Introduction to Turnitin

Centre for Teaching and Learning

University of Limerick, Ireland

[W] www.ul.ie/ctl

Updated Sept 2011 by Angelica Risquez1

Overview

• Types of assignments and originality check

• Case scenarios and teaching advice• Using Turnitin with Sulis• Using Turnitin on its own• Originality report• Grademark• Peermark

2

Turnitin Overview

www.turnitin.com3

• Paper assignment is the base assignment for all other assignments types. Used to obtain an Originality Report

• PeerMark assignment: allows students to review their peers' papers based on scale and free response questions selected by the instructor.

• Revision Assignment allows students to submit multiple drafts without overwriting the previous drafts/submissions

• Reflection Assignment is designed as a learning journal where students write about what they learned from the writing process as well as offer feedback on the assignment they worked on.

Types of “Assignments”

4

It determines the congruence of text to sources in:

• Publicly accessible Internet sources• Every document already submitted to

Turnitin*• Assignments from within the class

Originality Check

* Lecturers can opt out from Turnitin storing papers. Only the lecturer can access the submitted paper.

5

• Allows for citation verification and quickly provides documentation of alleged plagiarism

• Detects rewording

• Both lecturer and students can upload

• It allows for peer to peer plagiarism detection

• It dos not search subscription databases (e.g. Library databases, newspapers, etc) unless those materials also appear in assignments previously sent to Turnitin.

• It does not differentiate between quoted materials and original writing!

PROS

Originality Check

CONS

6

Possible Scenario

A lecturer (or student who has access to it) receives an originality report showing a match for the following passage:

Today, according to authors of The Death of “e” and the Birth of the Real New Economy doing business electronically is the only way to stay alive and competitive. It is a necessity to get involved in the digital economy. Therefore, “e” is disappearing from our vocabulary because conducting business electronically is a normal, every-day activity.

Upon clicking on the comparison link, you find that the text is found in an on-line article, entitled The Death of “e” and the Birth of the Real New Economy.

Is this plagiarism or a false positive? Why?

7

• Use it proactively• Notify and explain to your students• Clear plagiarism policy: definition, avoidance,

guidelines and disciplinary process. • Help students develop writing skills.

Writing Centre http://www.ul.ie/ctl/regional-writing-centre

• Train and support students (e.g. trial submission)• Involve students (e.g. submit themselves)• Be creative! (e.g. using originality report in

tutorials, peer review and online grading features, allowing multiple drafts of an assignment…)

Teaching advice

8

UL resources• http://www2.ul.ie/pdf/201553623.pdf (Appendix

5: Plagiarism at College by Prof Sarah Moore)• http://www.ul.ie/~library/GLIS/html/index.htm

(Library online tutorials on Harvard referencing style, Refworks, researching with the internet, etc).

Other resources• http://www.turnitin.com/static/support.html• http://www.plagiarismadvice.org/• The Turnitin blog

Teaching Advice (2)

9

From September 2011, Sulis and Turnitin are integrated, meaning

• No need to create lecturer or students accounts

• When students submit into the Assignment tool in Sulis, a Turnitin report can be generated

• Instructors may also choose to allow students to view the reports

Using Turnitin with Sulis

10

How to set up my Sulis Assignment to get a Turnitin report

If you want to submit your own documents into Turnitin, or use the Grademark and/or Peermark features, you need to use Turnitin on its own

Steps:

1. Create a user profile

2. Create classes and assignments

3. Instructor/students submit work

Using Turnitin on its own

11

Go to www.turnitin.com and start by clicking Create Account.

1. Create a user profile

12

To get the account ID and a password for your college, log a call with ITD Service Desk

http://inside/itdservicedesk/default.htm

13

1. Create a user profile

2. Create a class and assignment

14

15

2. Create a class and assignment

Add rubrics, exclude bibliographic/quoted

materials/small matches, allow students to see

originality report, allow submissions after due

date and search options

16

2. Create a class and assignment

Instructor workload

Student involvement

a

c

high

medium

low

passive active

b

3. Instructors/students submit

17

3. Instructors/students submita. The instructor submits

Advantages

• Minimal student induction

• With large classes, you can submit all papers at once (.zip file from Sulis or other LMS, use IE!)

Disadvantages

• Students lack of involvement

• They may not pay as much attention to the originality of their work

18

19

3. Instructors/students submita. The instructor submits

Advantages• No errors with student

accounts• Minimal induction • Student awareness and

involvement, e.g students could see their originality report, do peer reviews (PeerMark), view online grading (GradeMarks), etc.

Disadvantages

• They need to know how to log in and submit (handout and/or training needed)

• You need a class list with name, surname and email, e.g.patricia, wong, 09563214@studentmail.ul.ie

20

3. Instructors/students submitb. Instructor registers students, they submit

21

3. Instructors/students submitb. Instructor registers students, they submit

Turnitin will automatically send the student an email with a provisional password. Students log in and submit their work. They get added to your class if they already have an account

Advantages• Student awareness and

involvement, e.g students could see their originality report, do peer reviews (PeerMark), view online grading (GradeMarks), etc.

• Minimal initial lecturer input

Disadvantages

• Some induction needed (handout and/or training needed)

• Possible teething problems and support (i.e. wrong email address, creating accounts twice…). A trial is recommended

22

3. Instructors/students submitc. Student create their account and submit

Customise and distribute the “Student Turnitin Guide” with your class ID and enrolment password: http://www.ul.ie/ctl/turnitin-plagiarism-prevention-software

23

3. Instructors/students submitc. Student create their account and submit

A greyed-out report icon indicates that the report has not yet been generated. Please wait a few moments and click your browser’s refresh button (large reports may take up to 24hh to process)

24

Originality Report (1)An originality report can be generated through the Assignments tool in Sulis or through a Turnitin account. Once it is ready…

25

Originality report (2)

26

Originality report (3)

27

Grademark

You can add comments within the body of the paper, point out grammar and punctuation mistakes, evaluate the paper against your own rubrics or predefined ones, etc.

Complete instructions available Chapter 4 of Instructor Handouthttp://www.ul.ie/ctl/turnitin-plagiarism-prevention-software

3:44

28

Peermark

8:23

Allows students to read, review, and evaluate one or many papers submitted by their classmates. Instructors can choose whether the reviews are anonymous or attributed, decide if students should be excluded from reviews, pair students, and assign students specific papers to review.

29

Peermark (2)Create new assignment as in slide 13, and select PeerMark Assignment (can only be created if a class has at least one paper assignment created)

Note: the due date of the base assignment must come before the start date and time of the PeerMark assignment. If anonymity in the review is desired, student submissions should not contain the name of the author in the text or at the top of the paper

The start date is the date students can begin reading papers and writing reviews.

The due date prevents students from writing reviews after this date. The post date is the date students will have access to reviews

written by their classmates

By default, reviews are anonymous and only those student who submit can review, but you can change it in “Show more options”

30

In Step 2, the instructor determines how many papers will be distributed to the students in the course. By default, PeerMark will automatically distribute papers to students

Peermark (3)

Click Save & Continue or click on the Show more distribution options link to exclude student papers from distribution or specify which student papers a student(s) will have to review.

Note: you need to have students registered as seen in slide 19

In Step 3, add questions for students to answer (your own or from Sample Library)

31

After the start date of the PeerMark assignment students may begin writing peer reviews. To view which papers students have reviewed click on the View link next to the PeerMark assignment.

Peermark (4)

The instructor can write a review to supplement those that students will receive from their peers. An instructor may also comment on the paper they are reviewing. A comment is equivalent to the notes that an instructor may write in the margins of a paper

Instructors can then view an individual student’s reviews by clicking on the Show details link to the right of the students name.

Instructors may grade the reviews written by the students

32

Peermark (5)Instructors may view a paper’s peer reviews within the document viewer once a reviewer submits a PeerMark review. To view a paper in the document viewer click on the paper’s title within the assignment inbox for the paper assignment the peer review is based on.

33

To view the PeerMark questions and answers click on ? icon.

Peermark (6)

To view a list of all the comments left on the paper click on the mark list icon.

To grade a reviewer click on the reviewer’s name, or to edit the grade click on the grade next to the reviewer’s name.

Dr. Angélica RisquezTechnology Enhanced Learning Advisor

Centre for Teaching and LearningMillstream CourtyardUniversity of Limerick

Limerick, Ireland[T] +353-61-202 580[F] +353-61-338 044

[E] angelica.risquez@ul.ie[W] www.ul.ie/ctl

Questions?

Advanced guides, videos, case students and more inhttp://www.turnitin.com/static/support.html

Teaching support and advice in the CTL:

34