How to Use Turnitin

 

Turnitin is a program that offers two valuable assessment features:

  1. An online, integrated grading system (Feedback Studio) that enables the use of Quick Marks, Rubrics, and other features to grade fairly and efficiently
  2. A built-in textual similarity function that compares a student's assignment to every document in its database, including all previously submitted papers, and on the Internet. If textual similarities are found, they are highlighted for Instructors and their grading team to examine and determine if the submitted work was the student's own work and/or properly attributed.

Turnitin can be used to grade and check lab reports, essays, research papers, or any other written assignment. 

When you use the entire Feedback Studio, Turnitin ensures fairness and equity because every paper is checked for integrity before grading begins. 

Create Turnitin Assignments

For instructions regarding creating an assignment using Turnitin on Canvas, please refer to the Ed Tech website.

Let students know you're using Turnitin.

Include the following statement in your syllabus:

"Students agree that by taking this course all required papers will be subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted papers will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers. Use of the Turnitin.com service is subject to the terms of use agreement posted on the Turnitin.com site."

Use the full Feedback Studio Suite

Don't limit your use of Turnitin as a way to detect plagiarism or other integrity problems in an assignment. Use the Feedback Studio for a complete grading solution and integrity-educating tool. For example:

  • show students a sample Turnitin report to educate them on citation and attribution.
  • tell students about Turnitin and refer them to the Library's Tutorial on Citation & Attribution or the Writing Hub if they are unsure/tentative about their writing skills 
  • create Rubrics for the assignments within Feedback Studio. You can do this when you are setting up the Turnitin Assignment (in that case, students will see the Rubric before they submit) or after the assignment is already established. Rubrics are a great way to ensure consistency among multiple grades, be clear in your expectations with students, and provide easy-to-understand feedback to students.
  • grade the papers using Quick Marks. Quick Marks are efficient ways to provide common feedback, whether the feedback is common to all writing assignments (e.g., awkward phrasing, weak transition) or to a particular assignment because you can create your own Quick Marks. This reduces grading time because it eliminates the need to write the same thing repeatedly on multiple student papers.

Recommended Steps for Reading for Integrity & Grading

These Instructions are for TritonEd. If you have already switched to CANVAS, please email canvas@ucsd.edu for help with Turnitin.

Once you are ready to grade the assignments, we recommend following these steps:

  1. Click on Course Tools and then Turnitin Assignments in the Left Column Menu. This brings up a list of student names and hyperlinks to their assignments.
  2. Grade student assignments through this portal, easily navigating between Turnitin's Similarity Reports, Quick Marks, and Grading Rubric screens. 
  3. Sort the assignments however you like (e.g., by name, date submitted, similarity %). 
  4. Click on the top assignment. This opens up a separate window - it is in this window that you will complete the grading.
  5. Check the Similarity Report by clicking on the Percentage Number at the top of the red-colored icons (on the right side). Do a quick read to double check for any integrity issues.
  6. Once you are assured that the work is the student's work, you can proceed with grading. Click on the CheckMark at the top of the blue-colored icons (on the right side). Here you can make Quick Marks before you start. You can also create Quick Marks as you go - whatever you create will be available to you in each student's assignment. Click on the Edit icon to type or voice record your feedback. Click on the bottom blue-colored icon to access a Rubric you've already added to the assignment or to add your rubric to the assignment.
  7. Once you are done grading that student's assignment, you can click on the arrow in the top right hand corner to move on to the next student's assignment. Repeat the process.

 

That's it! Grading with integrity is made easy in Turnitin's Feedback Studio. If you need help or would like an in-person walk-through, contact Dr. Tricia Bertram Gallant, AI Office Director, at aio@ucsd.edu or 858-822-2163