Information & Technology ServicesInstructional Technologies

Turnitin Originality Checking

Turnitin is a web service for reviewing written work for originality. The service compares submitted text strings with a large database of student papers, common full-text journals, and web content, identifying any matched “unoriginal” material. An Originality Report provides a visual summary of matched text and its source. Turnitin may have pedagogical application in teaching correct citation of sources, reducing quotes and paraphrasing, and enhancing originality. It may also be used to detect possible plagiarism. Pacific Lutheran University has licensed Turnitin for institutional use as a resource by faculty. Faculty who choose to use Turnitin may enable its use within the Sakai Assignments Tool.

Enabling Turnitin in Sakai Assignments

The Turnitin service may be optionally enabled by Sakai course instructors for individual assignments via the Assignments Tool. Turnitin works only with file attachments, so be sure to set the Student Submissions to “Attachments only”. To use the Turnitin Service, check the box in front of “Use Turnitin to Review Submissions”. You can optionally check “Allow students to review Originality Reports”. Once you’ve posted the assignment and click on the Grade link, you’ll see a new column showing the status of each student’s Turnitin report.

Student Assignment Submission

Students may submit their assignments to Turnitin as file attachments. The following file types are acceptable: Word (.doc), WordPerfect (.wpd), Postscript (.ps), PDF (.pdf), HTML(.htm, .html), RTF (.rtf), or plain text (.txt). Once the assignment is submitted, students receive a feedback page as well as an email receipt from their Sakai course confirming their assignment submission.

Reviewing the Turnitin Originality Report

Originality Reports may take as long as 10 to 20 minutes to be created after an assignment submission. You can check the status of a student report under the Turnitin column of the assignment grading screen. A completed report will be illustrated as a report icon. Clicking the icon opens a new window with the Turnitin report.