexed by [Yahoo](/source/Yahoo!_Search) and [Google](/source/Google_Search)), [open source](/source/Open-source_software) [repositories](/source/Software_repository), and user's internal library or [database](/source/Database). The check results are presented as a similarity [report](/source/Report), where each of the similarities that have been found has a link to the source. These reports can be downloaded as [PDF](/source/Portable_Document_Format) documents.

Unicheck can be used as a stand-alone online tool, or integrated into an [LMS](/source/Learning_management_system) (Learning Management System) via [plugin](/source/Plug-in_(computing)), [LTI](/source/Learning_Tools_Interoperability), [API](/source/Application_programming_interface) or LTI+API types of integrations.

Unicheck is compatible with the following file formats: [.doc](/source/.doc), [.docx](/source/.docx), [.rtf](/source/.rtf), [.txt](/source/.txt), [.odt](/source/.odt), [.ppt](/source/.ppt), [.pptx](/source/.pptx), [.html](/source/.html), [.pdf](/source/.pdf), [.pages](/source/.pages), as well as [rar](/source/RAR_(file_format)) and [zip](/source/Zip_(file_format)) archives, and files uploaded from [Google Drive](/source/Google_Drive), [oneDrive](/source/OneDrive) and [Dropbox](/source/Dropbox_(service)). Unicheck allows users to store documents in their internal library. Global settings allow adjustment of check sensitivity and enable users to choose whether they want to share their checked documents with Unicheck's database. Each newly signed-up user receives 5 trial pages.

## Technology

Unicheck uses an [algorithm](/source/Algorithm) that searches for similar text on web pages, in open source repositories, and in the user's internal library. Accuracy of search is achieved by using the algorithm that divides text into small shifting sequences and uses them to look for similarities and by using live [web index](/source/Web_index), which enables checks against all web pages.[7]

The technology was developed by computer science engineers and professors. In 2017, the technology was improved by adding [natural language processing](/source/Natural_Language_Processing) (NLP) principles. This enabled the system to recognise [synonyms](/source/Synonym) and find [paraphrased](/source/Paraphrase) content in the checked text. The algorithm has been compared to [latent semantic indexing](/source/Latent_semantic_indexing), a method used by Google to determine connections between words and phrases.[8]

The technology can recognise citations and references in the text, given they are properly formatted according to any of the academic styles. Currently, the technology recognises [APA](/source/APA_style), [MLA](/source/MLA_Style_Manual), [Chicago](/source/Chicago_Style_Manual), [Turabian](/source/Turabian), and [Harvard styles](/source/Harvard_style). The speed of checks per page is 4 seconds.

## See also

- [Comparison of anti-plagiarism software](/source/Comparison_of_anti-plagiarism_software)
- [Educational technology](/source/Educational_technology)

## References

1. Huffman, Justin (7 August 2015). ["How Lawyers Fight Plagiarism"](http://guardianlv.com/2015/08/how-lawyers-fight-plagiarism/). Guardian Liberty Voice. Retrieved 7 August 2015.

1. korzh, Alisa. ["Unicheck Launches Deep Integration With Canvas LMS - eLearning Industry"](https://elearningindustry.com/press-releases/unicheck-launches-deep-integration-with-canvas-lms). *eLearning Industry*. Retrieved 2017-11-03.

1. ["Alliance Partner - Unicheck | Canvas Community"](https://community.canvaslms.com/community/answers/partners-platform/unicheck). *community.canvaslms.com*. Retrieved 2017-11-03.

1. ["Plagiarism Checker Unicheck And Google Classroom Integration"](https://unicheck.com/blog/plagiarism-checker-google-classroom). *Unicheck Blog*. 2017-06-23. Retrieved 2017-11-03.

1. ["Unicheck Similarity Checker Add-On for Google Docs"](https://unicheck.com/blog/unicheck-add-on-for-google-docs-the-new-level). *Unicheck Blog*. 2018-02-09. Retrieved 2018-03-01.

1. Ross, John (29 April 2021). ["Academics fret as Turnitin nears monopoly on plagiarism checks"](https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/academics-fret-turnitin-nears-monopoly-plagiarism-checks). Times Higer Education. Retrieved 25 November 2024.

1. Marchenko, Oleksandr; Anisimov, Anatoly; Nykonenko, Andrii; Rossada, Tetiana; Melnikov, Egor (2017-06-21). "Authorship Attribution System". *Natural Language Processing and Information Systems*. Vol. 10260. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer, Cham. pp. 227–231. [doi:10.1007/978-3-319-59569-6_27](https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59569-6_27). ISBN 9783319595689.

1. Marchenko, Oleksandr; Anisimov, Anatoly; Nykonenko, Andrii; Rossada, Tetiana; Melnikov, Egor (2017-06-21). "Machine Learning Method for Paraphrase Identification". *Flexible Query Answering Systems*. Vol. 10333. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer, Cham. pp. 164–173. [doi:10.1007/978-3-319-59692-1_14](https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59692-1_14). ISBN 9783319596914.

## External links

- [Unicheck official website](https://unicheck.com)
- [Unicheck blog](https://unicheck.com/blog)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Unicheck](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicheck) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicheck?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.