Compositions and methods for performing a template-switching reaction are provided that may include reducing or eliminating concatemerization of the template-switching oligonucleotide (TSO). In some embodiments, the composition may comprise: a reverse transcriptase; a TSO that includes a recognition sequence for a site-specific double strand nucleic acid cleaving enzyme, wherein the TSO has at its 3′ end at least one nucleotide capable of hybridizing to at least one or more non-templated nucleotides added to a templated cDNA strand by the reverse transcriptase; and a site-specific double strand nucleic acid cleaving enzyme that cleaves the TSO at the recognition sequence.