Tutorial for Instructors: How To Use Turnitin.com

Logging On

Log-in to turnitin.com Type in your user name and the password

that was sent to you when your administrator registered you for turnitin.com

If You’ve Forgotten Your Password

If you don’t remember your password, go to the log-on page and click “password help”

You should receive a new password via e-mail within a few minutes. You will now have 60 minutes to log-on.

Clarifying Your User Type

After logging on, you should see a welcome page. Double-check to see that you are enrolled as an instructor by clicking on the red button “user type.”

Clarifying Your User Type (cont.)

This will open a window in which you can, if necessary, change your user type by clicking on the drop box beside “new user type.” Be sure you click on “instructor” and then click on “submit.”

Setting Up Your Classes

Once you have done this, you will see a page that will allow you to set up your classes. Click on the blue “add a class.”

You can now name your class, choose an enrollment password for it, and if necessary, select the class’ end date.

Setting Up Your Classes (cont.)

You can also choose whether or not to allow students to view their own originality reports. (Many instructors will choose “no” here, preferring to restrict the ability for a student to see if his/her paper was flagged as plagiarized.)

Then click on “submit.”

Class ID Numbers & Passwords

You will now see a small window that lists that class’ name, plus its new ID number and the password you assigned it. You must record both of these so you can give them to the students in that class.

Creating Assignments

Close that window to reveal the window beneath it that lists that class’ name and ID number.

Now you need to develop a specific assignment to which your students will submit their papers. Click on the “create a new assignment” in blue.

Creating Assignments (cont.)

Now you will see a window that allows you to title your assignment, set a period of time during which your students can submit their essays for this assignment, and an optional box to type in any special instructions you want to give your students regarding this assignment.

Creating Assignments (cont.)

You will also see a question that automatically defaults to “yes” for “Generate originality reports for submissions?” Keep this as “yes” if this assignment is for the final version of a student’s essay.

NOTE: If you also want students to submit earlier drafts of a paper to turnitin.com BEFORE they submit their final version, you must choose “no” for generating originality reports for a draft assignment. Otherwise, you’ll see later that students have “plagiarized” their final drafts from their earlier drafts.

Creating Assignments (cont.)

After you have set the parameters for the assignment, click on “submit.”

Creating Assignments (cont.)

You will now see that assignment listed under the appropriate class on the next window.

Creating Assignments (cont.)

You can continue to add assignments to this class by clicking on “Create new assignment” again.

Viewing Originality Reports

Once you have added your classes and assignments and your students have submitted their papers, you then can access the originality reports for specific assignments. First, click on the appropriate class in the list under “enter a class.”

Viewing Originality Reports (cont.)

This will take you to a screen showing that class’ list of assignments.

Viewing Originality Reports (cont.)

To the right of each of the assignment titles, you’ll see an icon that looks like a folder with an arrow. This is the “inbox” icon.

Viewing Originality Reports (cont.)

Click on the “inbox” icon to see a list of the students who submitted their papers for the assignment that is to the left of the icon.

Viewing Originality Reports (cont.)

If you want to view the originality report for any individual paper, look for the rectangular icon under “report” to the right of the paper’s title.

This icon will be in a color that ranges from blue to green to yellow to red. [Note: Blue means the work is the student’s own, and warm colors up to red mean the student has used material that has appeared in the internet or in other students’ submitted papers.]

Click on the icon to view the originality report.

Viewing Originality Reports (cont.)

Once the next window opens showing that paper, you may wish to click on “side by side version” to see the student’s paper beside the material it matches.

Viewing Originality Reports (cont.)

The material in the student’s paper that may be plagiarized will be color-coded to that same material from another source that shows up to the right of the essay.

If the student has used material from multiple sources, each source will be a different color.

You can click on the color-coded material in the student paper and see the borrowed material highlighted in the same color to the right of the paper—and you can see what percentage of the student’s paper is from each outside source.

Viewing Originality Reports (cont.)

If you wish, you can also print the student’s essay plus all the other sites that appear.

Note: If you find that a student has plagiarized an essay, you probably should make copies of the paper and its sources. Some VWCC division deans will want you to submit these documents so they can be placed on file for that student. If a student is found guilty of two instances of plagiarism, he/she will go before the Student Disciplinary Committee for further sanctions.

Warning About Originality Reports

NOTE: If a student is quoting from well-known literature, and these same quotes appear in other students’ submitted papers or elsewhere on the internet, you may see an originality report for that essay that suggests the student plagiarized—even if he/she properly used that material. You can “exclude” certain sources by clicking on the “X” icon to the right of an outside source’s URL address.

Getting More Help

If you would like more information on how to use turnitin.com, go to the log-in page and click on “Training Materials.”

In the list on the left of this window, you can also click on “user manuals,” as well as watch a “Turnitin demo.”

Getting More Help (cont.)

If you have more questions, call Inez Farrell at 857-6202 or Pat Price at 857-6084.