Using the Web based TurnitinUK
Service
Jim Sharp
Hotline - plagiarism@qmu.ac.uk
Overview
• The extent of plagiarism in the UK
• QMU approach – avoiding the “arms
war”
• Introduction to the TurnitinUK service
• Role of the tutor (Instructor)
• Interpreting “originality” reports
• Using with students
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Latest, latest….
• 17 March 2006 - One in three students cheats, survey finds
One-third of students admit to cheating at university by copying
ideas from books or the internet, according to the results of a survey
published today in The Times Higher Education Supplement. The
statistics come to light only a day after Oxford University warned that
plagiarism by its students could threaten the value of its degrees.
The survey, based on 1,022 undergraduates at 119 universities and
colleges, found that one in six students admitted they copied work
from friends while 10 per cent said they looked for essays online.
Male students were more likely to copy work from their friends (21
per cent) than female students (14 per cent), the study revealed.
Nearly half of male students (45 per cent) said they copied from their
friends for group assignments, compared with 29 per cent of female
students, the researchers discovered. 
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Student View?
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Essay Banks (Cheat Sites)
‘Essays’ can be available for as little as £4.99
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www.oxbridgewriters.com
www.ukessays.com * (notorious!)
http://www.academicdb.com/
www.lawteacher.net/essaybank.html
www.DissertationsAndAssignments.com
www.essayrelief.co.uk
www.EssayAcademy.com
www.nonplagiarizedessays.co.uk
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Exercise – your experience
A recent survey of both students and staff at Northumbria University
ascertained the proportions of students who believed certain forms
of cheating to be common (Dordoy, 2002).
From your experience and intuition complete the supplied pro-forma
with your best guess at these proportions (the percentages need not
add up to 100%)
Then check your answers with the next slide.
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Plagiarism in the UK
A recent survey of both students and staff at Northumbria University ascertained the
proportions of both staff and students who believed certain forms of cheating to be
common (Dordoy, 2002).
Proportion thinking that cheating is ‘common’ (i.e. more
than 10% cases)
Staff %
(n=155)
Students %
(n=140)
Copying a few paragraphs from a book/internet un-cited
71
74
Copying most of an assignment from some source
15
24
Downloading a whole essay from a cheat site on the internet
3
11
Buying an essay from a ghost-writing service
2
11
Cheating in an exam
4
21
Making up data for a project or lab class
20
60
Working with another student on work that is meant to be
individual
62
77
45
77
Passing off others’ ideas/images/designs as your own
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The QMU Approach - 1
• One of the key elements of our approach is to avoid a
‘them and us’ situation caused by a perception of being
“policed”
• It is tempting to believe that a problem exacerbated by
ICT (eg the Internet) can be solved by ICT (eg the
TurnitinUK service)
• Cole & Kiss (2000) describe a situation in American
Universities where ‘cheaters’ are using devices such as
silent pagers and tiny video cameras to gain marks which
in turn requires lecturers to deploy forensic linguistics to
detect plagiarism
• They describe this as a ‘dispiriting arms race’ and is
certainly something we at QMU want to avoid.
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The QMU Approach - 2
• Using workshops where appropriate, we are introducing
what Carroll & Appleton (2001) describe as a “balanced
institutional response” including:
– Creating a climate that discourages plagiarism
– Teaching students what plagiarism is
– Teaching students paraphrasing/referencing skills to avoid
plagiarism
– Encouraging tutors to ‘design out’ opportunities for plagiarism
– Introducing the judicious use of electronic aids ie TurnitinUK
(Note that these steps should not be confused with the need for a well
defined disciplinary procedure for when serious plagiarism is detected.
This procedure should be clearly separated from the assessment
process.) 
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TurnitinUK – An introduction
• QMU is a registered user of the TurnitinUK service available
at www.submit.ac.uk
• This web-based service compares submitted assignments
against a database of over 1000 million web pages, Electronic
databases such as Emerald, Gale InfoTrac, CrossRef,
ProQuest and thousands of previously submitted student
assignments from UK universities.
• It then produces an originality report identifying sections of
matching text and providing links to the original sources.
• This service is free to all QMU tutors and students.
• The intention is that students will routinely submit their
assignments to the service and use the originality reports
generated as re-assurance that they have referenced
appropriately.
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TurnitinUK – 3 types of user
• Administrators –Susi Peacock and Jim Sharp
– will create “Instructor” (QMU Tutor) accounts on-demand and also
operate as a Plagiarism hot-line to deal with queries via
plagiarism@qmu.ac.uk
– Note we do not know and cannot retrieve passwords (but tutors can do
this for themselves)
• Instructors
– QMU tutors who wish their students to use the TurnitinUK service
– Able to set up “classes” (usually one per module) with one or more
assignment areas. Optionally each assignment can be accompanied by
one or more “revision” areas
• Students
– Enrol themselves onto classes set up by their tutor
– Then submit assignments via the appropriate class to get an “originality”
report
– Use the originality report to refine their assignment referencing
– Can re-submit a number of times depending on how many revision
areas the QMU “Instructor” tutor has set up.
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TurnitinUK – the process
1. Tutor contacts administrator to be set up as an “Instructor”
2. Administrator creates “instructor” account using tutor’s email address. The TurnitinUK
service emails a starter password directly to the tutor.
3. Tutor logs in to the new account at www.submit.ac.uk and adds a class, creating a “class
name” and a “class enrolment password”. The system creates a unique “class id” number.
To this class the Tutor adds “assignment headings”
4. Tutor communicates the “class id” number and the “class enrolment password” to the
relevant students (the tutor can also enrol the students manually)
5. Each student accesses www.submit.ac.uk and creates an account (user profile) using a
convenient email address and a suitable password
6. After creating the account, the student “enrols” onto the class created by the tutor, using
the class id and password supplied in step 4
7. When ready, the student submits work under the relevant assignment heading. The
TurnitinUK service then matches the work against the database, generating an “originality”
report
8. Student checks originality report and makes any necessary changes to the work. If the
tutor has provided revision areas, the student can re-submit as in step 7.
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Tutor / Student Interaction
Tutor creates & monitors
TurnitinUK Service
Class A
Assignment 1
Revision 1a
Revision 1b
Assignment 2
Class B
Student submits work & receives reports
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Tutor (Instructor) – logging on
Using any browser, access www.submit.ac.uk :-
1.
Tutor types in full email address
followed by the password sent
via TurnitinUK (note that only the
tutor can change or retrieve his/her
password)
2.
and clicks on ‘Sign in”’ button
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Instructor – adding a class
1.
The ‘tutor account’ page
will appear
2.
tutor adds a class (module) to
the account by clicking the “ +
add a class" button.
3.
The next screen - the tutor is
setting up a class called ‘Study &
ITSkills module’ with an “enrolment
password” of ‘sitsmodule’
4.
The tutor has set up a class end
date of 26 August 2009. Note that
all assessment submission dates
must be before this date.
5.
Tutor clicks on ‘submit’
button to continue
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Instructor – adding an assignment
• The class is now listed on the Tutor’s account page
Note: the number next to the class name is the class id, which students will need along with
the class enrolment password to enrol in the class. The tutor should note this number so that
it can be distributed to students along with the class enrolment password.
• Tutor clicks on the class name to "enter" the class and open the class ‘assignments
page’.
• This will initially be empty so Tutor clicks on ‘+ new assignment” button
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Instructor – choosing assignment type
Click “Next Step” to continue
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Instructor – adding assignment dates
First occurrence of
assignment only
If tutor wants students to
submit revisions then
additional copies of the
assignment need to be
created with this set to
‘revision assignment’ (from
assignment home page)
due date = deadline
for assignment
post date = release
date for marks if using
Grademark otherwise
set to one day after
due date
Only used if using
Grademark (marking
online)
Note: on first use tutor
must click on + (more
options) to see additional
options (IMPORTANT!)
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Instructor – adding assignment options 1
Normally ‘no’ unless using GradeMark
Always ‘yes’
Always set to this
Usually ‘no’ but can be ‘yes’ if
required
Usually ‘no’ but can be ‘yes’ if
required
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Instructor – adding assignment options 2
Best as ‘yes’ and 1% , makes report
easier to read
Always ‘yes (critical)
Always ‘yes’, submission after the
due date will be flagged as ‘late’
Always ‘yes for QMU
Leave this section as is …
Leave this section as is …
When complete, click on the ‘submit’ button
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Assignment Inbox
Once the assignment dates and options have been
submitted, the assignment inbox is created as above.
Tutors and student submit by clicking on the “View” link.
The tutor can use the ‘More actions’ link to editing the
assignment settings, submit a paper or delete the
assignment.
Usually, tutors allow more than one opportunity for students to submit work so they can
improve their referencing and see if their changes have worked. In this case the next step is to
create what are called “revisions”. The process is started by clicking on the ‘+ new assignment’
button.
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Instructor – adding a “revision” area (1)
Start as for a new assignment but
select ‘revision assignment’ here -
Click ‘Next Step’ button
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Instructor – adding a “revision” area (2)
Choose the correct one from the
assignments listed here
Change due and post dates to the
same as the assignment (not done
automatically)
Always set to this
Always set to yes
When complete, click on the ‘submit’ button
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Instructor – assignment after revision
•
After adding a revision the assignment page for the ‘Study & IT Skills’ class
looks like this to the tutor:
A tutor can add a further “revision” if required by clicking again on the “+ New
Assignment” button.
A tutor can view all submissions in an assignment by clicking on the “View” link
in the appropriate line.
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Enrolling students
• Before students can access a TurnitinUK
class they have to have an account and be
enrolled on to the class. This can be done:
– By the tutor, student by student
– By the tutor by preparing an batch file of all
students off line
– By the student on receipt of the class id
number and password from the tutor
• For more details see the Tutor Guide
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Student view – assignment inbox
A student sees a slightly different view of the In-box:
The student would submit their first attempt using the “Submit” button
in the “coursework essay” line, then if necessary submit a second
attempt in the “coursework essay | revision” line.
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Typical Tutor Inbox Entry
Title of Student
submission
Outcome of submission – click here to
see Originality Report
Name of Student
75-100% match
50-74% match
25-49% match
1 word-24% match
Tutor can submit an assessment at any time by clicking on the “+ submit paper” button
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No match
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Please remember …
• Academic judgement is essential when
interpreting the report
– % scores can be misleading
– try including/excluding reference list/quotations
– always check matches for referencing
– look out for plagiarism “rings”
– take care with other class data situations
• The TurnitinUK service is one tool in the QMU
“plagiarism toolbox”
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Turnitin and Students
• Book a computing workshop if necessary
• Invite students to bring a trial submission
• Issue Student Guide document Publicise class id
and password
• Take students through account creation using
Student presentation
• Supervise their first submissions
• Assist in interpreting reports
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Signposts to Resources
• Hotline - plagiarism@qmu.ac.uk
• Website http://mcs.qmu.ac.uk/plagiarism
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Introduction to originality reports
Examples of originality reports
This presentation online
Tutor Quick Start Guide
Student Quick Start Guide
List of “Cheat” sites
Access to referencing guides via Library website
Access to relevant QMU regulations
Hints on assessment design (Leeds University)
• Study Skills website
– www.qmu.ac.uk/futurefocus
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Bibliography
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Franklyn-Stokes,A. and Newstead,S. (1995), ‘Undergraduate cheating: who does
what and why?’ Studies in Higher Education, 20(2), 159-172.
Newstead, S., Franklyn-Stokes, A. and Armstead, P. (1996), ‘Individual differences in
student cheating’, Journal of Educational Psychology, 88 (2), 229-241.
Dordoy, A. (2002), ‘Cheating and Plagiarism: Staff and Student Perceptions at
Northumbria’, University of Northumbria Conference on Plagiarism [on-line]
http://www.jiscpas.ac.uk/images/bin/AD.doc
Carroll, J. and Appleton, J. (2001), ‘Plagiarism: A Good Practice Guide’, Oxford
Brookes University Guide Series [on-line]
http://www.jiscpas.ac.uk/apppage.cgi?USERPAGE=6202
Cole, S. and Kiss, E. (2000), ‘What can we do about student cheating?’, About
Campus, May-June, 5-12.
Other reading – ‘Plagiarism and Poor Academic Practice – A Threat to the Extension
of e-Learning in Higher Education?’ Mike Hart, King Alfred’s University College,
Winchester, UK, and Tim Friesner, University College Chichester, UK [on-line]
http://www.ejel.org/volume-2/vol2-issue1/issue1-art25.htm
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