Share this page:

Submitting work to Turnitin

Submitting work to Turnitin is a 3 step process, upload, preview and confirm.

From 2023/24, the University is extending Anonymous Marking for most assessments to be submitted via Turnitin. Check your module handbook for assessments to be submitted anonymously and ask your tutor for further advice about what, when and where to submit your work.

The downloadable guides and short videos below will guide you through the steps of how to submit to Turnitin, covering those assessments requiring work to be submitted anonymously and those that do not need to submitted anonymously.

If you have been asked to submit a PowerPoint or Poster presentation to Turnitin please see the additional downloadable guide.

Note: you should only submit work to the correct / relevant Blackboard module. If you submit to a different Blackboard module than where the final work should be submitted, even as a draft, then you may receive a very high Similarity Report score.

Submitting work anonymously to Turnitin

The following video as well as the downloadable guide on the right-side of this page will guide you through the process of submitting work into Turnitin anonymously

  • How to submit to Turnitin using your student ID instead of your name
  • How to see that your submission is anonymous
  • Where to get information and help

For more information about the introduction of anonymous marking of coursework submission please see the Coursework and Exams page.

Submitting work to Turnitin that does not need to be anonymised

The following video as well as the downloadable guide on the right-side of this page will guide you through the process of submitting work into Turnitin that does not need to be anonymised.

PowerPoint and Poster Submissions

PowerPoint file formats are accepted by Turnitin, however it cannot capture all of the visual elements that are offered by the likes of PowerPoint (e.g. animations, transitions). The downloadable guide offers some hints and tips as to what should be avoided when creating a PowerPoint document (or poster) that is to be submitted to Turnitin.

Frequently Asked Questions - Submitting Work to Turnitin

If your submission was made to a FINAL Turnitin submission point and the due date and time has not passed, then you can simply re-submit which will overwrite the wrong submission.

1) Select the name of the Turnitin Assignment and from the right-hand panel select Launch.
2) From the Assignment Dashboard that opens select the Resubmit paper icon.
3) Follow the same steps as previously to re-submit your assignment. 

If your submission was made to an AFTER DEADLINE Turnitin submission point then you will need to contact your tutor or module team who can clear your original submission for you, which will then allow you to resubmit.

Note: the i-zone cannot clear submissions as all assessments are owned by the module teams (but can of course advise on any technical issues).

There will be a separate Turnitin Assignment named 'AFTER DEADLINE' that will appear and open 1 minute after the 'FINAL' (ontime) Assignment closes. This is for all submissions being made after the original deadline, such as late submissions and extenuating circumstances. Ask your tutor or module team for more information.

Your tutor or module admin will direct you to a folder within the relevant Blackboard module for each piece of work you're asked to submit. This is usually in an area on your Blackboard module called 'Assessments' and there will typically be separate Turnitin Assignments for on-time 'Final' and after deadline submissions. If you don't know where in your Blackboard module to submit, or feel that you are missing an area to submit to, then you need to check with your tutor or admin team who will be able to advise.

As Turnitin will only accept one file per submission you will need to ensure that all pages are submitted together in one file. This is notably the case with University front / cover sheets (including those for Extenuating Circumstances) that you may be asked to include as the first page of your submission.

If both your assignment and front sheet are in matching word-processed formats (e.g. Microsoft Word) it is often easiest to simply copy and paste the content from the front sheet into a blank first page of your assignment.

If your documents are in different formats you can use the Combine Files into a Single PDF... feature in Adobe Acrobat to choose which files you wish to combine, choose the order in which they will appear, and then save it to one new PDF document that you can then submit to Turnitin.

Note: this feature is available on the full version of Adobe Acrobat licensed by the University. It may or may not be available on versions installed on users' personal devices.

Turnitin has a 100 MB upload limit for assignment files. If your file is over 100 MB, the downloadable guide offers a few suggestions that may help to reduce the file size for submission, including a way to reduce the resolution / size of scanned images (the biggest culprit of large file sizes).

View Turnitin's system requirements to ensure that you will be able to submit. The University recommended browser for Blackboard and Turnitin is GoogleChome (find out more in the Browser Support section). Chrome is available on all University PCs and can be downloaded from the Google Chrome website for free on personal devices (e.g. laptops, tablets).

Turnitin will show you an interactive preview of your file before you confirm submission (step 2 of the 3-step submission process). If the formatting of your file on the preview does not match the original document, (e.g. custom margins changing, un-anchored images moving) please consider submitting your assignment in PDF format.

Please note that certain formatting, such as music annotation, may be lost if the PDF was created through 'Save As' (most commonly used); to get around this we recommend creating through 'Print' instead by opening the original document (in this example in Word) and using the following method: File > Print > choose 'Printer' as 'Adobe PDF' > click 'Print'. Finalise by saving the newly created PDF document and then submitting this to Turnitin.

It is recommended that you always download and keep a copy of your Digital Receipt in case of any queries about your submission.

If submitting to a Turnitin Assignment in Blackboard Ultra you will not receive your Digital Receipt via email, you must ensure to download and save your digital receipt.

If submitting to an Original Blackboard you should receive a Digital Receipt by email to your CCCU account which includes the date and time of your submission and a unique reference number (Submission ID). If you have not received your email it is possible that Outlook has automatically moved this to the 'Other' folder if you are using the 'focused' inbox setting or to the 'Clutter' folder.

If you still cannot locate your email, a full Digital Receipt is available online in Turnitin, including an image of the first page of your work along with other information about the submission. This can be downloaded by going to the Turnitin Assignment that you submitted to and clicking on the Download button (next to the 'View' button), or by opening your submission and using the Download icon (image below) on the right hand-side of your work in the Feedback Studio.

Although Turnitin accepts a wide range of files (up to 100MB) for the purpose of adding feedback, the University's Academic Integrity Policy only requires word-processed files to be submitted to Turnitin for Similarity Checking. The University does not require that PowerPoint is submitted for Similarity Checking. Only the following formats will permit Turnitin to return a Similarity Report:

  • Microsoft Word (DOC, DOCX)
  • PDF
  • PostScript
  • Text
  • HTML
  • WordPerfect (WPD)
  • OpenOffice (ODT)
  • Rich Text Format
  • Hangul (HWP)

It is up to individual courses / modules to decide whether to require students to submit PowerPoint or any other type of file for the purpose of adding feedback, and the Turnitin Assignments will need to have been setup to 'Allow any file type' by the course / module team. Check with your tutor or team first if you are unsure.

Note: where Turnitin Assignments have enabled Similarity Checking for PowerPoint submissions, text in the files must be on a plain theme/design and must not be using any visual effects (shadows, 3D, etc).

The University does not require consent from students to use Turnitin. However, consent is given by students signing up to the University's Terms and Conditions of Registration.

You may refuse to use Turnitin as a data protection issue if you can claim that use of your personal data will cause you 'unwarranted damage or distress'. However, this is only expected to be in exceptional circumstances. Refer to the attached guide for more information.

If you consider that your work is of a highly private or sensitive nature, your tutor may require you to submit it to Turnitin for Similarity checking but choose not to store a copy in Turnitin's database for future comparison with other students' work. Contact your tutor to ask about this.