Turnitin (Staff)

Staff Resource

What is Turnitin?

| Plagiarism Review and Similarity Checking |

Turnitin is a text-matching software that identifies either similar or exact matches between submitted work and other digital material. This material may include internet sources, electronic databases and other students' work. The results are provided in similarity reports.

In MyUni you should follow the steps below to set up an assignment. By creating an Online MyUni assignment and selecting Plagiarism Review with Turnitin, students will be able to submit via MyUni, you will be able to view the similarity report, then mark and comment in MyUni (SpeedGrader). Students also receive feedback via MyUni.

Note: Assignments using Plagiarism Review can only be marked in MyUni (SpeedGrader). Previous to 2021 many submissions have been set up using Turnitin Studio with QuickMarks via the External Tool assignment method. Neither the score nor comments will consistently synchronise with MyUni this way. Using Turnitin Assignments via the External Tool method is no longer recommended.

Turnitin assignment setup

Within the Assignments menu, select + Assignment, add an assignment name, details, points. In the Submission type box; select Online.
Next select File Uploads. Note that Text entry can also generate Turnitin similarity checking reports.
The Plagiarism Review box will now be available. Select Turnitin.
The similarity report can now be configured as per Turnitin Settings.
Continue to setup the assignment and select Save.

I have another question about how Turnitin works - where can I go?

Take a look at the Turnitin Canvas Guides (note these are called the Canvas Plagiarism Framework) for in-depth information on the tool and its functions. You can also contact MyUni Support for assistance.

How to interpret a Turnitin similarity report

It is important to know how to interpret the similarity report. A low similarity score may require further checking as the table below shows.

Blue indicates no text has been matched.	This could mean that the work has no references at all and that there is little or no use of direct quotes. Depending on the nature of the assignment this is not necessarily an issue but a Blue score is worth checking just in case the student has simply submitted a paper with text that Turnitin cannot recognise.
Green – one word to 24% matching text.	Green indicates matches between 1% and 24% and is the most common. While a Green score might suggest the document is OK, it is simply an indication of the amount of matched text, so potentially, up to 24% of the document could still have been copied without referencing.
Yellow – 25% – 49% matching text.	Yellow, Amber and Red denote percentage matches in bands above 24%. Higher percentage matches may indicate higher levels for the items below.
Orange – 50% – 74% matching text.	• An over reliance on direct quotation as a result of poor academic writing.
Red – 75% – 100% matching text.	• Cutting and pasting from other sources.

How can I instruct my students to check feedback I've given them?

Students can use the instructions available to learn how to access feedback they have been provided in MyUni.

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