Advice for staff
Using Turnitin to support assessment practice
Please note that we do NOT support:
- access to Turnitin on iOS
- direct access to TurnitinUK
Our support
Your students can access Turnitin only if you make it available to them.
The University of Edinburgh uses Turnitin’s Feedback Studio. This comprises two services:
-
similarity checker
-
marking and feedback interface
There is an additional tool, PeerMark, which enables you to set up peer marking and feedback. Further details can be found on the Using PeerMark page:
Similarity checking
The similarity checker compares the text in a student submission against extensive databases of websites, academic reference materials and previously submitted work, to produce a similarity score and a similarity report.
Staff and students should understand that similarity reports do not say whether plagiarism has taken place; the report simply highlights sections of the submitted text that match other sources. It remains an academic decision as to what the similarity means and what happens as a consequence. For guidance on similarity reports see the Help and support page:
Marking and feedback interface
This allows staff to view the similarity report (if requested) and see exact details of any matching text and its source. It also allows staff to mark work and apply feedback, including the ability to create and use sets of feedback comments (Quick Marks), and apply marking rubrics. Do be aware of the session timeout guidance when you are marking; you can find this on the Help and support page.
For help with marking and feedback, see the Help and support page:
Using Turnitin with students
In order to guard against misinformation it is important that if you use Turnitin you ensure students understand what it is, why it is being used, and where possible enable students to benefit from it.
Informing your students
It is important that you inform your students that the similarity checking service is being used when they submit work for assessment, and that they know whether or not their work will be retained in the Turnitin database.
Turnitin similarity checking is an online service that enables the comparison of students' work against electronic sources including other students' work. The service is managed by iParadigms Europe Ltd in Newcastle upon Tyne is available to all UK tertiary education institutions by subscription.
The similarity checking service works by executing searches of online sources, extensive databases of reference material, as well as content previously submitted by other users. Passages copied directly or very closely from existing sources will be identified by the software and both the original and the potential copy will be displayed for the tutor to view. The tutor will also be able to see where direct quotations are appropriately referenced.
The software makes no decisions as to whether a student has plagiarised, it simply highlights sections of text that are duplicated in other sources. All work will continue to be reviewed by the course tutor.
Once work has been submitted to the system it becomes part of the ever growing database of material against which subsequent submissions are checked.
There are resources for students available on our Help and support page:
Helping students prepare for online submission
If your students are new to electronic submission, or just submitting to Turnitin, we greatly encourage you to create an inbox specifically made for students to submit a test document to so they can see what is required and how long the submission process can take, and hence be better prepared for when they submit for assessment.
To do this, create a dedicated test Turnitin inbox in your Learn course where submissions are not added to the Turnitin database. Also, encourage students to consult the resources provided on the Help and support page and on how to submit work.
Helping students to use Turnitin to self-assess their academic writing skills
Turnitin cannot teach student how to write but it can be used to help students self-assess their ability to follow the rules of good academic practice.
Firstly, make sure that your students are aware of what academic integrity means at Edinburgh and how the University can support them with putting this into practice:
Secondly, create a dedicated test Turnitin inbox in your Learn course where submissions are not added to the Turnitin database, and students can see their Similarity Report. Again, encourage students to consult the resources provided on the Help and support page and on how to submit work and also make sure students know how to interpret a similarity report.
Helping students to use Turnitin to self-assess their draft work
We encourage staff, where appropriate, to allow students to use Turnitin to review drafts of their work and the associated similarity report, before final submission, as part of the practice of learning good writing and referencing practice.
To enable this, create a dedicated Turnitin inbox in your Learn course where draft submissions are not added to the Turnitin database, and students can see their Similarity Report. Again, encourage students to consult the resources provided on the Help and support page and on how to submit work, and also make sure students know how to interpret a similarity report.
Helping students download their digital receipt and their feedback
We ask you to encourage your students to download their digital receipt immediately they have submitted, as it is their own proof that this was done successfully and is vital should there be issues later.
We also ask you to encourage your students to download their work once it has been marked. This is so they always have a copy of their feedback even if they lose access to the online version at a point in the future.
There are resources for students available on our Help and support page:
Further issues
If you have any issues using Turnitin, contact the IS Helpline with as much detail possible (e.g. browser, platform, course):