Teaching and Learning Resource Center

Turnitin

Turnitin is a leading academic anti-plagiarism tool, used by instructors and students to avoid plagiarism and ensure academic integrity.  It is used to generate a report that identifies material in a student submission that is similar to content already in Turnitin databases.

Turnitin is licensed explicitly for classroom or teaching use only. Faculty and graduate students wanting to check their own work should use iThenticate.

There are two ways to create a Turnitin assignment in Carmen. The primary difference in creating a Turnitin assignment involves the Submission Type setting in Canvas Assignments. The two options are using:

  • The Online submission, provides fast access to basic Turnitin functionality with full use of the Canvas assignment options.
  • The External Tool submission, lets you and your students use the full version of Turnitin Feedback Studio while sacrificing some Canvas functionality.

Each submission type supports different features. See the comparison chart for more information on the settings available with each submission type.

Instructors should note that there is no Similarity Report outcome that unequivocally indicates plagiarism. The percentage score generated by Turnitin can be influenced by instructor choice in setting up the assignment Different disciplines generally expect written work to contain different amounts of quoted material. The Best Practices section explains how you might set up and use Similarity Reports most effectively.

See the directions below for creating assignments in Carmen with Turnitin enabled.

The first time you create an assignment, you may need to review and agree to the Turnitin User Agreement.

Create a Turnitin Assignment

We suggest including a notice in the assignment description that Turnitin has been enabled for the assignment. Please see the Best Practices article for additional recommendations on how to set up and use Similarity Reports most effectively and to communicate expectations to students.

Using the Online Submission Type
  1. Log into Carmen. 
  2. Navigate to the desired course. 
  3. From the course navigation, select Assignments.
  4. Click the Add Assignment button. Add(+) assignment button
  5. Enter an Assignment name into the box provided and make your assignment setting selections.
    See the file types and sizes supported by Turnitin. 
  6. Under the Submission type drop-down menu, select Online. 
  7. Under Online entry options, select the File Uploads checkbox.
    Online submission type and file uploads box checked
  8. From the Plagiarism Review drop-down menu, select Turnitin. 
    Turnitin selected for Plagiarism Review
  9. Customize the following Turnitin settings to fit your needs:
    • Store submissions in 
    • Compare submissions against
    • Similarity Report
    • Save as default settings
    • Show similarity report to students
    Learn more about Turnitin's assignment settings.
    Turnitin settings
  10. After you have made all your assignment setting selections, you have two options:
    • Click Save & publish to publish this assignment
    • Click Save to save the assignment but not publish it

Using Speedgrader, you can grade Turnitin assignments and view the Similarity Report.

For additional information see the Turnitin Instructor Guide.
 

Using the External Tool Submission Type
  1. Log into Carmen. 
  2. Navigate to the desired course. 
  3. From the course navigation, select Assignments.
  4. Click the Add Assignment button. Add(+) assignment button
  5. Enter an Assignment name into the box provided and make your Canvas assignment setting selections.
    Note that many Canvas options will not apply if you are using the external tool version of Turnitin.
    If you want to use a Canvas rubric for the assignment, you must add the rubric before setting the External Tool submission type. We recommend that you:
    • Create the assignment with any other submission type
    • Save the assignment
    • Add the rubric
    • Edit the assignment to select the External Tool submission type
  6. After entering the assignment details, in the Submission Type drop-down menu, select External Tool.
  7. Click Find. 
    Turnitin external tool
  8. Scroll down to Turnitin Feedback Studio then click Select. 
    Configure external tool
  9. Set due or availability dates for the assignment. These dates appear throughout Canvas like regular assignments.
  10. Click Save.
    Once your assignment is created, you can click the link to view it. For a Turnitin assignment, you will see the Turnitin Assignment Inbox.
    Turnitin assignment box

Since your Turnitin assignments appear in your list of Canvas Assignments, you can access the Turnitin settings and functions from within Canvas.

Using Speedgrader, you can grade Turnitin assignments and view the Similarity Report.

For additional information see the Turnitin Instructor Guide.
 

 

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