Turnitin is a similarity and originality review tool that allows instructors and (if configured) students to review student submissions and help determine if they have correctly sourced and used others’ work. 

Please see DoIT's Turnitin IT Service Page for a full description of Turnitin 

Basic Functionality

• Turnitin is designed for assignments built in the Canvas learning management system (LMS), particularly with Canvas Assignments which use text entry or file submission.
• After creating a Canvas Assignment, instructors can enable Turnitin for that assignment by selecting Turnitin from the drop down box in the “Plagiarism Review” section of that assignment’s settings.
• After selecting Turnitin, instructors are presented with a number of different settings. These settings allow instructors to control where (or if) the student’s submission will be stored within a repository, what kinds of content to check the submission against, and several other related settings.
  
  • Papers submitted to the Standard repository will be held by Turnitin. All Turnitin customers can check student submissions against others in the standard repository.
  • Papers submitted to the Institutional repository will be stored in a repository only for submissions from UW-Madison students.
  • The "do not store the submitted papers" setting allows instructors and students to compare student submissions against Turnitin’s standard repository (which includes articles, encyclopedias, and other works) without storing students' work in any repository.
• Similarity reports for student submissions are typically generated within a few minutes after a student submits to an assignment. Instructors and students (if configured) can then view the report through Turnitin Feedback Studio which can be accessed via Canvas Speedgrader.
• As of February 5, 2024, Turnitin's new similarity report is available at UW-Madison. Instructors and students can switch back and forth between the classic and new report formats by using the button in the top left of the similarity report screen. For more details on how to interpret the new and classic similarity reports, please refer to these links:
  • Documentation for the classic Turnitin similarity report.
  • Documentation for the new Turnitin similarity report.

Advanced Functionality

• Users can also use Turnitin via Turnitin.com on request. This can allow users to bulk upload submissions to Turnitin if necessary. That said, direct access to Turnitin is only available for for-credit purposes, and not for other uses such as preparing a manuscript for publication (unless that is somehow tied to a for-credit course). If you are interested in using Turnitin this way, please contact the DoIT Help Desk to request an account.

Turnitin is generally used to check originality of paper submissions to Canvas courses.

For training information and how to get started with Turnitin, see Turnitin - Getting Started

Documents

• UW-Madison Knowledgebase: Getting Started with Turnitin
• UW-Madison Knowledgebase: Accessing Your Turnitin Similarity Report (For Students)
• UW-Madison Knowledgebase: Turnitin Accessibility and Usability Infromation
• Vendor
  
  • Turnitin Canvas Plagiarism Framework documentation for teachers
  • Turnitin Canvas Plagiarism Framework Documentation
  • Turnitin help and support site
• Canvas Tech Modules
  • These modules, developed by DoIT Academic Technology's Learn@UW team, are designed to help instructors introduce centrally supported learning technologies to their students. For more information, see Canvas - Student Tech Modules in Canvas Commons
  • A Turnitin Student Tech Module template can be imported and modified in Canvas by instructors to communicate to students regarding the use of Turnitin.