Turnitin is a cloud-based solution with capabilities in Similarity checking and online grading using their Similarity Report and Online Grading tools. Turnitin saves instructors time and facilitates personalized feedback for learners.
Similarity Report lets you monitor Assignment submissions and identify potential cases of plagiarism by automatically comparing submissions to an online database of original content. You can then view Similarity Reports which highlight key areas, show a breakdown of matching sources, and provide direct links to the matching content.
You can also take advantage of the integrated Online Grading which lets you add comments, inline text, and highlight sections in file submissions, directly from the Assignments tool. Learners can view Online Grading feedback in User Progress under Assignments, in Grades, in Assignments, in User Progress under Grades, and in Content.
Similarity Report and Online Grading features are enabled through integration with Turnitin from iParadigms, LLC. For more information about these features, see Turnitin Integration on Brightspace IntegrationHub.
Note: The use of Turnitin combined with the special access features in the Assignments tool is not supported. If you set a due date for a user with special access that is different than the due date set on the Turnitin tab, the Turnitin due date does not change.
About Turnitin-enabled assignments
Consider the following when creating or editing your Turnitin-enabled assignment:
- When creating a new assignment, the name of the folder in Turnitin truncates after 99 characters, even though the Name field accepts 128 characters.
- When you copy course components from one course to another, confirm that all settings are configured for the Turnitin-enabled assignments in the new course.
- If you want students to see instructions on the Submit Files page, you must enter them into the Instructions rich text field in the Properties tab. These instructions are automatically transferred into Turnitin. Any instructions you enter in the Properties tab overwrite instructions entered into Turnitin.
- If Online Grading is activated for your org unit, in the Turnitin tab, the Online Grading Available to Learners date defaults to the current date and time, plus 7 days. In the Restrictions tab, if you select Has End Date, the Online Grading Available to Learners date automatically sets to the end date, plus 1 day. You can change either of these dates if needed.
- If you want to automatically transfer scores as draft to Brightspace, on the Turnitin Integration page, select the Automatically sync grades as Draft in Brightspace radio button or select the Manually sync grades as Draft in Brightspace radio button to make it a manual step.
- If you want students to see the Similarity Score link to Turnitin:
- Your administrator must map their role to the Learner IMS role.
- In the Properties tab, ensure Allow learners to see Turnitin similarity scores in their assignment submissions folder is selected. This option is selected by default.
- In Turnitin, under Optional Settings, ensure Allow learners to view Similarity Reports? is set to Yes. This option is set to Yes by default.
- In the Properties tab, if you select Allow learners to see Turnitin similarity scores in their assignment, the equivalent option in Turnitin called Allow learners to view Similarity Reports? is automatically set to Yes.
- In Turnitin, under Optional Settings, Allow late submissions? defaults to Yes. This means you don't need to change end dates to allow students to submit late assignments.
Enable Turnitin for an assignment
In order to enable Turnitin for an assignment, make sure your administrator has done the following first:
- Activated Turnitin Similarity Report for your org unit by configuring the variables in d2l.3rdParty.Turnitin.LTI in Config Variable Browser
- Mapped the IMS roles for users in IMS Configuration.
To enable Turnitin for an assignment
- Navigate to Content.
- Do one of the following:
- Click Create New > Assignment, and enter the name, grade, date, and instruction information for your assignment.
- In the assignment you want to update, click Options > Edit.
- Click to expand the Submissions & Completion accordion.
- Under Allowable File Extensions, select Compatible with Turnitin. For more information, refer to What file types are supported in Similarity Report?
| Note: If you are using Online Grading only, the Compatible with Turnitin option is not required. |
- Click to expand the Evaluation & Feedback tab.
- Click Manage Turnitin.
- Click Enable Similarity Report for this folder.
- Click Enable Online Grading for this folder if you want to use the Turnitin suite of feedback and grading tools.
| Note: This is an add-on feature that must be purchased from Turnitin. |
- Click More Options for a list of additional optional settings.
- Do any of the following:
- In the Submission settings area, indicate where and when assignments can be submitted. For more information, refer to Turnitin assignment settings.
- In the Compare against area, indicate the sources against which you want to compare the submissions, including previously-submitted papers, current and archived website content, periodicals, journals, and publications.
- In the Similarity Report area, indicate the timing of generating similarity reports, and the type of submission content you want to exclude (such as bibliography, quoted materials, and small sources).
- In the Exclude assignment template area, you can upload or create a template of text that is automatically excluded from the similarity report.
- In the Additional settings area, you can indicate if you want to save the settings you have chosen in the More Options dialog for future use.
- Click Submit.
- Click Save.
- Review your assignment details, change the visibility if desired, and click Save and Close.
Your assignment appears in Content and the Assignments tool as Turnitin enabled.
Video: Create an Assignment with Turnitin Enabled