Creating a Turnitin assignment in Blackboard

Quick guide for Designers and Instructors

Turnitin is anti-plagiarism software that supports the detection of plagiarism by identifying student work that contains unoriginal material.

Note: Assignments created via Turnitin are held in the Turnitin database and so are not listed in the Assignments tool in the Course Tools menu in Blackboard. To access a Turnitin assignment, click on its icon or title in the course content.

Create a Turnitin assignment inbox
Add the class list to the Turnitin assignment inbox
Change the icon
Edit a Turnitin assignment inbox
Delete a Turnitin assignment

Create a Turnitin assignment inbox

1. Click on the Build tab.

2. Go to the Home Page, folder or learning module where you wish to add the Turnitin assignment.

3. Click on the Add Content Link button at the top of the window and select Turnitin Assignment .

4. Click the Create Turnitin Assignment button.

5. Type in a Title. Include semester and year numbers, but keep the title short. (This is necessary because, if a DSO section is copied for re-use in a later semester, the names of any Turnitin assignment inboxes in the section are copied in the Turnitin inventory for the unit even though these will not work again.)

6. Click the Create Turnitin Assignment button. You will then see the Turnitin assignment type screen.

7. From the Select your assignment type list, select Paper Assignment.

8. Type in an assignment title and point value. A column will be automatically created in the Grade Book.

9. Select a start date, due date and post date and time.

   Note: Students won't receive their results until after the post date.

10. Click on the plus icon next to (more options).

    Note: This is important as it is only by setting some of the options in certain ways that you will be able to comply with University policy that Turnitin be used as a tool to educate students about plagiarism. You must therefore allow students to: (1) resubmit their paper, and (2) view the originality report. This enables students to correct any problems detected and resubmit their assignment before the due date.

11. Type in instructions for the assignment.

    Note: Students will see these instructions when they click on the assignment title in the Turnitin assignment inbox. This may not be obvious, so we recommend you include the phrase 'Read first' in the Title (e.g. Assignment 1 - Read first). Remember to remove 'Read first' from the Grade Book column title before you release the grades to students. Alternatively, add the instructions elsewhere in a Blackboard file or in a discussion message or announcement.

12. Select Yes from the drop-down list to Generate Originality Reports for submissions.

13. Click on the Generate Originality Reports for student submissions drop-down list and select Immediately (can overwrite reports until due date). This means that reports for a student's initial submission will be generated immediately. They can then choose to resubmit papers and receive originality reports as many times as they would like up until the assignment's due date.

    Note: The time taken for the originality report to appear can be a few minutes or greater than 24 hours for a first submission. For subsequent submissions, the report will not appear for at least 24 hours. If the same student submits a paper to the same Turnitin assignment a second time, it is not compared to the first paper (and the same rule applies for any subsequent submissions).

14. Select no to Exclude bibliographic and quoted materials from Similarity Index for all papers in this assignment?.

15. Select no to Exclude small matches?.

16. Select yes from the option to Allow students to see Originality Reports?.

17. Select either yes or no option to Allow submissions after the due date?.

    Note: If you select yes, the student will be able to see, in the assignment submission instructions, that submissions are accepted after the due date. You would need to make it clear in the assignment instructions that penalties still apply for late submissions. If you select no, assignments accepted after the due date will need to be manually submitted by staff.

18. Select no repository from the (Submit papers to) drop-down list. (If you select standard paper repository, papers submitted for this assignment will be stored in the Turnitin database. This would contravene a 2008 directive from the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) on the use of Turnitin.)

19. In the (Search options) area, tick the box(es) next to the source(s) you want submissions to this assignment to be compared with.

20. Click yes to Would you like to save these options as your defaults for future assignments?

21. Click the submit button at the bottom.

Note: You may also need to synchronise your class list with the Turnitin assignment inbox, if this has not occurred automatically. Refer to Add the class list to the Turnitin assignment inbox in this guide.

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Add the class list to the Turnitin assignment inbox

1. Click on the Teach tab.

2. Go to the Turnitin assignment and click on its icon or title. You will see the assignment inbox.

3. To complete the process, click on Roster Sync at the top of the window. This will add the names of the students enrolled in the unit to the Turnitin assignment inbox. Each Turnitin assignment you create for the unit will now automatically be synchronised with the enrolled students.

   Note: Do not roster synch if you only want to see the students who have submitted.

4. If students enrol or unenrol from your unit after adding the class list, redo Step 3.

Change the icon

When a Turnitin assignment is created, the icon used is generic (it also appears for iLecture). Therefore, it is important to change the icon to the one specific for Turnitin so that your students can easily differentiate a Turnitin assignment from iLecture recordings.

1. Click on the Build tab.

2. Go to the Home Page, folder or learning module where the Turnitin assignment is located.

3. Click on the ActionLinks icon next to the current Turnitin icon .

4. Click on Customize Link .

5. Under Custom icon for this link, click on the Replace Icon button. The Content Browser - Get files window will open.

6. At the left of the window, click on Repository .

7. At the centre of the window, click on Deakin Studies Online, and then Common Deakin files.

8. At the right of the window, click on the circle next to turnitin_icon.gif.

9. Click OK in the Content Browser - Get files window.

10. Click OK in the Content Browser - Get content window.

11. Click Save.

Edit a Turnitin assignment

1. Click on the Teach tab.

2. Go to the Turnitin assignment and click on its icon or title. You will see the assignment inbox.

3. Click on edit assignment at the top of page.

4. Edit the assignment.

5. Click the submit button.

Delete a Turnitin assignment

You can remove a link to a Turnitin assignment from the course content in Blackboard but cannot delete it from the Turnitin database. Even though the link has been removed from the course content, the assignment will still appear in the inventory in Blackboard.

1. Click on the Build tab.

2. Go to the Turnitin assignment and click on the ActionLinks icon next its title.

3. Click on Remove Link .

4. Click OK to confirm that you wish to remove the link.

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