Turnitin

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Overview

Turnitin, the plagiarism checking tool, is available in Canvas. Turnitin allows instructors to receive student assignments electronically and also runs an originality check as part of the submission process. These reports can be used to detect plagiarism and optionally shared with students as a teaching tool. Turnitin checks student papers against the current and archived internet, scholarly databases, a global repository of student papers, and a Penn-only repository of student papers.

Turnitin must be enabled before students submit assignments.

If students have already submitted an assignment, you will not be able to enable Turnitin retroactively and will instead need to create a separate Turnitin assignment, then have students re-submit to that assignment.

Penn supports two Turnitin integrations with Canvas: Turnitin with the Canvas Plagiarism Framework (which uses native Canvas assignments) and Turnitin LTI (which uses external tool assignments to provide access to Turnitin’s Assignment Dashboard, Feedback Studio, and PeerMark). Turnitin with the Canvas Plagiarism Framework is new as of summer 2018 and will be the preferred option for most courses. Teaching teams that have been using Turnitin LTI assignments may with to use the Turnitin Plagiarism Framework instead.

Which Turnitin Integration Should You Use?

For most courses, the new Turnitin integration using the Canvas Plagiarism Framework will be the preferred integration to use. Many teaching teams may prefer to change existing Turnitin LTI assignments to Turnitin-enabled assignments using the CPF. If you are unsure, you can learn more about the features of these integrations.

Using Turnitin Assignments

Please consult the following information on how to use Turnitin at Penn:

Turnitin Guidelines

Only content produced by students at the University of Pennsylvania may be processed through Turnitin. Materials produced by users outside of this group, including applicants for admission to any University of Pennsylvania program or school, may not be submitted through Turnitin. Materials produced by faculty or researchers at Penn should be processed via iThenticate.

Responding to Plagiarism

The University of Pennsylvania has a Center for Community Standards and Accountability (CSA) that “deals with alleged instances of academic dishonesty and other student misconduct, in order to determine how best to resolve these allegations consistent with the goals and mission of the University as an educational and intellectual community.” You may want to schedule a confidential consultation with the CSA before making any decisions.

Their FAQ for Faculty provides in-depth information on addressing and reporting academic integrity issues at the University of Pennsylvania.

Turnitin’s End User License Agreement (EULA)

Teaching teams and students who use Turnitin-enabled assignments should be aware that the product is subject to an End User License Agreement (EULA). We encourage you to read the entire EULA.

If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact the Courseware Support Team at canvas@pobox.upenn.edu.

Last Updated: 28 Sep 2022