Turnitin - Staff
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Overview of Turnitin for Staff
The University uses Turnitin for electronic submission (e-Submission) of work for assessment. This enables students to submit work through Blackboard and receive an e-mail receipt. Programmes, courses or modules may then also use Turnitin on an assessment-by-assessment basis for:
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Originality Checking: to help educate students to avoid plagiarism and to help detect plagiarism in assessed work
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e-Feedback: to return more, highly structured, feedback more efficiently
See the Overview of Turnitin for Staff (PDF)| for more information.
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Planning to Use Turnitin
Before you use Turnitin for the first time, you must ensure you prepare to do so in accordance with the Plagiarism Policy. Refer to the planning advice and checklists below.
Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for advice.
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Suggested Text for Handbooks
See below for some suggested text to include in handbooks.
Note: It is essential that all students using Turnitin are directed to familiarise themselves with this University Turnitin support site at. However, this must be complementary to, never in place of, programme/module specific advice.
Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for advice.
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Staff Guides to Using Turnitin in Blackboard
(Click for some suggested introductory text you can put above/below your Turnitin Assignment links in Bb|. Click +item in Bb as if you're uploading a file then just copy and paste from this Word doc.)
For Turnitin 2 Document Viewer users (main University supported version):
For users of the old version of Turnitin (note will be switched off during 2011/12):
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Training & Staff Development
Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for details of:
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advice for programme directors on preparing to use Turnitin (see also advice above)
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technical training sessions on using Turnitin via Blackboard (see also guides above)
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staff development on using Turnitin in an educative way with students early in their programme (a requirement of the Plagiarism Policy
Note: these must be arranged on a dept/programme/framework basis
Also, look out for details of What's New in Turnitin 2 drop in sessions.
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Interpreting Originality Reports
See the staff guide Viewing and Interpreting Originality Reports (PDF)| for guidance on working with originality reports.
We found in the Insitutional Turnitin Evaluation research project 2010/11 that students themselves would like more advice and guidance in interpreting originality reports. You should familiarise yourself with:
Also, LTEU will be offering staff development during 2010/11 on how you can use Turnitin in an educative way with students early in their programme (a requirement of the Plagiarism Policy). See above for details. Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for advice.
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Support for Staff
Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist:
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for training, staff development and advice about using Turnitin
See also the Turnitin online help:
Contact the Staff IT Point:
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if Turnitin is not working properly including any technical error messages
For all other help on using Turnitin, refer to this web site.
See also the University web site for information for students on what plagiarism is, how to avoid it and what the University’s approach is:
http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/plagiarism|
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Frequently Asked Questions - Staff
Q. What is the new Plagiarism Policy and when does it apply?
The University’s Plagiarism Policy currently allows programmes and departments to use Turnitin at their discretion, but where used:
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you must provide a formative experience of Turnitin before students submit any work for final assessment for the first time.
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all students taking the assessment must submit to Turnitin.
From academic year 2012/13 the Plagiarism Policy will further require:
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all coursework for levels 4-7 (Undergraduate and Masters) will be submitted to Turnitin for originality checking:
where it is in a format acceptable by Turnitin and
unless you feel it’s not appropriate because of the nature of the assessment (this will be the exception to the rule).
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students will have an opportunity, and be encouraged to, submit at least one draft and view the originality report for each piece of coursework they’re asked to submit to Turnitin.
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there must be an educational focus on the use of Turnitin early on in programmes to help students understand the meaning of originality reports and avoid plagiarism.
See the University web site for more information about plagiarism, what it is and the University's approach to it|. Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for advice.
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Q. I need to use Turnitin, what do I need to do first?
Refer to the guide Planning and Checklists to Use Turnitin (PDF)|. Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for advice and to arrange training.
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Q. One or more of my students doesn’t appear on the list when I view my Turnitin Assignment. Where are they?
Turnitin doesn’t automatically update the list of students on any particular Turnitin Assignment when you enrol or remove students from your Blackboard area. To update the list, use the 'Roster Sync' link towards the top right-hand side of the list. Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for advice.
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Q. What file types can be submitted to Turnitin?
Turnitin accepts files in the following formats: Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, PostScript, PDF, HTML, RTF, plain text.
Note: Turnitin doesn’t accept Microsoft PowerPoint or Publisher. If you require students to submit PowerPoint or Publisher files, they must be converted to PDF first (see student guide to Submitting PowerPoint and Publisher to Turnitin|). However, note the Plagiarism Policy does not require coursework in PowerPoint or Publisher formats to be submitted to Turnitin.
Although converting to PDF will make most of the text in students' work available for originality checking, it will not include all text e.g. text as 'smart art'. Also, if using Turnitin for e-Feedback, presentations will not be interactive e.g. they will not be animated or contain multimedia. Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for advice.
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Q. One of my students has submitted the wrong file in error. Can I clear their submission and allow them to re-submit?
Yes. Open the list of students’ submissions in the 'TurnitinUK Assignments' area in the Control Panel. Simply select the check-box next to the student’s name in the list and click on the 'Delete' button which appears towards the top-right of the list. Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for advice.
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Q. One of my students has missed the cut off date for an assignment. What should I do?
If you allow late submission of work, you have two options to receive the assignment.
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You can set Turnitin Assignments to accept late submissions by modifying the assignment options ('+ more options' button when creating the assignment or Edit assignment settings link when viewing submissions). Late submissions will be accepted up until the Turnitin Assignment’s 'post date' so modify this to control how late to accept submissions.
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You can accept an electronic copy of a student's work delivered to you directly (by e-mail, memory stick etc.) and upload it yourself using the 'Submit Paper' button above the list of submissions to the Turnitin Assignment. Choose the student's name from the drop-down menu and browse to attach the file ..
Note: the 'post date' is also the date on which e-Feedback is released.
Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for advice.
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Q. One of my students cannot see their Originality Report (they may say they get an error and/or are asked to login to Turnitin/submit.ac.uk when trying to open their Originality Report).
This may happen if they click the 'View' button to access to their Originality Report. To access their own Originality Report students must click on the '% link' under the 'Similarity' heading, not on the 'View' button. This is on their homepage for the Turnitin Assignment which can be accessed by clicking on the 'View/complete' link through which they first submitted their work to Turnitin. See the student guide Viewing and Interpreting Your Originality Report (PDF)| for detailed instructions.
Following an update to Turnitin in Jan-Feb 2012, a new 'View' button is available for students to access e-Feedback (if you are providing e-Feedback). In this case 'View' means view feedback not their Originality Report.
If this is not the problem, students may not be able to open their own Originality Report because the Turnitin Assignment has not been set to allow this. Check the settings on the Turnitin Assignment (see the guide Setting up Turnitin Assignments and Managing Submissions (PDF)|). Contact your learning technologist for advice.
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Q. Can I use Turnitin for Group feedback?
Not easily. Turnitin GradeMark has no built-in support for group work. You can only attach e-Feedback to an individual students’ submitted work. The only way to manage group work in Turnitin is to either:
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ask for a nominated member of the group to submit work on behalf of the group
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Note: A single student’s e-Feedback cannot be shared with several students online, in an interactive way. You would have to print a copy of the e-Feedback to a PDF file and distribute amongst the group outside of Turnitin. Also, a single grade would be entered by Turnitin into the Blackboard Gradebook. You would have to manually duplicate the grade for other group members.
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ask all members of the group to submit a copy of the same work and write a duplicate set of feedback for each member
Note: You cannot copy a whole set of Turnitin e-Feedback between students. You would have to copy and paste individual comments from one student’s e-Feedback to another’s.
Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for advice.
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Q. Who should attach an assessment grid (Rubric) to a Turnitin Assignment?
Only one assessment grid (Rubric) can be attached to a Turnitin Assignment at any time. The grid must only be attached by one person for all markers to use together. The module leader/programme director is responsible for this. Do not detach a grid during marking or feedback will be lost. Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for advice.
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Q. Can I attach an assessment grid (Rubric) directly when I set up the Turnitin Assignment?
Yes! You can now choose an assessment grid (Rubric) directly at the point of setting up the Turnitin Assignment. There is a drop-down menu with a choice of your Rubrics to attach as the last option in the '+more options' section of the Assignment set-up screen. This means you no longer need to wait until a piece of work has been submitted to access your Rubric Library to attach a grid (although this method still works). The grid must only be attached by one person for all markers to use together.
The module leader/programme director is responsible for this. Do not detach a grid during marking or feedback will be lost. Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for advice.
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Q. When adding summary comments to e-Feedback I receive an error 'The request failed because the request was invalid or incomplete' or 'there may be a temporary connection problem to one of our servers'. What can I do?
You can only add up to 5000 characters (approx. 750 words) to your overall summary. Any more will cause Turnitin an error. If you plan to write a lot of summary feedback, consider writing first in Word, checking the character/word length and copying and pasting into Turnitin.
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Q. How can students with visual impairments use Turnitin?
There are various ways to support students with visual impairments in using Turnitin:
Submitting Work to Turnitin
Submitting work uses regular Blackboard web pages which are screen-readable and tab-controllable. However, it does take a lot of 'tabbing' to get to the links to submit work.
If students find this difficult, tutors or programme administrators can submit work on behalf of students. To do this, go into the Control Panel -> TurnitinUK Assignments and choose the Turnitin Assignment to submit to. You'll see a list of students' submissions. Simply click on the 'Submit' button and choose the student's name on whose behalf you're submitting. Following the usual procedure to submit. Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for advice.
Viewing Originality Reports and e-Feedback
Originality Reports and e-Feedback open in the Document Viewer window. The Document Viewer is not screen-readable nor tab-controllable.
Students with visual impairments can use a screen-readable Text Only version of the originality report. To access this, first open the Document Viewer window then click on the 'Text-Only Report' button towards the bottom-right of the window. Students may need help changing to the text only report but once changed, Turnitin remembers for next time.
For e-Feedback, or if the text only Originality Report is not preferable, tutors or programmes administrators can download a PDF version of either and e-mail to students. Click on the download link at the bottom of the Document Viewer for the PDF version.
PDF versions of Originality Reports and e-Feedback contain the same basic information as the online version in the Documents Viewer, and are more easily screen-readable and navigable, but they are not as interactive.
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Q. Can I ask students to submit PowerPoint or Publisher files to Turnitin?
Turnitin doesn’t accept Microsoft PowerPoint or Publisher so if you need to your students to submit work in these formats, e.g. a presentation or a poster, you must ask them convert their files to PDF first.
There is a guide for students on this web site for converting PowerPoint and Publisher files to PDF. However, note that the Plagiarism Policy does not require coursework to be submitted in formats which Turnitin does not accept. Consider whether asking students to convert to PDF is really necessary. Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for advice.
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Q. Can I use the CCCU Generic Assessment Criteria for e-Feedback via Turnitin?
Yes. 'Supergrids' incorporating all possible CCCU criteria for each level of study are built-in to Turnitin for everyone to use. See the Editing, Reusing and Sharing Assessment Grids (Rubrics) inc. CCCU Generic Criteria (PDF)| for details on accessing and customising these grids. Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for advice.
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Q. I receive an error when I try to bulk download students' submitted work. What can I do?
If you are using Internet Explorer on campus, you may need to enable 'Protected Mode' in your browser. Click Tools > Internet Options. Click Security > Local Intranet. Tick Enable Protected Mode. Click Apply, OK. Restart Internet Explorer.
Contact the blackboard Administrator (blackboard@canterbury.ac.uk|) for support.
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Q. I’ve received an e-mail from another institution where a student’s paper has matched one of my student’s previously submitted papers. What should I do?
You do not have to respond. If you choose to, do not reply immediately to the e-mail request - this will forward a copy of your student’s paper to the other institution. First, ensure you remove any personal data or identifying information from the copy of you student’s paper contained within the e-mail. Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for advice.
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Q. Can my students refuse to submit their work to use Turnitin?
Consent is related primarily to the Data Protection Act 1998 which sets out when and how personal data can be “processed”. We must comply with one of the two conditions in Schedule 2 of the Data Protection Act 1998. These are:
Condition 1: “The data subject has given his consent to the processing.”
Condition 6: “(1) The processing is necessary for the purposes of legitimate interests pursued by the data controller or by the third party or parties to whom the data are disclosed, except where the processing is unwarranted in any particular case by reason of prejudice to the rights and freedoms or legitimate interests of the data subject.”
The University currently only obtains consent from students signing up to the Terms and Conditions for Registration from 2010/11.
For these students, the University may use Condition 1 to process the data.
For students joining before 2010/11, the University may use Condition 6 to process the data, on the basis that quality of marking and detection of academic deceit are legitimate interests of the University (advice from the JISC Legal Service). The student guide Overview of Turnitin for Students inc. Copyright and Data Protection (PDF)| on this web site contains comprehensive guide to students’ rights.
However, if you consider that students' work is of a highly private or sensitive nature, you may require them to submit it to Turnitin for originality checking but choose not to store a copy in Turnitin's database for future comparison with other students' work. Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for advice.
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Q. I suspect plagiarism in one or more of my students’ work but I didn’t request it was submitted to Turnitin. Can I do this retrospectively?
No. Firstly, the Plagiarism Policy requires that you brief your students before requiring their work to be submitted to Turnitin. You must also have provided a 'no stakes' formative experience before work is submitted which can be penalised if plagiarism is detected (see Planning and Checklists to Use Turnitin (PDF)|). Furthermore, individual students’ work alone may not be submitted to Turnitin – all students for a given assessment must submit, or none. If you are concerned about plagiarism for a given assessment, you may require all of your students to submit and choose to refer to specific individual’s originality reports afterwards. Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for advice.
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Q. I suspect plagiarism, but nothing has been matched by Turnitin. What should I do?
The determination of plagiarism relies on academic judgement, not on the percentage shown in the Turnitin originality report. If you suspect plagiarism, you may wish to further check the work using a web search engine such as Google, as this may include some web material which is not covered by Turnitin, for example, subscription or password-protected sites. Contact your Faculty Learning Technologist for advice.
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About This Page
If you have any queries about this web page or suggestions for improvement, please contact:
Simon Starr, Learning Technologist
Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit
Office: 01227 767700 ext 2018
E-mail: simon.starr@canterbury.ac.uk|
Page last edited: 22nd November 2011
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