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Purpose: Turnitin is a plagiarism detection tool that helps instructors review originality in student submissions.
Please note: The default settings for Turnitin add the student's paper to the Turnitin database. If you have students submit drafts, please see our notes below about using Turnitin with drafts -- Checking drafts with the default settings will cause inaccurate results for the final submission.
To add Turnitin to an assignment (dropbox):
- Go to the Assignment tool, from Assessments => Assignments.
- Create a new assignment or find an assignment you have created, and click the dropdown arrow, then go to Edit Assignment.
- In the Assignment edit screen, expand the Evaluation & Feedback panel, and click "Manage Turnitin" at the bottom.
- In the Turnitin options window that is displayed, choose Enable Similarity Report for this Folder. We also recommend choosing Allow learners to see similarity scores in their submission folder. Then click Save.
(Click to Enlarge)
Optionally, you can enable Online Grading, if you'd like to use the Turnitin grading tools, otherwise you can grade directly in Assignments in Brightspace.
When enabled, the Turnitin icon is displayed in the assignment list:
For Checking Drafts
Checking drafts with Turnitin requires special consideration to NOT store the student's papers. Otherwise the similarity score for the final submission will be inaccurate.
To check drafts with Turnitin, follow the instructions above. Choose the More Options button on the Turnitin setting window.
Under the Submission Settings, change the "Submit Papers to:" option to "Do not store submitted papers".
There also other options on this page to exclude certain text, like bibliographic materials, or provide a template that will be considered when checking.
For any questions or if you need assistance with Turnitin for your assignment, please reach out to CATS at cats@commonwealthu.edu or 570-389-2065, or create a Helpdesk ticket.
Please note, as a working policy, CATS will not submit a paper to Turnitin that a student has not submitted themselves in Brightspace. We are happy to work with students directly to resolve any technical issues when submitting, but will not provide checking of assignments submitted outside of Brightspace. This maintains transparency to what is submitted to Turnitin.