About Turnitin
What is Turnitin?
Turnitin is text-matching software that compares the originality of a student’s written work against electronic texts from the Internet, published works (such as journal articles and books), and assignments previously submitted to Turnitin by other students.
Does Turnitin detect plagiarism?
Turnitin does not detect plagiarism. This is because Turnitin cannot make a judgement about whether plagiarism has occurred, it can only tell you whether a particular piece of text matches to text from another source. The tutor in charge of the subject will decide whether the text that has been identified as matching constitutes plagiarism.
How can I log in to Turnitin?
You access Turnitin through Moodle. It will usually be in an assignments or assessments block, but different tutors might put the dropbox in different places.
Turnitin isn’t working, what do I do?
If you cannot seem to retrieve your originality report after submitting your assignment, this could relate to the way your tutor set up the Turnitin dropbox. There is an option to hide the originality report. It is worth contacting your tutor to ask if this is the case.
For resubmissions (assignments being submitted for the second or subsequent times, there is a 24 hour delay after the latest submission.
Turnitin also runs a regular maintenance schedule where the system may be unavailable for a brief time. This time is between 2am - 6am on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month. On the other hand, if you suspect that Turnitin is not functioning correctly, please contact WITT Library: library@witt.ac.nz
Can I use Turnitin if my tutor has not set it up?
WITT is in the process of setting up Turnitin across the Institute. At the moment, only some programmes have Turnitin available but watch this space! Turnitin may be coming to your programme soon
What is the maximum file size I can submit?
Text submissions have a maximum of 2 MB. Your text submission must contain at least 40 words and keep images to a minimum. The maximum attached file size is 20 MB
What file types can I submit?
Turnitin currently accepts the following file types for upload into an assignment that is set to generates Originality Reports for every submissions:
- Microsoft Word® (DOC and DOCX)
- Corel WordPerfect®
- HTML
- Adobe PostScript®
- Plain text (TXT)
- Rich Text Format (RTF)
- Portable Document Format (PDF)
- Hangul (HWP)
- Powerpoint (PPT and PPTS)
Submitting my work
How do I submit my work to Turnitin?
Can I submit my work to Turnitin more than once?
You are able to submit your work as often as you like before the due date.To resubmit your work (after interpreting the originality report) use the Add Submission option at the bottom of the page. Note: resubmitting will overwrite any previous submissions and reports. It takes 24 hours after the latest resubmission to produce an originality report.
Will Turnitin check a resubmitted assignment against previous submissions for the same assignment?
If a student submits a revised draft to the same Turnitin dropbox the files will NOT match each other. This is because previously submitted papers are overwritten by resubmissions. Note:Similar papers submitted by the same student to a Turnitin dropbox in a different course WILL match.
If students in the same course submit similar papers to the same assignment, will these submissions be checked against each other as soon as they are submitted to Turnitin?
If and when different students' submissions made to the same dropbox are checked against each other is determined by how the Turnitin assignment has been set up. If you think you might have been disadvantaged by the settings (i.e. you have a high similarity index while someone with similar work who submitted earlier has a much lower score), then consult your tutor. Note that you should always keep drafts, annotated readings, notes etc. as proof of your work.
For some reason I can't see the 'Submit Paper' icon to submit my assessment
Try another internet browser, Turnitin recommends you use the internet browser Firefox. Firefox is available on all WITT computers, alternatively you can download for free to use on your laptop or PC. Just google search 'Firefox'.
I am a Wintec student, my assessment is not uploading to Turnitin correctly?
Check you have updated your Moodle profile to include your personal email address rather than using the Wintec default email address created for you.
I submitted the wrong document! What can I do?
If you have submitted the wrong document, we suggest that you contact your tutor by email and ask them to delete the submission. A second submission (of the correct document) will take 24 hours to generate an originality report and you may not have enough time to view or download the report before the deadline.
I submitted my document to the wrong dropbox! What can I do?
If you have submitted the document to the wrong place, we suggest that you reload the document into the correct box and contact your tutor by email and ask them to delete the incorrect submission. A second submission (of the correct document) will take 24 hours to generate an originality report and you may not have enough time to view or download the report before the deadline.
The Originality Report
How long does the Originality Report take to generate?
An originality report is usually created within 5 seconds for an average paper of 1000 words if this is your first submission, longer submission will take a little more time. If the similarity index is still showing "pending', try selecting the “Refresh Submissions” link to reload the page. If you have resubmitted an assignment, there may be a delay of 24 hours before an originality report is available.
Who can see my Originality Report?
Your tutor will view your originality report after the assessment due date. Tutor's can access the originality report earlier if you request them to do so for feedback purposes. If you are studying for a Bachelor of Nursing the BN Manager will be the only person to view your originality report within Moodle, printing out the originality report to attach to your hard copy submission for grading.
What does the similarity number mean?
Is it possible to get a similarity of 0%?
It is possible and acceptable to obtain a similarity of 0% through writing orginal work. A low similarity relates to the way your tutor set up the Turnitin dropbox. There are options to exclude bibliographies and small matches (5-8 words long) which can lead to a legitimate 0% similarity in your report.
How do I know if my similarity number is acceptable?
Your tutor will provide information on this.
The similarity is too high - what do I do?
If your similarity index is high and you want to reduce it, check that: (a) Quotation marks (“...”) are used around every quote and the source is cited. (b) You are not over-using quotations. (c) Your own words are not too similar to the original text. For further information check out the “How do I increase originality" tab.
How can I download/print my report?
You can download your originality report if you want to, or are required to, by clicking the printer icon at the bottom of the Turnitin report page.
What does it mean if my report is 'pending'?
Pending means that your report has not yet been generated. Check back again later to see if the status has changed.Remember that it takes 24 hours after a resubmission to generate a report.
