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Turnitin assignments

What is Turnitin?

Turnitin's online plagiarism detection software is one of the strategies UTS uses to discourage and detect plagiarism, and to encourage the development of academic literacies.

The Turnitin Assignment tool in UTSOnline enables the creation of Turnitin assignments which can be made available in content areas of a UTSOnline course. Functionality includes the ability to submit an assignment and then generate a report.

How do I create and use Turnitin assignment in UTSOnline?

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Adding a Turnitin Assignment to your subject creates an area for your students to electronically submit that assignment and check their own work for correct use of source materials. You can test the features and benefits for yourself by submitting a piece of your own work to review using Turnitin.

To create a Turnitin Assignment in your UTSOnline course:

  1. Create a content area where you will place all your assignments (see Adding a Content Folder if you are unsure how to do this).
    Open the content area.
  2. Under the content area heading, click the Create Assessment menu button and select Turnitin Assignment.

    Creating a Turnitin Assignment
     
  3. On the Turnitin front page select Paper Assignment and click Next Step.
  4. Complete the Title Box and Marks to be allocated.
  5. Select the relevant Dates

    Note: You don’t need to complete Post Date unless you are going to use GradeMark to provide feedback and grades to students. The post date has no bearing on when grades are posted to the Blackboard Gradebook. The Post Date is used by GradeMark to release the grades and feedback to students on the set dates. More Information about GradeMark see Turnitin assignments - grading.

  6. Click on more options to see the advanced assignment options.
    Turnitin Assignment - more options
  7. From the Generate Originality Reports for student submissions pull down menu select either: 
    • immediately first report is final
    • immediately (can overwrite reports until due date) - recommended
    • on due date
  8. Select whether to Allow submissions after the due date?
  9. Select Yes - recommended.

    Allow submissions
     
  10. By default, all the repositories should be checked for searching of submitted papers. 

    Select which Repositories
     
  11. After reviewing or changing the advanced assignment options click on submit to create the Turnitin assignment.

    Note: Only one paper per student can exist for each assignment. Instructors must create a new assignment for every set of papers they would like their students to submit. 

If your Turnitin assignment is created before census date, or you know enrolments may have changed, you will need to update the student list by clicking on the Roster Sync button on the right of the Assignment Inbox. See below for more information on how to update your student list in Turnitin. 

Why is the list of students in my Turnitin assignment different to my UTSOnline course enrolment list?

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Over time the list of students enroled in a UTSOnline course may change due to the daily enrolment update to match CASS. However the list of students in the Turnitin database remains static. To resolve this, you will need to utilise Turnitin's Roster Sync feature.

When initiated by a UTSOnline course Instructor, the Roster Sync feature synchronises the student list of a UTSOnline course with the student list of a Turnitin Assignment and therefore enables Instructors to maintain a current list of students on the Turnitin database to correspond with the list of students in their UTSOnline course.

To utilise the Roster Sync feature:

  1. Navigate to the course Control Panel, expand the Course Tools menu.
  2. Click on Turnitin Assignments to access the Turnitin Assignments page.

    Course Tools - Turnitin Assignments
  3. In the Turnitin Assignments page, open one of the Turnitin assignments (if there are multiple assignments).
  4. Under the Assignment Inbox tab, select the Roster Sync link.

    Turnitin - Roster Sync

Note: Performing a Roster Sync for one Turnitin assignment will automatically update the student list for other Turnitin assignments in your UTSOnline course.

How do I download student assignment submissions in Turnitin assignment?

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You can assess and return feedback to students online by using Turnitin's GradeMark feature.
However if you prefer to download Turnitin assignment submissions:

  1. Navigate to the course Control Panel, expand the Course Tools menu, and click on Turnitin Assignments, or Turnitin Assignments By Groups.
  2. In the Turnitin Assignments page, select the Turnitin Assignment.
  3. Ensure the Assignment Inbox tab is active in the Turnitin assignment.

To download an individual assignment submission:

  1. Locate the student (author) of the assignment submission.
  2. Under the File column, click on the File icon in the student's record.

    Turnitin Downloading an individual Turnitin assignment
  3. A small window will open, giving you the choice to download the assignment submission in it's Originally Submitted Format or in PDF format.
  4. Once a selection has been made, the download dialog box will allow you to download the assignment submission in the format you selected previously.

To download all the assignment submissions:

  1. Tick the checkbox next to the top of the Author column. All submissions will be automatically selected.
  2. The Download button will automatically appear above the student list.

    Downloading multiple Turnitin assignments
     
  3. After clicking on the Download button, select the Original File option.
  4. A small window will open giving you the choice to download the assignment submissions in their Originally Submitted Format or in PDF format.
  5. Once a selection has been made, the download dialog box will appear to determine the save location.
  6. The selected assignment submissions will then be compressed into a single zip file.

Can I copy a Turnitin assignment?

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Turnitin Assignments should not be copied. The Copy button in the Action Item menu for a Turnitin Assignment in a content area is not supported functionality in the current version of Turnitin.

If you use the Copy button, the assignment will appear to copy correctly, but in some cases the dates are not copied correctly and in other cases, students and Instructors will receive error messages when trying to access the copy.

For multiple Turnitin Assignments, a new Turnitin Assignment should be created each time.

More Turnitin Resources

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