Using Turnitin for Academic Integrity

What is Turnitin?

Turnitin provides a unique layer of security and instruction to ensure academic integrity for student-created written submissions.

Are There Other Similar Tools?

There are a handful of similar tools that you may have had experience with earlier in your educational or professional career. Some of the products are:

VeriCite
PlagScan
Unplag

While none of these systems is perfect at detecting plagiarism, they all function very similarly. Turnitin has become the industry-standard for checking originality and citations.

What Are The Benefits of Turntin?

Turnitin is a powerful academic integrity and teaching tool when teaching and enforcing concepts of citations and original thought. Turnitin can be used in face-to-face, hybrid, and online delivery classes.

Academic Integrity

The student will be informed if their submitted work contains content that could be considered plagiarized. This report can be presented before the work is submitted for grading to allow for the student to make adjustments.

Teachable Moment

While the majority of students can give you a dictionary definition of plagiarism, many cannot apply that information to their submitted work. Turnitin gives the instructor the opportunity to hands-on teach the concepts of plagiarism, academic integrity, and original thought to the student.

Flexible Reporting

The instructor can set when and how reports are released to students on their work. An instructor can choose to have the originality report released immediately and allow for corrections and resubmissions, they can have the report released immediately but the submission is final, and they can choose to have the report

How Does Turnitin Work?

To get started, you will need the following:

Computer with Internet Access Capability
Valid EUID and Login Credentials

Following is information for both instructors and students on how Turnitin works:

Instructor: Turnitin

Instructor Download

No download is needed for the instructor to utilize Turnitin. It is a web-based plug-in that has been integrated into Canvas.

Instructor Setup & Use

Setup is relatively easy and is managed from inside of Canvas.

You will need to create an assignment in Canvas and set the submission type to "External Tool" and select "Turnitin" from the list. Set the rest of the details for the assignment and press "Save". Once the assignment is saved in Canvas, you will then be presented with the options that are specific for Turnitin.

Note on Repository Submissions:

Student work is checked against an extensive repository of works from numerous sources. This includes student submissions.

When setting up an assignment, you may select to have student work submitted to the repository or only compared to the repository. If you are wanting students to only check the originality of their work, then the assignment should not be submitted to the repository.

If you are wanting to eventually have students submit their work along with a final originality check, you will need to create a second (separate) assignment with the work being submitted to the Turnitin repository.

Once the assignments are submitted, you can view the originality reports and student submissions by going back to the assignment in Canvas. Here, you will be presented with the student submissions for review.

Student: Turnitin

Student Download

No download is needed for the student to utilize Turnitin. It is a web-based plug-in that has been integrated into Canvas.

Student Setup & Use

All setup is handled from the instructor. You will only be submitting work for review by Turnitin and then acting upon feedback, if and when appropriate.

There are various configurations your instructor can setup with Turnitin. Make sure you read their directions carefully to ensure you submit your work properly for review and scoring.

Submit to Repository
Stores your paper into the database of works for comparison to other works.
- Generate Report Immediately - Students Cannot Resubmit
- Generate Report Immediately - Students Can Resubmit
- Generate Report on Due Date - Students Can Resubmit Until Assignment Closes
Do Not to Submit to Repository
Only compares your paper to those in the repository, but does not store it as part of the repository.
- Generate Report Immediately - Students Cannot Resubmit
- Generate Report Immediately - Students Can Resubmit
- Generate Report on Due Date - Students Can Resubmit Until Assignment Closes

Your instructor may have created two separate assignment dropboxes for you to facilitate checking and submitting your work. Make sure you read directions carefully.

Resource & Help Guides

The University of North Texas at Dallas Office of Distance Learning & Instructional Technology has gathered resource materials for Turnitin.