Using Turnitin.com: Student and Teacher Instructions for Getting Started

 

 

Turnitin.com is a the web service we are using for students portfolio submissions.  The service defines itself as, “The leading originality checking and plagiarism prevention service used by millions of students and faculty, and thousands of institutions worldwide. Turnitin encourages best practices for using and citing other people’s written material.”

The following resources can be downloaded for students and teachers to use as they get started with the program:

• Instructions to Create Classes and Assignments– downloadable instructions for teachers with screen shots and directions for changing assignment settings
• Student Instructions to Login and Enroll in Classes– a handout to give to students when they are enrolling in a class for the first time
• Student Submission Instructions – a handout with screen shots to give to students when they are submitting essays for the first time

In addition to being a plagiarism prevention program, Turnitin also supports best writing practices.  If teachers use the program to its full capacity, it can do the following:

• Help teachers give formative feedback in a fast, efficient manner before final submissions via the Revision Assignment
• Provide opportunities for students to review one another’s work and provide formative feedback via the Peermark Assignment 
• Provide opportunities for student to reflect on their writing process, successes, and challenges via the Reflection Assignment
• Help students to recognize and revise plagiarism in essays via the Originality Check once essays are submitted in the Paper Assignment
• Facilitate class dialogue in a safe environment via the Discussion Boards 

If you are a teacher who is new to Turnitin, all of these resources will be helpful to you.  If you are a returning teacher, I encourage you to try out the Discussion Boards this year and also check your “Optional Settings” for assignments to make sure they support students learning from the program.  You can see a list of these in the “Instructions to Create Classes and Assignments” but here is an overview if you don’t want to download the file:

Change the Following “Optional Settings” Before Students Submit Assignments:

Under “Allow Submissions After Due Date”

• Change to “YES”

Under “Generate an Originality Report for Student Submissions”

• Change to “IMMEDIATELY CAN OVERWRITE UNTIL DUE DATE”

Under “Students to See Originality Report”

• Change to “YES”

Note:

• These settings will be saved for all future assignments
• They will ensure that students are able to use Turnitin as a formative, learning experience
• Teachers have not recommended the grammar check for student assignments

I hope these resources help you to facilitate the use of this beneficial program with your students.  Teachers have spoken highly so far of the benefits of the service for students and the ease of online grading for teachers.