Using Learn@ UWSuperior and Turnitin Together
Desire2Learn and Turnitin have added the ability to check the
originality of documents submitted to the Dropbox in Learn@
UWSuperior to make plagiarism detection more convenient for
instructors. When the Dropbox folder is created and the
“Plagiarism Detection: Enable for this folder” box is checked,
the course and assignment information is sent to Turnitin
automatically. When a student submits a file to the Dropbox
Folder, the originality report process begins and the file is
sent to Turnitin for checking. If the assignments being
submitted have a low word count, Turnitin will not be able
to generate a report.
If you would like more information on this process, when
creating your Dropbox Folder click on the “How does Plagiarism
Detection work?” link and a new window will open with more
information.
Steps to Creating a Turnitin Enabled Dropbox
1. Enter the course you would like to create the Dropbox in and
select the Dropbox link on the Course Navigation bar.
2. Select the New Folder icon to create a new Dropbox Folder.
3. Fill out the New Folder fields like you normally would on the
Properties tab and then check the Plagiarism Detection:
Enable for this folder box under the Name field. An
Advanced Plagiarism Detection Options appear at the
bottom of this tab.
4. In the Advanced Plagiarism Detection Options, you will find:
A. Display – this determines if your students will see the
Originality Report for their submission or not.
B. Frequency – this determines which files the system
will send to Turnitin.
C. Check submissions against – This determines what
sources Turnitin will check the files against.
D. Index files for Plagiarism Detection – This will allow
the files in this Dropbox Folder to be used to check
originality by other submissions. Other instructors
will not see any of the student’s information, just the
percentage that the files match.
Note: If you move to a different tab or click the Save button, you won’t be able to undo the Plagiarism
Detection option on this folder.
5. On the Restrictions tab, change the Date Availability
to the appropriate start and end dates. The default
start date is the current day and the end date is a
week from that day. Click the Save button when you
have finished creating the folder.
Note: If you enable the Plagiarism Detection for a
folder, the start and end date become mandatory,
so please remember to adjust the dates.
6. You will be taken back to the Folder List screen,
repeat these steps for all of the Dropbox Folders.
You will see icons after the each of the Folders
depending on how you set up the folder. The icon with the folder with binoculars in front of it is for the
Plagiarism Detection. The icon with the ruler shows that the folder is tied to a Grade Item.
Note: If you delete a folder after you have created it, remember to remove the association with the Grade Item
before you do. If the association is left in place, the Grade Item will be “orphaned" in the system.
Viewing a Turnitin Originality Report
1. After a student has submitted a document into the Dropbox,
the report will appear as “In Progress” while the information is
submitted to Turnitin. Documents may take up to 10 minutes
to process.
2. After the percentage appears, click on the Report icon for the
student you wish to view the originality report for. When you
look at a report for the first time, you will need to read and
agree to the Turnitin Users Agreement before it will allow you
to view the report. You are able use the scroll bar to read the
full agreement.
Note: If you view reports from a different course you are
teaching, it may ask you to read and agree/disagree to the
agreement each time.
3. The report is divided into two panels. On
the left side will be the student’s paper
with any sections highlighted that the
Turnitin system believes might be
improperly cited or not original work,
and on the right side will be the source(s)
the Turnitin system found that match the
student’s submission.
4. If the Turnitin system returns an
originality report that has a high
percentage that they believe came from
another student’s paper, the right side of
the report will have a link the instructor
may use to request a copy of the
original paper to review.
Permission must be granted before
the paper is released. The Turnitin
service does not govern the release
of the student’s work; it just
facilitates the connection between
the instructors.