TurnItIn Assignments

Turnitin

TurnItIn is an internet-based plagiarism-detection service. It checks homework assignments and essays to an extensive global database and checks the documents for plagiarism.

To have the assignment linked to Turnitin, you have to first create an assignment

Creating a Turnitin Assignment

  1. turnitinAccess the course you are teaching.
  2. Click on the Turn editing on button.
  3. Click on the Add an Activity dropdown menu and click on Turnitin. #1

    You will be redirected to the Turnitin page for Moodle.

  4. Enter an Assignment Title and Point Value, if desired. #2
  5. Set the Start Date, Due Date, and Post Date. #3

    Important Note: Be sure to set the Post Date to occur at the same time or after the Due Date of the assignment. The post date has no bearing on when grades are posted to the Moodle Gradebook.
    title and value dates

  6. You may choose to click Submit to proceed with posting the assignment.
  7. optionsYou may also choose to customize the assignment by setting the following options: #4 & #5
    1. Enter Special Instructions
      This option allows instructors to give a detailed description to the assignment.
    2. Allow submissions after the due date?
      This option allows instructors to determine whether or not they wish to accept late submissions for the assignment.
    3. Generate Originality Reports for submissions?
      This option allows instructors to view the Originality Reports for submissions to an assignment in the assignment’s inbox.
    4. optionsGenerate Originality Reports:
      1. Immediately (first report is final): students are only allowed one submission.
      2. Immediately (can overwrite previous reports until due date): students may overwrite previous submissions.
      3. On due date (generate report on the due date): Report only generated on the due date.
    5. Exclude bibliographic materials from Similarity Index for all papers in this assignment?
      This setting allows the instructor to choose to exclude text appearing in the bibliography, works cited, or references sections of student papers from being checked for matches when generating Originality reports.
    6. Exclude quoted materials from Similarity Index for all papers in this assignment?
      This setting allows the instructor to choose to exclude text appearing in quotes from being checked for matches when generating Originality reports.
    7. Exclude Small Matches?
      This setting allows the instructor to choose to exclude matches that are not of sufficient length (determined by the instructor) from being checked for matches when generating Originality reports.
    8. Allow students to see Originality Reports?
      This option gives you the choice of whether or not students can see their Originality Reports in their class assignment portfolio.
    9. Submit papers to:
      Leave it to the default setting (standard paper repository).
      Note: If you set it to ‘no repository’, then the papers turned in would not be stored in the database and used for future plagiarism searches.
    10. Search options:
      Make sure that all three boxes are checked, that will allow a greater percentage of accuracy in the results.
  8. After identifying your preferences, click on Submit to make the assignment available. It will then show you a preview of how the assignment appears to the students and shows the Due date and Time.

homeImportant Note: If you want to go back to your course, you should never click on the back button of the browser. Instead, on the bread crumb click on Home and it will take you back to your main course list. To return to your course, click on the Course Link. #6

Viewing Results

Once the assignment has been submitted, you will get a detailed report which will show the percentage of the paper that was plagiarized.
  1. Go to the assignment.
  2. Click on View # submitted assignments.
  3. The following page resembles a typical email inbox with the submitted assignments listed there with the Author’s name, the paper’s title and the originality report. #1
  4. Make sure Originality is selected in the upper right hand corner. #2
  5. The colors indicate whether the paper is plagiarized or not, with the red representing a high amount of plagiarism and the green representing that the paper has little to no plagiarism. There is also a numerical percentage value next to the color to show the overall percentage of the paper that was plagiarized.
  6. Each number in the originality report will link you to the potentially plagiarized text’s location within the paper. You can click on the number within the paper itself to see exactly where the plagiarism comes from. #3
inbox

originality tab #2

report

Grading a Turnitin Assignment

  1. Click on the assignment that you would like to grade.
  2. Click the View # submitted assignments link. The option is located on the upper right hand side of the page. #1
  3. Click on the assignment title you would like to grade. The assignment will pop up in a new window.
  4. The new window will display the paper.  Enter the grade for the assignment in the blank box on the upper right hand corner that will say grade. #2
  5. Then, if you still have more papers to grade, click on the next icon right above where the grade is inputted.


enter grade

Turnitin: From a Student's Perspective

  1. Log on to your Moodle account.
  2. Click on the course where the assignment is due.
  3. Click on the assignment in the course page. #1
  4. It gives you the description/question and the Due date and Time. #2
  5. Click on Submit to proceed to hand in the assignment.
  6. The following page has a User Agreement Disclaimer for which you have to simply click I agree -- continue. Note that this step is for the first time only.
  7. Click on the submit Icon on the following page. #3
  8. Fill in your name (which is usually entered in by default) and your paper title under “submission title”. Then Turnitin allows students to submit papers in one of two ways that are listed under the “choose a paper submission method” option on top: #4
    1. Click on single file upload to upload your document and submit it.
    2. The second option is cut and paste upload where you simply cut (or copy) and paste your paper onto the textbox given on the bottom titled “cut and paste your paper”.
  9. Once you are done, click upload. #4
  10. Then you will be directed to step 2 of 2, where you will confirm the text within your paper. Once confirmed as accurate, click on Submit  to post the assignment.
  11. Once your assignment has been successfully submitted, you will receive an email receipt of your submission from Turnitin.
student1

student2



Important Note: If you want to go back to your course, do not click on the back button of the browser. Instead, on the breadcrumb link path located on the upper left hand corner, click on the Home link and it will take you back to your main course list. To return to your course, click on the Course Link.