Institute of Teaching and Learning
Deakin University
Turnitin is software that supports the detection of plagiarism and collusion by identifying text in student electronic assignment submissions that is not original.
Text submitted to the Turnitin database is checked against about six billion websites, academic journals and previously submitted papers.
Turnitin can be used to educate students about plagiarism as part of the assignment or essay writing process, as well as to check final submissions.
Turnitin is integrated with Blackboard, so you can set up a Turnitin assignment submission tool in your unit site, grade the submissions online and have the grades appear in the Blackboard Grade Book.
Note that Turnitin assignments are set up and submitted using different processes to those for ordinary Blackboard assignments. The only way students (and you) can submit an assignment to Turnitin for checking is through a Turnitin assignment set up in a Blackboard site.
You should make sure students are aware that it can take up to 24 hours for a Turnitin originality report to appear, so they should allow that time when working on their assignments.
Using Turnitin is only one way to manage the problems of plagiarism and collusion in student submissions. The Institute of Teaching and Learning Dealing with plagiarism in assessment website includes teaching and assessment strategies to minimise the temptation for students to plagiaries, strategies for implementing Turnitin in your units, and links to Deakin's plagiarism and collusion policies.
Creating a Turnitin assignment in a Blackboard unit (quick guide)
Managing Turnitin assignment submissions in Blackboard (quick guide)
Reading a Turnitin assignment originality report (quick guide)
Creating a Turnitin Assignment in Blackboard (video guide)
Changing the icon used for Turnitin in Blackboard (video guide)
