Turnitin is a tool that enables staff and students to verify the academic integrity of written work. While some institutions take a punitive approach to using Turnitin, UCA has adopted a more formative position and advocates that is is used as a tool to support student learning. Although use of Turnitin is not currently mandatory, the university recommends that all students have an opportunity to submit some of their written work through Turnitin so that they can identify any weaknesses with referencing or academic writing.
Once a student uploads a piece of work through Turnitin they obtain what is known as an Originality Report. This indicates the percentage of text that has been found elsewhere on the internet in books, journals and websites. As Turnitin is not a perfect tool there is no fixed threshold above which a piece of work is deemed to be unacceptable. However, tutors are strongly advised to investigate any work where over 10% of the text is deemed to have been copied from external sources.
Help with Turnitin
The following videos demonstrate how to set up Turnitin, and what happens when a student submits a piece of work through Turnitin:
- Setting up a Turnitin assignment
- TurnItIn: Submitting Work Electronically
- TurnItIn: Understanding the Originality Report
In addition, UCA provides an Academic Integrity website and Harvard referencing guide to help staff and students address problems with academic writing and referencing: