Turnitin

Turnitin outside of Blackboard (Instructors)

General Information

Turnitin is an intellectual property verification tool. Papers submitted to Turnitin are checked against a comprehensive database of source materials. Originality reports are generated that list the results of the matching process, flagging text identified as closely matching other internet, article, or student resources. Turnitin does not analyze or identify spelling, grammatical, or citation style errors. Instructors who are not using Blackboard and academic support units that need an intellectual property verification tool independent of Blackboard can set up courses on the Turnitin site to let students submit papers; in this case, both instructors and students will need to create accounts on the Turnitin site. The instructions below are intended to help instructors use this resource outside of Blackboard. Information is also available for using Turnitin inside the Blackboard environment. Consult this Blackboard Tips and Tricks handout for an overview of Turnitin. Consult the ITS Training site to register for an upcoming session on Turnitin.

Informing Students about Turnitin

As with statements regarding academic integrity and disability services, instructors are strongly encouraged to include a paragraph on plagiarism in their syllabus.  The following paragraph on Turnitin has been prepared for inclusion in a paragraph discussing plagiarism:

By taking this course, you agree that all required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin for the detection of plagiarism.  Some papers submitted for review will be included as source documents in the global Turnitin repository to be used in future reviews.  You should remove your name and any other personally identifying information from your papers prior to submission to Turnitin.  For additional information on and instructions pertaining to Turnitin, consult the SIUE Turnitin resource page at: http://www.siue.edu/its/turnitin/

Using Turnitin outside of Blackboard

Creating a Turnitin Account - To be able to use the service outside of Blackboard, instructors first need to create an instructor account at Turnitin.com. In order to create that account, instructors will need the SIUE five digit account ID and administrative password. To obtain that information, instructors need to access the SIUE portal. After logging into the portal, the account information is located on the Turnitin community page. To access this page, click on the Turnitin icon in the myLinks area in the left navigation pane on the portal homepage. The password for the instructor account at Turnitin should be different from the SIUE e-ID password. ITS will not be responsible for creating or maintaining user accounts or passwords for the Turnitin site. Consult this tutorial for additional information:  Turnitin video: Creating an Account.

Amending a Turnitin Account - Instructors with existing Turnitin accounts are encouraged to join that account to their SIUE instructor account. To perform this task, instructors will need the SIUE five digit account ID and password.  To obtain that information, instructors need to access the SIUE portal. After logging into the portal, the account information is located on the Turnitin community page. To access this page, click on the Turnitin link in the Infopad area in the left navigation pane on the portal homepage. Consult this tutorial for additional information:  Turnitin video: Joining an Account.

Creating a Class at Turnitin.com - Instructors must create a class at Turnitin.com in order to create assignments so students can submit papers. Once the class has been created, instructors will need to share the seven digit Turnitin-generated class ID and your enrollment password with students so that they can join the class. Consult this tutorial for additional information:  Turnitin video: Creating a Class

Copying an Existing Class at Turnitin.com - Instructors have the ability to copy previously created classes within Turnitin.com.  A copied class contains the same assignments and discussion topics as the existing class.  To copy a class:

1. Click on the Copy icon to the right of the class you would like to copy.
2. Enter a name for the new class.
3. Enter a new enrollment password for the new class.
4. Select a start date for the first assignment of the copied class.
5. Click the Save button finalize the copy process.

Creating a Turnitin Assignment - To create a Turnitin assignment:

1. Log into Turnitin: http://www.turnitin.com
2. Enter the appropriate Turnitin class.
3. Click on the New Assignment button.
4. Once the Turnitin page opens, select the "Assignment Type": Paper Assignment or Revision Assignment. A Revision Assignment requires an existing initial Paper Assignment. A Revision Assignment should be created when an instructor wants to view the student's original submission as well as each revision of that original submission.
5. Click the Next Step button.
6. For a Paper Assignment, specify general information including assignment title, points possible, start date and end date, and then click on the more options button. Return twice in the “Instructions” dialog box before typing to separate the text from the system-generated disclaimer. Other options in this section include:
   
   1. Generate Originality Reports for submissions? setting determines whether or not Originality Reports will be generated for faculty-submitted paper.
   2. Generate Originality Reports for student submissions? setting determines when Originality Reports will be generated for student-submitted papers.
   3. Exclude bibliographic materials from Similarity Index for all papers in this assignment? setting determines whether or not bibliographic materials will be included in the originality reports. This setting can only be changed up until the time the first assignment is submitted.
   4. Exclude quoted materials from Similarity Index for all papers in this assignment? setting determines whether or not material within quotations will be included in the originality reports. This setting can only be changed up until the time the first assignment is submitted.
   5. Exclude small matches? when set to "yes," affords the option to exclude small matches as set by a faculty-specified word count or percentage.
   6. Allow students to see Originality Reports? setting determines whether or not students will be able to view Originality Reports.
   7. Allow submissions after the due date? setting determines whether or not students will be able to submit their paper after the due date. Only one late submission is allowed.
   8. Reveal grades to students only on post date? setting is irrelevant at this time since SIUE does not license the GradeMark product.
   9. Submit papers to: setting determines whether papers will or will not be posted to the standard paper respository of all papers submitted to Turnitin throughout the world. Draft submissions must be set to "no repository."
   10. Search options: setting affords faculty the option to search all or just selected sources.
7. Click the Submit button to finalize the Turnitin assignment.

Consult this tutorial for additional information: Turnitin video: Creating an Assignment

Click on the image to the right to view a printable PDF of the recommended options settings for various situations. An online version of the table is also available.

Best Practices for Creating a Turnitin Assignment.

Instructors are strongly encouraged to use Turnitin as an educational tool for students to review the Turnitin Originality Report to check their own paper for possible plagiarism and to encourage proper citation. Papers submitted as drafts ("no repository" is selected in the "Submit papers to" section of the settings when creating the Turnitin Assignment) are not uploaded into the standard, global repository of student papers. Final papers ("standard paper repository" is selected in the "Submit papers to" section of the settings when creating the Turnitin Assignment) will be uploaded into the standard paper repository, a global database of student papers. 

Note that when students are allowed to make multiple submissions of a paper into a Turnitin assignment, ("immediately can overwrite reports until due date)" is selected in the "Generate Originality Reports for student submissions" section of the settings when creating the Turnitin Assignment) each submission overwrites the previous submission. In order to preserve each submission (e.g. a draft submission and a final submission), instructors must create one or more Turnitin Revision assignments. Also note that a student’s paper is never checked against itself in the same course in the same assignment.

Accessing a Turnitin Assignment and Originality Report- Instructors can view the student's Turnitin submission on the Turnitin web page through the assignment inbox.

1. Log into Turnitin.
2. Click on the linked name of the Turnitin class.
3. Click on the View link for the assignment.
4. In the assignment inbox, click on the linked percentage figure located under the "Report" column to view the Originality Report report.

For more information about how to interpret the report, open the "Getting Started" video that opens within Turnitin. (Note that at this time the university has not licensed the GradeMark product discussed in the "Getting Started" video.) Consult these tutorials for additional information:  Turnitin Help Center Video: Accessing the Inbox and Turnitin Help Center Video: Viewing an Originality Report.

Be aware that it might take some time for a report to be generated; it is not instantly available for review as soon as a paper is submitted. If a student’s paper has matching text in the Turnitin Originality Report, it does not necessarily indicate plagiarism. Turnitin will flag quotes that the student has correctly referenced, unless the Turnitin assignment was set up to "Exclude quoted materials from Similarity Index for all papers in this assignment". Faculty will need to view the report to determine whether the copied material is correctly referenced. 

Using Submit Paper - Turnitin Originality Reports can be generated for papers collected outside of a Turnitin assignment with instructors uploading electronic versions of papers themselves, without student involvement. Submit Paper first requires the creation of a Turnitin assignment. Once the assignment has been created, click on the More Actions drop down box and select Upload Paper. Consult this tutorial for step-by-step instructions: Turnitin Help Center Video: Submitting a Paper

Frequently Asked Questions

What resources are used by Turnitin to check for plagiarism?
The software checks all submitted papers against:

• Internet - comprehensive index of current and archived documents available for public access on the Internet
• Publications and newsletters - Cengage Academic OneFile, Emerald, ABC-CLIO, Sage e-Reference and CrossRef
• Student paper database - containing student papers submitted by students using Turnitin around the globe to help prevent cross-institutional plagiarism

What file formats does Turnitin support?
Turnitin supports Microsoft Word (.doc & .docx), plain text (TXT), rich text (RTF), PDF, HTML, WordPerfect, PostScript. Files must be less than 20 MB. The maximum paper length is 400 pages.

How do I interpret a Turnitin Originality Report?
Consult this video for details on how to interpret the report.

How many Turnitin Originality Reports can be generated?
According to the Turnitin site, when multiple submissions are permitted, only one Originality Report will be processed in a 24 hour period; reports "for second or subsequent submissions will require a 24 hour delay before the Originality Report begins processing."

What are the technical requirements of Turnitin?
Turnitin runs a compatibility checker that will notify users of any issues. However, to make sure that Turnitin will correctly operate, check the Turnitin system requirements and supported web browsers. Both cookies and Javascript must be enabled.

Will there be times when I cannot access Turnitin?
View the Turnitin scheduled maintenance times to see when the system will be unavailable.

Additional Resources

For additional information on instructor usage of this tool, consult the Turnitin instructor training site or the following resources:

• Turnitin: Instructor Quickstart Guide

For information on student usage of this tool, consult the Turnitin outside of Blackboard (Students) site.

For more information about or additional help with Turnitin, contact Information Technology Services at (618) 650-5500 or via email at ftc_help@siue.edu.