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Turnitin

Turnitin logo, Turnitin logoThe University uses Turnitin, a plagiarism detection and prevention database which will provide feedback to you on the similarity of your work compared with a worldwide collection of resources and previously submitted student work. 

We have produced some videos for you to show how Turnitin is used by the University for submission of work and to give feedback and grade information.

See our Referencing pages for more information about correctly citing your reading and research in assignments.

 

Recent system changes now allow a custom icon to be displayed next to a Turnitin submission point. This will make it easier for you to identify the Turnitin submission points / portals within your Blackboard course.

From Monday 27th March a Turnitin icon will replace the standard web-link icon that Turnitin currently uses (you will only see this change if icons are set to display on your particular Blackboard course).

Turnitin Icon addition to Bb, Turnitin Icon addition to Bb

The screenshot above shows the web-link icon at the top, with the new, blue, Turnitin icon below.

Additional Turnitin Reminder - if you submitted assignments to Turnitin prior to September 2022 and would like to retain a copy of your work, then you need to download them before August 2023. Please see the walkthrough on My.Cumbria

  • IMPORTANT: Turnitin, assignment deadlines and time management

    Please be aware that you need to leave enough time to submit your assignments through Turnitin. The minimum amount of time required to complete an upload to Turnitin is about 5 minutes, but larger documents and busier times may mean the process can take over 15 minutes.

    If you have a slow internet connection, this can further delay the completion of a submission.

    Even if you start the upload before your assignment deadline, your digital receipt may not be generated until after. This will be classed as a late submission.

    Leave plenty of time to complete a Turnitin submission - do NOT wait until the final 30 minutes before the assignment deadline.

    See: Time Management

  • 1. What is Turnitin?

  • 2. Finding your Turnitin Assignment Submissions

  • 3. Submitting a Turnitin Assignment

    This video explains how to submit your assignment to Turnitin through your course Blackboard site. There's a lot of useful information here about how Turnitin works, how to browse for your document, upload, rename your document, understand why the wordcount might change slightly and more. If you just want to check the Upload and Submit functions, then skip to around 4:50 in this video, you'll see how to "Upload and Review" your assignment. At 5:40 in the video, you'll see the "Submit to Turnitin" button. If you can't see these buttons on your screen when you are trying to Upload and then Submit, you might need to zoom out slightly to see the whole available window. To zoom out, you can press Ctrl and - or press Ctrl and use the scroll wheel on the mouse to zoom out.   

  • 4. Interpreting your Turnitin Originality Report

    The principles remain the same, but some of the screens in this video may look a bit different to the ones you can now see. A new video is coming soon.

    The printable guide shows you how to find your originality report and highlights some things to consider when viewing/interpreting the report.

  • 5. Getting Feedback on your Turnitin Assignment

    The principles remain the same, but some of the screens in this video may look a bit different to the ones you can now see. A new video is coming soon.

    Your tutor's feedback will normally be made available after the post date. This video explains the process and shows how one tutor delivers audio feedback to a student.

  • 6. The Turnitin Test Area

    The principles remain the same, but some of the screens in this video may look a bit different to the ones you can now see. A new video is coming soon.

    Why not test your essay before submission? Most plagiarism happens accidentally, normally as a result of poor referencing. We would encourage you to use the Turnitin Test Area available on Blackboard and use the similarity feedback it provides to ensure your work is referenced correctly. A video on how to use the test area is available.

  • Audio and video presentations

    Narrated PowerPoints and other media files

    There are some assignments that require you to create media files such as narrated PowerPoints, audio presentations or video presentations. These files are often too large to be submitted through Turnitin and may require you to submit the transcript, but then share the presentation with your tutors via your university OneDrive.

    ALWAYS check with your tutor(s) if Turnitin will not accept your file because it is too large.

    See Sharing Media Files for Assessment on the Sharing Files page for more information.

  • Problems or errors when submitting to Turnitin?

    If things don't seem to be working correctly, when submitting to Turnitin, consider the following options:

    Sometimes your web browser may be causing issues. The preferred web browser for Blackboard / Turnitin is Google Chrome. This is available as a free download for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS and Linux: https://www.google.com/chrome/

    There may be interference from another open page in your web browser. When submitting to Turnitin, make sure you only have one tab or window open in your browser.

    Turnitin seems to freeze when using a Mac. If you are unable to submit using Safari on your mac and the page is hanging but gets no further, please use Google Chrome instead.

    If the submission page seems to freeze or hang at the point of submitting, leave it a couple of minutes and then go back to the assignment inbox to see whether or not the upload has worked. If the upload has not worked, please log out of Blackboard and then try again using the Google Chrome web browser. 

    Turnitin may be having an issue. Check @TurnitinStatus on twitter for the latest updates on Turnitin outages or planned maintenance.

    Sometimes Turnitin is just running slow. At very busy times, Turnitin can run a bit slower than normal - always submit your assignments with plenty of time to spare.

    If you are still having problems, please contact the IT Servicedesk.

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