What is Turnitin?
Turnitin is a cloud-based service which identifies plagiarism by comparing submitted work against a database of sources. A submission made to an assignment will generate a Similarity Report, which is the result of the comparison between the text of the submission against the search targets selected for the assignment.
- Originality Checking: compares submitted work against a massive database of sources to identify potential plagiarism.
- Similarity Report: generates a report highlighting sections of submitted work that match existing sources, and it breaks down the matches by source and provides a percentage indicating the overall similarity index.
- Advanced Matching: detects paraphrasing, character substitutions, and other techniques sometimes used to disguise plagiarism.
- Feedback for Students: features that provide annotation feedback to submitted work, identifying potential plagiarism issues and suggesting improvements to grammar and citations.
Scope and Cost
Turnitin is scoped at the institutional level and is available to all UNF faculty using Canvas. It is used by instructors who wish to check for plagiarism in student work by comparing submitted papers to a database of sources and generates a report highlighting potential instances of copied content.
There is no cost for faculty or student utilizing this tool as UNF holds an institutional license for the software.
Canvas Integration
Turnitin is universally integrated to all Canvas Courses at UNF. Turnitin can only be enabled for a Canvas File Upload assignment type; it cannot be enabled for Canvas Discussions, Canvas Quizzes, or any other non-file upload Canvas assignments. Once a File Upload Canvas assignment has been selected, faculty will see the Plagiarism Review option appear and faculty have the choice to enable Turnitin for the assignment.
All student submissions that have been uploaded to a Canvas assignment where Turnitin has been enabled can be reviewed from the Feedback Studio that is integrated with Canvas SpeedGrader.
Turnitin LTI features include:
- Checks for similarity against Turnitin’s industry-leading content database, which produces a similarity score.
- Allows faculty to visually check all flagged instances for plagiarism with access to primary sources.
- Reveals text manipulations meant to bypass integrity checks.
- Empowers instructors with commenting and grading tools that make the feedback process faster, easier, and more consistent.
Requirements
Turnitin is an in-browser tool that works for all Mac, PC, and Chromebook devices.
Caveats
UNF’s instance of Turnitin requires student submissions to be provided through a Canvas assignment as a file upload, and Instructors must access the similarity report via the similarity score link within SpeedGrader.
Support Report
The implementation of a grading system for CIRT support not only facilitates efficient resource allocation but also fosters transparency in our service delivery. By self-grading our support levels as A+, B+, and C+, we provide faculty with a transparent framework that outlines the expected level of assistance they can anticipate when reaching out for help.
A support grade of “A+” represents the best of our assistance capabilities. This grade signifies that our team has extensive familiarity with the app and/or integration. We have excellent internal documentation, and our support team feels comfortable troubleshooting most issues without having to reach out to the vendor for assistance. Because a majority of issues are handled internally, users of applications and/or integrations with an “A+” grade can expect swift and comprehensive resolutions when possible.
CIRT Support Docs
Recognizing the unique needs of UNF instructors, CIRT has crafted the following support documentation, which has been designed to streamline and enhance your experience with this application and/or integration.
External Resources
To further empower UNF instructors, we provide direct links to the vendor’s support material, ensuring you have access to official resources and expert guidance. Furthermore, we curate and share external support documentation discovered online that may offer valuable insights or alternative perspectives. Our commitment is to provide you with a holistic support experience, combining our internal expertise with external resources to empower you in navigating the intricacies of this application.
Contact CIRT
For UNF faculty seeking to deepen their understanding of this application, schedule personalized training sessions, or initiate the installation process, we encourage you to reach out to the Center for Instruction and Research Technology at cirtlab@unf.edu (904-620-3927).
