What is Turnitin?
Plagiarism Detection is the process of checking papers against external sources and identifying sections of papers that may have been plagiarized. The University of Iowa has licensed Turnitin, an online, automatic plagiarism detection service for campus-wide use. This license is only for checking coursework at the University of Iowa, and may not be used for other reasons. Students submit their papers via ICON (Canvas) and the instructor receives an originality report showing possible matches between the submitted paper and TurnItIn's database and internet resources. It is important to note that the final decision about the presence of a plagiarism lies with the instructor.
Turnitin includes the Feedback Studio, a comprehensive grading and writing tool, which features QuickMarks, and a peer review tool, PeerMark.
Getting Started with Turnitin
The Turnitin ICON integration allows instructors to check for plagiarism while also allowing access to commonly used ICON tools such as:
- Group Assignments
- Canvas Rubrics
- Canvas Peer Review (although you may like Peerceptiv, a separate tool in ICON)
- Student View
Turnitin gives users flexibility with editing due dates and more, including:
- Multiple deadlines
- Due date changes after students have submitted papers
- Due date adjustments using Copy a Course
Students are able to upload multiple files for their assignment. Additionally, even if an instructor forgets to make an assignment a Turnitin assignment, and students have already turned in their papers, Turnitin still allows instructors to check for plagiarism.
To get started with Turnitin, learn how to create and set-up a Turnitin Assignment in ICON.
To learn more about using Turnitin, see the Turnitin Instructor Guide. Turnitin also provides a Student Guide.
Resources
- Teaching Best Practices
- How-To Guides
- Frequently Asked Questions: Instructors
- Frequently Asked Questions: Students
- Recorded Academic Technology Trainings
Support for Turnitin
Email the ITS Help Desk: its-helpdesk@uiowa.edu