About Turnitin

It is increasingly important to ensure that students are aware of plagiarism and how to avoid it. To assist with this, Murdoch University provides Turnitin plagiarism-checking software.

Turnitin is a pattern matching system that checks text submitted in assignments, against text in its database, the web and electronic journals. Students and staff are able to submit documents electronically and Turnitin will provide a report which shows matched text in colour and a percentage rating. Receiving the report provides students and staff with the opportunity to check whether that material has been referenced properly.

Guidelines

The University has adopted a developmental rather than a punitive approach. That is, Turnitin is available for students to check their own assignments before submission for marking and it is expected that this will improve their understanding of collusion, plagiarism and referencing. We encourage staff to ask Part 1 students in particular to submit drafts to Turnitin before submitting them for assessment. This could constitute part of the assessment.

Students will want to know how much matching is acceptable. Setting a fixed acceptable percentage is not recommended because Turnitin picks up correctly cited references and commonly used terminology that may not easily be replaced without loss of precision. Instead students should be made aware that if they rely too much on quotations then it is likely they aren't displaying a critical understanding of the material.

The software can also be used by staff who suspect plagiarism and collusion.

Very helpful training materials for both teachers and students are available from the Turnitin website at http://turnitin.com/static/training.html

What Unit Coordinators need to do
What students need to do
Turnitin Login

What Unit Coordinators need to do

You have an online unit

If you wish to use Turnitin you need to create a link to it in your online unit, create assignments within Turnitin, and alert students to the availability of Turnitin and how to use it.

The following steps indicate the approach supported by Murdoch University. Turnitin will prompt you at each step.

1. Create a link in your online unit. In 'Build' view, click the 'Add Content Link' pull-down menu and select 'Turnitin Assignment'. Click 'Create Turnitin Assignment'.


2. Create an assignment. See below for detailed staff instructions. Select the option that lets students view their own Originality Reports for all paper assignments in this class. (Reports appear within Turnitin. They are not sent to an email address.) Use the Advanced Assignment options to allow students to submit more than once. Select immediately (can overwrite reports until due date). Ensure all boxes for the search targets are ticked.


3. Walk your students through how to submit assignments to Turnitin.


4. Demonstrate and explain the report to your students. Turnitin will highlight all text that it has been able to match. Therefore, all highlighted text needs to be checked to ensure it has been correctly referenced.

You don't have an online unit

If you wish to use Turnitin you need to request an account, set up a 'class' for each unit so students can check their own work, enrol your students, create assignments within Turnitin, and alert students to the availability of Turnitin and how to use it.

The following steps indicate the approach supported by Murdoch University. Turnitin will prompt you at each step.

1. Request a Turnitin account by contacting turnitin@murdoch.edu.au. You will be sent an email with your account details. To log in, enter your email address and Turnitin password in the top right hand corner of the Turnitin home page: http://turnitin.com


2. Create a 'class' for each unit. Turnitin will supply a class ID and you create the enrolment password. Use the unit code in lowercase for this (e.g. fdn108).


3. Register your students. Click a class, then the 'Students' tab. Choose 'upload student list' and use your Callista student list formatted according to the prompts. (Turnitin will only handle 100 names at a time so this may need to be done in batches.)


4. Create an assignment. Select the option that lets students view their own Originality Reports for all paper assignments in this class. (Reports appear within Turnitin. They are not sent to an email address.) Use the Advanced Assignment options to allow students to submit more than once. Select immediately (can overwrite reports until due date). Ensure all boxes for the search targets are ticked.


5. Provide the Turnitin URL and unit password in your Unit Guide. See below for the statement to use in your unit information.


6. Demonstrate and explain the system to your students. Turnitin will highlight all text that it has been able to match. Therefore, all highlighted text needs to be checked to ensure it has been correctly referenced.


7. Tell students to look for the email from Turnitin which provides their Enrolment password, and ensure they know they must use the email account listed in Callista.

The following documents were originally created by Sam Downes who used Turnitin in 2006. You may wish to adapt the student document to suit your classes.

Staff Instructions for Turnitin (word doc)
Instructions for students (word doc)

There are excellent training materials on the Turnitin website which provide detailed information about the product and the ways it can be used at http://turnitin.com/static/training.html

What students need to do

Students can use Turnitin even if their Unit Coordinator does not.

NOTE: Be aware that it may take up to 24 hours to receive a report. Do not include the cover sheet when you submit your assignment.

NOTE: Your report will appear within Turnitin. It is not sent to your email address.

Your Unit Coordinator is using Turnitin (see below)
Your Unit Coordinator is not using Turnitin (This is a password protected site)

Your Unit Coordinator is using Turnitin

You can use Turnitin from within your online unit.

1. Click the Turnitin link and follow the prompts to upload your assignment.
2. Your report will appear in Turnitin within 24 hours under the 'Contents' column in your assignment list.
3. Your report will highlight any text that has been matched from the databases available to Turnitin. You need to check that matched text has been referenced correctly. You are able to submit your work more than once, but need to allow time for reports to arrive and to make any necessary revisions. Turnitin allows your Unit Coordinator to see whether you have submitted your assignment for checking.
4. Once you are certain that your work is free of plagiarism or collusion, you are ready to submit it for marking.

Further information
See the Turnitin training materials for further information at http://turnitin.com/static/training.html