Faculty Tutorial: Using Turnitin in Course Site

What is Turnitin?

Turnitin is a tool that allows users to check for unoriginal text in electronic documents.  Documents, which can be submitted from within Course Site, will be compared against various search targets selected by the instructor (search target options include current and archived internet websites, databases of journals and periodicals, and Turnitin’s archive of previously submitted student work).  After the work has been reviewed, Turnitin generates both (a) an ‘Originality Score’ that indicates the percentage of text in the submitted document found in the search targets and (b) an ‘Originality Report’ that highlights matching text and shows the source of the match. 

It is our hope that Turnitin will be used primarily as an instructional, and not merely a policing, tool.  Turnitin is powerful, but it will not catch all instances of plagiarism, nor does every match reveal an act of plagiarism.  The Originality Report therefore requires careful interpretation by the course instructor.  Moreover, some uses of Turnitin may be counterproductive to your efforts at cultivating academic integrity in your students. Before deploying Turnitin in your classroom, please consider some of the caveats and guidelines offered in the article “On the Effective and Appropriate Use of Turnitin” online at http://www.lehigh.edu/~infdli/UsingTurnitin.htm, where you’ll also find resources for encouraging academic integrity, alternate means of deterring and detecting plagiarism, and contact information for individuals who can be of help using Turnitin and interpreting results.

Step-by-step Instructions

1) Sign in to your Course Site.

2) Click 'Turn Editing On" (upper right-hand corner).

3) In the area you want the Assignment to appear, click 'Add an Activity' and select "Assignment - Turnitin' :

4) You will be redirected to Turnitin's site and will first encounter a screen that asks if you want to create a "Paper Assignment" or a "Revision Assignment." You should start with the "Paper Assignment" Later, if you wish to add the opportunity for a Revision Assignment (in which students can submit a revised version without overwriting the original submission), then select the "Revision Assignment"

5) You will not see the screen in which you set up the assignment. Most of the fields are self explanatory, but if you would like help you can view a video tutorial, created by Turnitin:

NOTE: By default, the submitted paper will be added to Turnitin’s student paper database and will be compared against all of Turnitin’s search targets, Also by default, Turnitin will generate an originality report immediately, will not make the Report available to students, and will not accept submissions after the due date.  You can change these options by selecting ‘yes’ for ‘show advanced assignment options.’  This is especially important if you want students to be able to learn by viewing their reports or if you do not wish your students’ papers to be added to Turnitin’s database.

6) After you have setup the assignment, click ‘submit’. On the next screen, confirm by clicking ‘OK.’ 

7) The Assignment will be available to students on the Available Date.

8) After a student submits a document, it will be compared against the search targets you selected and Turnitin will generate an Originality Report.

9)  When the Originality Score and Reports are ready, you can view the whole classes’ Originality Scores at a glance by clicking on ‘ Assignments’ (typically in the right-hand column), then clicking on the assignment.  You can then view the Originality Report by clicking on the color-coded Originality Score.  Alternately, you can access the Report through the Grade Book, by clicking on the student’s grade, then electing to view Report.

• As you review the Originality Scores and Reports, please bear in mind that they require interpretation.  For example, highlighted text may in fact be cited correctly and therefore a good paper with many appropriately cited quotations may generate a high Originality Score (indicating a high percentage of matching text).  If you discover something that looks like plagiarism, be quick to investigate but slow to judge.  You may wish to ask for help from your colleagues, from your college’s librarians, from the judicial affairs office, or from the director of faculty development in interpreting the results before confronting a student.
• You can enter a grade through the ‘Turnitin Assignments’ page. Click on the name of the paper and enter the grade in the field at the top.  Note: the grade will only be recorded in the Gradebook if you click the blue arrow.  Also, if you later change the grade in the Gradebook, it will not change the grade that appears when you access the paper through the Turnitin Assignments window.

See also:

- Turnitin Tutorial for Students

- Academic Integrity Resources for Faculty

- Research Success for your Students (for faculty, including tips on preventing and checking for plagiarism)

- Tutorials for Research Success (for students, including tutorials on how to cite, avoiding plagiarism)

Have questions or need help?

http://www.lehigh.edu/~infdli/UsingTurnitin.htm

Instructional Technology Support: 8-4988 rjd0@lehigh.edu

Library Support: 8-3053 rb04@lehigh.edu

Faculty Development: 8-6840 infdli@lehigh.edu

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(updated 3/1/2013 -gmr)