Turnitin - Configuring Turnitin at UW-Madison

This document describes how to configure Turnitin settings within Canvas and view the similarity score of a submission.

Turnitin Logo

Turnitin is an academic integrity tool that is integrated with Canvas at UW-Madison. Instructors can enable Turnitin on assignments to quickly get feedback on whether and how student submissions match a comparison set of materials.

Turnitin should only be accessed through Canvas as described in this document, and NOT through Turnitin’s website.

If you're a student using Turnitin and would like to learn how to see your similarity results, refer to Canvas - Accessing Your Turnitin Similarity Report (Student)

Configuring Turnitin with Canvas Assignments

  1. Navigate to your Canvas course and create a new assignment or edit an existing assignment.
  2. Scroll down to the Submission Type settings. Select the Online option in the dropdown box, and check the File Uploads checkbox.
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  3. Scroll down to the Plagiarism Review section and select Turnitin from the dropdown box. This will open the Turnitin settings menu.
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  4. Use the Store Submissions In dropdown box to choose how student submissions will be stored:
  • 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 apply only at UW-Madison.
  • Do not store submitted papers allows instructors to compare student submissions against Turnitin’s standard repository (which includes articles, encyclopedias, and other works) without submitting their students' work to the repository.
  • Choose what kinds of materials you would like to check student submissions against, and modify different parameters of the similarity report.
  • Use the Show report to students dropdown box to indicate when you would like students to be able to view their similarity report immediately after submitting their assignments, after the assignments are graded, or never.
  • Use the Save at the bottom of the page to save your assignment settings.

    • Accessing the Turnitin Similarity Report

    You can access the Turnitin similarity report for a submission through either the Canvas gradebook or SpeedGrader.

    Accessing Turnitin Via the Gradebook

    Submissions that have similarity reports are marked in the gradebook with a colored flag. Click the flag for more details.

    Screenshot of gradebook with flag highlighted

    In the assignment details window, you will see a percentage score indicating how much of the student's submission matches materials in the comparison set. Click the percentage icon to enter Turnitin's Feedback Studio and view the full similarity report.

    Screenshot of assignment details window, with percentage flag highlighted

    Accessing Turnitin Via SpeedGrader

    In Canvas SpeedGrader there will be a box including a percentage indicating the submission's Turnitin similarity score. Click this box allows to view the submission within Turnitin’s Feedback Studio and access the full similarity report.

    Screenshot of Turnitin viewed in SpeedGrader

    Interpreting the Similarity Report

    The similarity report highlights any sections of the submission that match text found in the comparison set. The report also has a similarity score, indicating how much of the submission content matches the comparison set. See Interpreting the Similarity Report for more information.

    Screenshot of highlighted similarity report

    For more information about using Turnitin please consult Turnitin’s help guides.

    If you have other questions or need additional help setting up Turnitin with your Canvas assignments, please contact the DoIT Help Desk.

    See Also: