How do I use the Turnitin plagiarism service to check the originality of student submitted papers?
Tufts University has a University-wide contract with the Turnitin plagiarism detection service.
Instructors can use Turnitin with the Canvas Assignments tool to check for potential unoriginal content. Turnitin compares submitted papers to others found on the Internet, in its own paper repository, and in large academic proprietary databases. Instructors receive (in the Canvas Assignments tool) an “Originality Report” from Turnitin for each student submission.
At Tufts, Turnitin is only available to instructors for use with student work submitted via Canvas. Students cannot check their own papers via Turnitin.
Things to know about Turnitin:
- When Turnitin is used on an assignment, students will have a note on their assignment form indicating that the assignment will be checked by the Turnitin plagiarism service.
- Turnitin must be set up on a Canvas assignment before students begin submitting work. It cannot be added to an assignment later to check papers that have already been submitted.
Go to Assignments
Click Add assignment (+)
This displays the Create New Assignment form.
Add the Assignment title and directions
Under Submission Type, click in the dropdown box and select External tool
Click Find
This displays the list of Canvas External tools.
Click Turnitin, then click Select
This connects the Assignment submissions to the Turnitin Service.
Add the desired assign dates/times, then click Save (or Save and Publish)
This creates an Assignment in which student submissions will be sent to Turnitin and an Originality Report will be returned back to the Canvas Assignment.
After Saving the Assignment, go back to the Assignment tool and click on the name of the assignment
This displays the details page for this assignment, including a Turnitin Properties Panel.
Click on the Turnitin Menu Icon
Click Settings
This displays the Turnitin Settings for this Assignment.
Click Optional Settings
This displays the Turnitin Optional Settings for this Assignment.
Select sources to compare
Select Originality Report generation and resubmissions
The default is "Generate Reports immediately (resubmissions ar not allowed)." If you do choose to allow resubmissions, Turnitin will not save any previous submissions (as Canvas Assignments usually do). Only the student's most recent submission will be saved and sent to Turnitin.
Select exclusions
Decide if students will receive a copy the the Originality Report
Allow students to view report: If checked, students will be able to see a copy of the Turnitin originality report (in addition to the instructor). A link to the originality report (when it is completed) will be located on the student's view of the completed assignment.
Students will know in advance of their submitting their assignment file if the instructor is using the Turnitin service, regardless of their access to the returned originality report.
Decide what should happen with the paper once the Originality Report is completed
Selecting "Do not store" means that after the originality check has been performed on the paper, the paper will not go into Turnitin's paper repository. This might be a good choice if the assignment is for a "draft" paper. If this option is selected, the second version of the paper submitted will not be checked against the draft version the same paper.
Selecting "Standard Paper Repository" means that after the originality check has been performed on the paper, the paper will go into Turnitin's paper repository. Other papers submitted to Turnitin (anywhere in the world) will be checked against it.
Click Submit (do not make any additional edits to Optional Settings)
