Turnitin Methods Overview. Formative Method A

Turnitin Methods Overview There are three suggested approaches to using Turnitin, two formative and one summative. This document gives an overview of ...
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Turnitin Methods Overview There are three suggested approaches to using Turnitin, two formative and one summative. This document gives an overview of each method and its suggested use. All methods involve setting up one or more Turnitin assignments on the eLearning Portal.

Formative Method A This use is recommended for teachers who want to use the software for teaching, e.g. level 4, semester one. It allows staff to view the development of students’ academic writing and citation skills, in the context of introducing them to academic misconduct regulations and techniques to recognise and avoid plagiarism. To use this software formatively in this way staff need to first set up a final ‘paper’ assignment, this will be the summative submission, and follow up by setting up one or more revision assignments based on it. •

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Students use the revision assignment to submit a draft and receive an Originality Report. Students can view their Originality Report which may show textual matches between their submission and other sources. The textual matches may indicate possible plagiarism or poor academic writing skills. Students can then amend their work before submitting to the final ‘paper’ assignment. Staff can set up more than one revision assignment if they wish. Each additional revision assignment gives the student the opportunity to submit one more draft before final submission. Staff can view the Originality Reports for a student’s draft and final submissions which can be used to determine their progression and whether the necessary skills have been acquired. Students can print out their Originality Reports and seek help from tutors or library support staff.

Copyright 2012 Northumbria University. Last updated: 25 October 2012

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Formative Method B This method allows students to submit unlimited drafts of their assignments until the due by date. The first submission generates an Originality Report immediately. For subsequent submissions there is a 24 hour delay between time of submission and the generation of the Originality Report. This is to discourage students from trying to ‘beat the system’. However staff are recommended to use this method only: • after students have been taught how to use the system via Formative Use A (say, after initial tuition in level 4, semester 1, this use could be set up in semester 2 to reinforce the learning), • during a limited time period, e.g. due date should be set for about a week after the start date (maximum one month) The rationale for these recommendations is because this method • does not allow tutors to view student progress because each submission will overwrite the existing Originality Report and only the last one is shown. • does not support confused students (‘accidental plagiarists’) who will need help in understanding and acting upon the Originality Reports • can be used by students to learn how to ‘beat the system’. This use requires the tutor to set up a single final paper assignment which allows multiple submissions.

Summative Method C This use is recommended for tutors who want to use the software to collect students’ final assignment submissions. It is recommended for students who have already been taught academic writing and correct citation skills and who are aware of and understand academic misconduct regulations. It requires the tutor to set up a final paper assignment which allows each student a single submission. Students may or may not be allowed to see the resulting Originality Report.

Copyright 2012 Northumbria University. Last updated: 25 October 2012

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METHODS OVERVIEW Use A – Formative use for teaching

B – Formative use for learning*

Options Paper Assignment + Revision(s)

Paper Assignment

Originality Reports Available to Students On due date or immediately for Paper Assignment, immediately for Revision(s). (Submissions added to student database immediately). Immediately (can overwrite reports until due date) (Submissions added to student database when due by date has been reached).

*Use this method only after carefully considering the issues.

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C – Summative use for checking*

Paper Assignment

*Use this method only after carefully considering policy on 2nd attempts. Copyright 2012 Northumbria University. Last updated: 25 October 2012

Immediately (first report is final)



(Submissions added to student database immediately).



Effects Students use the revision assignment to submit a draft and receive an Originality Report (OR). They can then amend their work before submitting to the final ‘paper’ assignment. Staff can view a student’s draft and final submissions and can set up more than one revision assignment if they wish.

Students can submit an assignment and view the Originality Reports repeatedly from the start date until the due date. They are limited, however, to a 24-hour delay before generation of OR’s for resubmissions and students who do not allow themselves enough time for the generation of a 2nd OR could become stressed on the due date. Staff cannot view students’ progress because each submission is overwritten. Because each submission is overwritten, staff may not be aware that students need support in understanding and acting upon the Originality Reports. Students may possibly use this method to refine their work sufficiently to ‘beat the system’. Staff may need to refresh OR’s if collusion is suspected because, although OR’s are usually generated before due by date, submissions are not added to the student database until the due by date has been reached. Staff can use this method to set up an assignment so that the students themselves can submit their work and the system will automatically generate Originality Reports for both staff and students. Students do not get a second attempt to submit assignments so this method is recommended for students who have already been taught academic writing skills, correct citation, academic misconduct regulations etc. who understand the meaning and implications of the ORs.

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Things to think about Turnitin can only detect matching text and neither staff nor students should assume that a work which receives a 0% matched report is not plagiarised and similarly a work with a non-zero percentage match could be original. However, despite these caveats, the software can be profitably used to help students learn about citation conventions, academic writing skills and academic misconduct regulations in a formative assessment setting. It is also recommended that its use is only one of many strategies employed by staff and students to develop academic practice and ensure academic integrity.

Advantages • • • • • •

Staff can use Turnitin Assignments to give students an opportunity to submit a draft assignment (or assignments) before submitting a final version. Staff can view student progress from the draft revision assignment to the final assignment and can mark work online if desired. Turnitin Assignments can be marked online using a built-in marking tool. The marking tool comes with built-in comments or the teacher’s own comments can be included. Turnitin Assignments can be marked online and the marks will automatically be passed to the Grade Center on the eLearning Portal. Class submissions can be downloaded for saving, marking offline or printing (but see also under Disadvantages below). If staff wish to check student submissions for plagiarism they can require all the students in the class to submit their work to the Turnitin Assignment on the eLearning Portal. Students can be required to hand in a copy of their OR or their digital receipt. Summary statistics of the class Originality Reports are available as well as the opportunity to examine individual submissions in detail.

Disadvantages • • •

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Staff and students may complacently assume that work with a high percentage match is plagiarised and that reports with a 0% or 1% match is not. Turnitin assignments are not copied with the other materials when eLearning Portal courses are copied from course to course1. This means that the staff member has to manually set them up in each course for each semester. Students who submit work to a Turnitin Assignment may be affected by the usual problems caused by heavy network traffic, slow internet connections. As with other electronic forms of assignment submissions, staff need to carefully consider and plan for possible student problems uploading work.

The term course on the eLearning Portal refers to a module or programme related site.

Copyright 2010 Northumbria University. Last updated: 25 October 2012

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If staff give students the opportunity to continually resubmit work to the program in order to reduce the number of matches then there is a danger that a few students will be prevented from receiving an OR for a resubmission by the 24-hour rule. This opportunity also runs the risk of teaching students how to ‘beat the system’ and for these reasons staff are recommended to use the Revision Assignment method instead- Formative Method A. Turnitin only accepts files in a text format, i.e. Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, RTF, PDF, PostScript, plain text, and HTML. It is not possible to check other forms of assessment, e.g. PowerPoint presentations, mindmaps, etc., other than copying and pasting text from the original into a word document.

Copyright 2010 Northumbria University. Last updated: 25 October 2012

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