Relevant to: faculty and staff
This article contains information considered accurate at the time of publishing. Technology updates, changes in University security practices, policies and procedures may effect the information in this article - updates to articles are scheduled on a periodic basis and will address any required changes.
Introduction
TurnItIn is the university's plagiarism detection tool. The tool is built into the university’s LMS and allows faculty and students to review a Similarity Score and Originality Report that shows how much of a submission was identified as a "match" to another work. For instructions on how to enable assignments to be submitted for review by TurnItIn, see the article "BrightSpace and TurnItIn - Introduction." For assistance with technical issues, see the article "Brightspace - Troubleshooting in TurnItIn."
This article will provide an overview of reading the Originality Score in assignments and accessing the full Similarity Report.
Note: Brightspace supports the use of Turnitin in Assignments (only), Turnitin cannot be used in other learning activities such as discussions.
What Submission Types are Checked/Generate a Report
TurnItIn supports many different types of documents that may be submitted by students.
Document types supported by TurnItIn
- Microsoft Word (DOC, DOCX)
- Corel WordPerfect (WPD)
- Adobe Acrobat PDF
- HTML (HTM, HTML)
- Rich text (RTF)
- Plain text (TXT)
- Hangul Word Processor (HWP)
- PostScript (PS)
- Microsoft Excel (XLS, XLSX)
- Microsoft PowerPoint (PPTX, PPT, PPSX, PPS)
What is Contained in the Database
Reports include possible text similarities or matches from the TurnItIn database, including sources from the wider internet, academically published material (licensed documents, reference works, etc.), and previously submitted student material.
What Types of Matches are Not Shown
Results are based on matching texts that are the most relevant. This relevancy is calculated by a high degree of match against a primary source. This is intended to remove the "background noise," potential matches that can't be avoided. Settings are available to filter citations, quotes and bibliographic material from the report totals.
Content that is typically not shown as a high degree of match includes
- Quotes in quotations marks
- Accurate citations
- Commonly used phrases like "Beat around the bush," "Rule of thumb," "Society nowadays," or "Beating a dead horse"
- Multiple uses of the same phrase within a paper
- Self-plagiarism
Reading TurnItIn Originality Reports in an Assignment
- Navigate to the assignment by selecting Course Menu then Assignments.
- Select the name of the assignment whose Originality Reports you want to view.
- A list of all student submissions will appear on the next page. If the report is ready, it will display a percentage under the column "TurnItIn Similarity Report."
- To review the similarity report for an individual student, select the Similarity Score listed for the student's submission. A new window will open with the student's similarity report displayed where you can interact with the TurnItIn tools and get a sense of what the assignment includes.
- If the status of the report reads as "In-Progress," the report is still processing.
Interpreting a Similarity Score
You can view Originality Reports from the Submissions page. When a report is available, the status changes from In-Progress to a percentage rating, which indicates the level of matching content.
A lower percentage rating indicates that the content is likely original and has not been copied; a higher percentage rating indicates the content is likely not original and has been copied from another source.