how to submit assignment using turnitin

Technology Enhanced Learning and Design

for the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health

Turnitin: A student guide to submitting an assignment

Reviewed: 11/07/2022

What is Turnitin?

Turnitin is software that is used by the University to help to identify plagiarised work. It allows you to submit your work via your Blackboard course, where an originality report may be generated. This report will highlight text in your submission that matches text from one or more of the following sources:

• other students’ work at the University of Manchester
• students’ work at other institutions
• academic publications
• Internet sources.

These reports are examined as a standard part of the assessment process. When your work is submitted to Turnitin, it will normally be added to an international database of student papers. Your name will not be attached to your paper. Other students’ work will then be compared to your work from that point onwards. If your submission is confidential, your tutor can make sure that it is not added to the database.

File types and sizes

Please note: the file size must be less than 100MB, it must have a minimum of 20 words, be less than 400 pages, and the standard file types allowed are:

• Microsoft Word (.doc/.docx)
• OpenOffice Text (.odt)
• WordPerfect (.wpd)
• PostScript (.ps/.eps)
• Hangul Word Processor (.hwp)
• Rich Text (.rtf)
• Plain text (.txt)
• Google Docs via Google Drive
• Microsoft PowerPoint (.pptx/.ppt/.ppsx/.pps)
• Microsoft Excel (.xls/.xlsx).

Further information on plagiarism

Further information on plagiarism is available from:

• ‘Guidance to Students on plagiarism and other forms of academic malpractice’
• ‘Academic Malpractice – Guidance on the Handling of Cases’

How to submit an assignment

Stage 1: access the assignment submission link.

• Log into your Blackboard course. The assignment submission link will usually be located in the ‘ Assessments ’ area on the left-hand menu.
• Click the link to upload your assignment . You must read and follow any instructions given by your course leader.

• To submit your assignment, click the ‘ Upload Submission ’ button.
• Clicking the question mark  icon will display any extra information provided by your tutor, including feedback release date and assessment criteria (if an assignment rubric has been attached).

Stage 2: Upload your document

• Next, you need to enter a ‘Submission Title’. You must check any instructions given by your tutor. In many schools in the University, it is essential that you enter your 7-digit ID number in the submission title box and that you remove any references to your name in the submission document itself. This is to comply with anonymous marking regulations. Do not use quotation marks in the submission title as this can cause errors. It is also important that you remove any reference to your name from the submission document itself.
• Select ‘Choose file’ and locate the file you wish to upload.
• (Optional) This allows you to upload a cloud submission, e.g. Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox document. 

Stage 3: Review your document

This stage allows you to check you have uploaded the correct document. You can ‘ Preview ’, ‘ Cancel Submission ’ or continue to ‘ Submit to Turnitin ‘ .

Stage 4: Complete the submission

Upon submission, you will see this screen:

a) You will see a confirmation that your submission was successful. (If this is not the case, please try and submit again).

b) You may have the option to resubmit your paper if this has been allowed by your tutor. Please note: It can take up to 24 hours for re-uploaded files to be processed; however, the submission time will be marked as the time that the re-upload occurred. If you need to re-upload your work and the resubmit button is not available, then please contact your tutor to discuss arrangements for this, as they will vary from course to course.

c) You have the option to download a copy of the paper you have submitted.

d) You have the option to download a digital receipt for the paper you have submitted. It is very important that you retain your digital receipt as a record of your submission.

Important note for users of Mac systems (MacBook, iMac etc.)

If your assignment document is created on a Mac computer and you intend to include images copied and pasted from a PDF source document, it is essential that you use one of the following methods to bring the images into your assignment document. For any Mac software, including the ‘Preview’ application, do the following:

• Use ‘ Shift + Command + 5 ‘ to open the Screenshot tool. (Alternatively, search for the Screenshot tool from your Launchpad or go to ‘ File > Take Screenshot > From Selection… ‘)
• Select the area of the page you wish to save as an image (the image will automatically be saved to the desktop).
• In Word, use ‘ Insert > Image ’ to import the image.
• Do not use the Select tool in Preview to copy and paste images from the PDF into your assignment document.
• ← Reading a Similarity Report
• Turnitin: A Student Guide to Downloading Feedback →

Turnitin help

When you submit a text-based assignment in Blackboard, it goes into Turnitin, which is a program that compares the text in your assignment with a database of online sources, textbooks, journal articles and other student assignments.

Turnitin for research students

If you’re a higher degree by research (HDR) student, we have extra information about Turnitin for you.

Turnitin system guides

Having problems using Turnitin? See instructions for using the Turnitin system interface .

Turnitin has undergone some changes

Find out more about the Changes to Turnitin from November 2022 .

How Turnitin works

Turnitin produces an Originality Report which highlights the text in your assignment that matches or is similar to another source, and links to the original source. The report also includes a Similarity Index which is calculated as the number of highlighted words divided by the total number of words in your assignment.

Be aware that Curtin does not define a ‘safe’ level for the Similarity Index, nor is there a level that signals that plagiarism has occurred. Turnitin does not distinguish between ‘innocent matches’ and those that may be considered plagiarism. For example, if a unit coordinator sets a question that all students must answer, likely that question text will match in all of the assignment submissions for that unit. This would be considered an innocent match.

How to use Turnitin to help avoid plagiarism

Downloading or printing your turnitin originality report.

This video covers how to access the Originality Report, what the Similarity Index is, and how the Originality Report is used to identify plagiarism.

What to do about those highlighted bits

This video covers reviewing your matches and deciding what action to take, and how to plan your work to prevent plagiarism.

Understanding Turnitin’s report

More about Turnitin

Curtin policy requires all text based assignments to be submitted to Turnitin. A copy of all work submitted to Turnitin will be retained on Turnitin’s database for future text matching. This process has been tested in the courts and found to be in compliance with copyright, privacy and data protection laws.

The effectiveness of Turnitin depends on its ability to store copies of all documents submitted to it. This has the benefit of protecting your rights and intellectual property in the future. Under exceptional circumstances, such as when the work is commercially sensitive, you can request that a paper be removed from the database. Undergraduate work would not be expected to fall into this category under normal circumstances. If you believe that exceptional circumstances apply in your situation, make a formal request explaining your reasons to your unit coordinator.

The only people able to view the copy of your assignment submitted to the Turnitin database, or the associated originality report, are the teaching team associated with that unit of study (such as unit coordinator, tutors and markers). Turnitin’s employees are not able to view your assignment.

The person marking your submitted work will review the originality report generated by the Turnitin service. The report highlights text in your submitted work that matches content in Turnitin’s databases. The marker will review each highlighted passage of text to determine if the passage has been poorly paraphrased or if it has been directly copied from another source, and whether this indicates plagiarism.

The report also includes an index (the Similarity Index) calculated as the number of highlighted words divided by the total number of words in your assignment. A high Similarity Index is not automatically interpreted by the marker as plagiarism, and Curtin does not define any minimum or maximum thresholds for the index score. This means that there is no ‘safe’ score nor is there a score that, if exceeded, indicates that plagiarism has occurred.

The detection of plagiarism is a matter of academic judgement by the marker, allowing and requiring them to take into consideration the type of match highlighted, the extent of matching and the use in-text citations and references.

Try troubleshooting the problem using the guide on the Turnitin website . This guide covers:

• Accepted file types and sizes
• Viewing a rubric or grading form before submission
• How to submit a paper by uploading a file or cutting and pasting text
• Viewing submitted files
• Downloading Submitted Papers and Digital Receipts
• Resubmitting a paper

If you’re still having difficulty submitting an assignment through Turnitin, contact your unit coordinator in case there are problems with the way the assignment submission link has been set up.

The Turnitin webpages include some graphics to guide you through the submission process and for various functions associated with viewing the originality report and accessing the digital receipt. Normally these visual elements have hidden text behind them to allow screen readers to function.

If you’re using a screen reader, you may find that the Turnitin Document Viewer is not fully compatible with your software. The Document Viewer is the default view for the Originality Report. It appears in a separate browser window that is launched when you access your submission from the Turnitin Assignment Inbox. The ‘text-only’ view of the Originality Report is generally more compatible with screen reader technologies.

To access the ‘text-only’ view follow these steps:

• In your Blackboard unit, navigate to the assignment submission page and select the link labelled View/Complete to show the Turnitin page.
• The Turnitin page has two tabs. Make sure the Assignment Inbox tab is active (this is selected by default). For the appropriate assignment in the list, select the View button.
• Select the Text-Only Report link at the bottom of the page.

From the preferences link, the text-only report provides the following options that may improve accessibility:

• Colour code matches: 1) Yes or 2) No.
• Default mode 1) show highest matches together 2) show matches one at a time 3) quickview (classic) report.

auto-navigation 1) jump to next match 2) scroll to next match. Turnitin remembers the last view used to access the originality report, so when you open another report, the view used last will be displayed. This way, you can set the default to be Document Viewer or Text Only.

• Turnitin Guides
• Administrator hub
• Release notes and known issues
• Welcome to Turnitin Guides

Welcome to Turnitin’s new website for guidance!

In 2024, we migrated our comprehensive library of guidance from https://help.turnitin.com to this site, guides.turnitin.com. During this process we have taken the opportunity to take a holistic look at our content and how we structure our guides.

This page is here to help you orientate yourself with these changes and update your resources

What's new?

We have restructured the content to help you navigate it more efficiently.

We are consolidating numerous pages to make our individual guides more valuable as well as removing duplicated content.

For example, our Similarity Report guidance on help.turnitin is repeated in numerous places to cater for each individual integration and license type. On guides.turnitin this content will exist in a single place to allow for users of all integrations and licenses to find it easily. We have made slight modifications to these guides to help you understand which guides are pertinent to you and your institution.

Our guidance search has greatly improved

As a result of our content restructure, the search functionality for guides.turnitin has improved. Use the search bar at the top of any page to locate the guidance you’re searching for.

Dedicated student and administrator guidance hubs

Visit the Student hub area to locate student guidance. For students who access Turnitin via an LMS or VLE, check out the subsection Submitting to Turnitin .

Visiting the Administrator hub area to locate administrator guidance and release notes. 

iThenticate and Crossref Similarity Check guidance is now located on a separate site

To improve the experience for our iThenticate and Crossref Similiarity Check customers we have move their help content onto a separate help site, guides.ithenticate.com . This will improve the search for all users.

We have also created an orientation page for this site to help users become acclimatised.

Some guidance is no longer grouped within the LMS umbrella

Some guidance which was previously provided under each LMS has been moved to sections that reflect those workflows’ outcomes. Use the table below as a cheatsheet to quickly locate guidance.

Articles in this section

• Turnitin release notes
• Integrations release notes

Canvas @ Tufts

For information about other teaching & learning tools see the Educational Technology User Guides .

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• Dental Externships
• Easy Generator
• Health Science Clinical Tools
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• How do I use the Turnitin plagiarism service to check the originality of student submitted papers?

Tufts University has a University-wide contract with the Turnitin plagiarism detection service.

Instructors can use Turnitin with the Canvas Assignments tool to check for potential unoriginal content. Turnitin compares submitted papers to others found on the Internet, in its own paper repository, and in large academic proprietary databases. Instructors receive (in the Canvas Assignments tool) an “Originality Report” from Turnitin for each student submission.

At Tufts, Turnitin is only available to instructors for use with student work submitted via Canvas. Students cannot check their own papers via Turnitin.

Things to know about Turnitin:

• When Turnitin is used on an assignment, students will have a note on their assignment form indicating that the assignment will be checked by the Turnitin plagiarism service.
• Turnitin must be set up on a Canvas assignment before students begin submitting work. It cannot be added to an assignment later to check papers that have already been submitted.

Go to Assignments

Click Add assignment (+)

This displays the Create New Assignment form.

Add the Assignment title and directions

Under Submission Type, click in the dropdown box and select External tool

This displays the list of Canvas External tools.

Click Turnitin, then click Select

This connects the Assignment submissions to the Turnitin Service.

Add the desired assign dates/times, then click Save (or Save and Publish)

This creates an Assignment in which student submissions will be sent to Turnitin and an Originality Report will be returned back to the Canvas Assignment.

After Saving the Assignment, go back to the Assignment tool and click on the name of the assignment

This displays the details page for this assignment, including a Turnitin Properties Panel.

Click on the Turnitin Menu Icon

Click Settings

This displays the Turnitin Settings for this Assignment.

Click Optional Settings

This displays the Turnitin Optional Settings for this Assignment.

Select sources to compare

Select Originality Report generation and resubmissions

The default is "Generate Reports immediately (resubmissions ar not allowed)." If you do choose to allow resubmissions, Turnitin will not save any previous submissions (as Canvas Assignments usually do). Only the student's most recent submission will be saved and sent to Turnitin.

Select exclusions

Decide if students will receive a copy the the Originality Report

Allow students to view report:  If checked, students will be able to see a copy of the Turnitin originality report (in addition to the instructor). A link to the originality report (when it is completed) will be located on the student's view of the completed assignment.

Students will know in advance of their submitting their assignment file if the instructor is using the Turnitin service, regardless of their access to the returned originality report.

Decide what should happen with the paper once the Originality Report is completed

Selecting "Do not store" means that after the originality check has been performed on the paper, the paper will not go into Turnitin's paper repository.  This might be a good choice if the assignment is for a "draft" paper. If this option is selected, the second version of the paper submitted will not be checked against the draft version the same paper.

Selecting "Standard Paper Repository" means that after the originality check has been performed on the paper, the paper will go into Turnitin's paper repository. Other papers submitted to Turnitin (anywhere in the world) will be checked against it.

Click Submit (do not make any additional edits to Optional Settings)

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• What is Tufts University policy on copyright and fair use of posted materials on Canvas?
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• What is Echo360?
• How do I add Echo360 to my course site?
• How do I embed an Echo360 video using the Canvas text editor?
• End of the Semester options for Instructors
• Setting course site access for individual students
• How do I create a self-selected timed final exam (Essay Questions)?
• How do I create a self-selected timed final exam (File Upload Questions)?
• How do I review and grade a self-selected timed final exam (Essay Questions)?
• How do I review and grade a self-selected timed final exam (File Upload Questions)?
• Student: How do I take a self-selected timed (Essay Question or File Upload) final exam?
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• Instructor: How do I use Google Docs to create a collaborative document?
• Student: How do I submit a Google Document to an assignment?
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• Student: How do I submit an Office 365 document to an assignment?
• How do I add the Office 365 tool to my Canvas course site tool list?
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• How to Link to an Existing Piazza Course with the new LTI 1.3
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• Turnitin Plagiarism Detection Service
• Student: How do I submit a paper to a Canvas Assignment that uses Turnitin?
• How do I view a TurnItIn Originality Report?
• How to add VoiceThread to your Canvas course
• Using VoiceThread in Your Course on Canvas
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• BUE Library
• TurnItIn for Students: User Guides, Manuals & Tutorials:

Resubmit a Paper

Turnitin for students: user guides, manuals & tutorials: resubmit a paper.

• Turnitin Coordinators
• Create a Turnitin Account
• Enroll in a Class
• File Types Accepted by Turnitin
• Advice on Submitting Excel Files to Turnitin
• Forgot your Password
• Print the Originality Report
• Switching between Feedback Studio, Turnitin Classic & Text Only Views
• View Instructor's Feedback
• Drop a Class
• Turnitin Draft Coach

Note: Resubmission attempts are shared between you and your instructor. If they attempt to resubmit on your behalf one of your attempts will be used.

If resubmitting is not enabled, your instructor must manually delete your previous submission to allow you to submit a second file.

If resubmission is enabled then you have the ability to overwrite your previous submissions until an assignment's due date..

• Go to your assignment's dashboard.
• Select the "resubmit" icon and upload your file.

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• Last Updated: Apr 8, 2024 4:51 PM
• URL: https://bue.libguides.com/Turnitin2_Students

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Creating Turnitin Assignments

• August 14, 2024 August 14, 2024
• Assignments

If you wish to utilize plagiarism-checking software in Brightspace, we recommend setting up Turnitin Assignments. Previously, these needed to be set up and graded using a separate workflow, but as of August, 2024, Turnitin has been updated so it is more tightly integrated with Brightspace. To set up a basic Turnitin Assignment, you can follow the steps immediately below. If you need any advanced functions such as Turnitin Peermark, or if you wish to stick with the previous workflow for consistency with how you’ve already started to set up your courses, please see the “Advanced Turnitin Features” section further down this post.

Instructions for creating a Turnitin Assignment in Brightspace

• Navigate to Assignments (in BMCC navbar, Activities->Assignments)
• Click “New Assignment” (or edit existing assignment)
• In addition to entering normal assignment information, expand “Evaluation & Feedback” in the lower-right, as shown in the following screenshot, and click “Manage Turnitin” (with red box around it in following screenshot).

4. In the options (see following screenshot), select “Enable Similarity Report for this folder.” This will turn on Turnitin for the assignment. If you wish for students to see their own scores, check off “Allow learners to see similarity scores in their submission folder.” Choose whether you would like similarity automatically for all submissions. If you wish to utilize Turnitin grading functions (such as QuickMarks, which are pre-formulated comments, or the Turnitin rubric interface — see details on Turnitin Feedback Studio here ), check “Enable Online Grading for this folder.” If you don’t check that, you will have the standard Brightspace grading options for the assignment.

Advan ced Turnitin Features

If you wish to utilize advanced features such as Peermark peer review, instructor submitting on behalf of a student, self-serve paper deletion request, or TII assignment analytics, you can add a Turnitin assignment using the original workflow, selecting the “TII Advanced” option under the “Existing Activities” menu in the Content area of Brightspace:

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Turn over a new leaf: Grading paper-based assignments in Feedback Studio

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Despite the rapid advancement of digital tools in education, paper-based assessment continues to play a key role in many academic courses, offering unique benefits that digital methods can't entirely replicate.

However, the traditional approach to managing and grading paper-based assessment often comes with significant logistical and administrative challenges.

With Turnitin’s new Paper to Digital add-on for Feedback Studio , instructors can now bridge the gap between traditional paper assignments and digital efficiency. This innovative tool promises to revolutionize the grading experience, offering faster feedback, enhanced security, and integration directly into your learning management system (LMS).

In this blog post, we’ll explore the lasting relevance of paper-based assessment and how Paper to Digital embraces the benefits of paper, while addressing many of its inherent challenges. By bridging the gap between the tactile and the technological , instructors can leverage the best of both worlds to create a more robust and equitable assessment process.

Why is paper-based assessment still relevant?

Digital solutions often dominate discussions around productivity and innovation in education, with the enduring presence of paper-based assessment seeming like a relic of the past, but beneath the surface, lies a steadfast utility that continues to make paper-based assessment indispensable in educational settings worldwide.

In a 2020 Norwegian study carried out by Askvik, van der Weel and van der Meer , findings suggest that handwriting could be more beneficial than typing—not to mention the fact that paper offers unparalleled accessibility and universality, ensuring all students can participate regardless of their access to technology.

The tactile experience of pen and paper has also been argued to foster deeper cognitive engagement, particularly beneficial in subjects like mathematics and art. In a psychology study by Mueller and Oppenheimer ( 2014 ), they found that students who took notes on laptops performed poorer on conceptual questions compared to those who used longhand methods. They determined that laptop note takers’ tendency to transcribe lectures verbatim rather than processing information and reframing it in their own words is detrimental to learning.”

Certain types of responses, such as complex formulas and intricate diagrams, often lend themselves more naturally to paper-based formats. The freedom of movement and space afforded by physical paper can facilitate a deeper level of expression than digital constraints might allow.

It’s also worth noting that paper-based assessment provides a controlled and reliable testing environment free from the technical glitches and connectivity issues that have been found to plague digital platforms. This standardized approach promotes equity among students, giving all learners a fair assessment experience across diverse educational settings.

What are the drawbacks of paper-based assessment?

While the benefits of paper-based assessment are clear, they do present their own set of unique challenges, with one of the most significant drawbacks being how difficult it is to distribute, collect, and grade so many paper assessments; this can be time-consuming and prone to errors through misplaced or lost student work. Additionally, the manual oversight required to prevent cheating during paper-based assessment adds another layer of complexity and potential risk.

Paper-based assessment often results in time-intensive grading processes. Instructors must manually evaluate a variety of assessment types—from short answers to complex diagrams—which can lead to inconsistent quality and quantity of feedback as well as delays in providing timely feedback to students.

In a 2023 UK Department for Education report , it was found that teachers spend more time on admin than teaching, with general admin work impacting 77% of secondary/high school teachers. Around 50% said that manual marking (grading) took up “too much” of their time.

Delays in receiving feedback can result in frustration for students; it limits opportunities for immediate learning reinforcement and improvement. The manual nature of paper (or any type) of grading makes it challenging to gain meaningful insights into student performance and areas needing instructional focus, hindering instructors’ ability to tailor their teaching effectively.

How can Paper to Digital improve grading efficiency?

The integration of Turnitin’s Paper to Digital add-on in Feedback Studio represents a pivotal step towards boosting the efficiency of paper-based assessment. Supporting various assessment types within the tool you’re already using, it seamlessly blends the familiarity of paper with the technological advancements of digital tools.

This integration not only addresses the logistical challenges associated with paper-based assessment but also enriches the overall educational experience. Paper to digital improves grading accuracy and consistency across every submission, whilst giving educators the tools they need to provide timely feedback.

Automatic roster matching

One of the standout features of Turnitin’s Paper to Digital is its automatic roster matching capability, eliminating the cumbersome tasks associated with manual paper logistics. Instructors can effortlessly upload scanned student work, and Turnitin automatically splits bulk files into individual submissions.

Leveraging Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology , Paper to Digital accurately matches the handwritten name on each submission with the corresponding student on the roster by detecting name and ID regions. This means no mix-ups between papers or anonymous submissions.

Additionally, instructors can easily identify which students didn’t match to a submission and quickly assign it to them, providing a necessary manual intervention when needed.

Automated roster matching not only frees up valuable time that can be directed towards providing meaningful feedback and improving instructional delivery, but also enhances integrity and accuracy in grading, ensuring every student receives a fair and prompt evaluation.

Seamlessly integrated with Feedback Studio

Paper to Digital integrates with Turnitin’s flagship solution, Feedback Studio. This add-on consolidates both paper-based and digital assessments into a unified platform, allowing instructors to manage their assessments without navigating between multiple systems. Since many instructors are already familiar with Feedback Studio, there's no additional learning curve or need to switch platforms.

This integration extends further with fuss-free compatibility across widely used Learning Management System (LMS) platforms via LTI 1.3 standards. By centralizing assessment management in Feedback Studio, instructors can simplify their workflows and maintain consistency in grading practices. Whether handling paper-based exams or digital assignments, the integrated approach ensures a cohesive user experience while leveraging the robust features of Feedback Studio for comprehensive assessment management .

By taking advantage of existing setups, instructors can create assignments the same way, use the same roster, and publish grades directly to the Turnitin gradebook without the need for an external tool. This not only simplifies workflows and reduces potential errors but also shaves off valuable administrative minutes.

AI-assisted grading and answer grouping

A recent preprint paper by University of Michigan researchers, Wang, Pei, and Li , revealed a significant correlation across 30 million grading records: students with surnames lower in the alphabet tend to receive lower grades. This bias stems from sequential grading practices exacerbated by the default alphabetical ordering of student submissions in learning management systems (LMS).

Paper to Digital eliminates grading bias. AI-assisted grouping and horizontal grading by question streamline the evaluation of diverse assignment types. This involves grouping similar answers together across variable-length assignments, like problem sets and projects, or fixed-template assignments, such as worksheets, quizzes, or exams. Instructors are then able to provide feedback to multiple students simultaneously, doing away with tedious grading tasks.

Paper to Digital offers both automatic and manual grouping options, ensuring flexibility in assessment management across various question types. This approach not only accelerates grading but also guarantees consistency in feedback delivery across all student submissions.

These AI-driven features empower instructors to focus more on analyzing student performance and identifying learning gaps, thereby facilitating fair evaluation and maintaining integrity across assessments.

Fast, consistent feedback for every student

Paper to Digital transforms the assessment cycle by delivering timely and comprehensive feedback, minimizing the traditionally lengthy feedback loop for students. Leveraging digital grading capabilities, the platform enables dynamic scoring that updates retroactively. For example, if an instructor needs to adjust a score, they can do so easily, and the updates will apply to all relevant submissions, ensuring quick and consistent feedback for every student.

This is further enhanced through refined grading workflows, including answer grouping and horizontal grading, which facilitate the provision of rich, submission-specific feedback at a rapid pace. Instructors can publish graded assessments directly to students without delays, ensuring that feedback is promptly accessible.

The integration of scoring guides and annotation tools supports detailed feedback that clarifies where points were earned and addresses learning gaps swiftly and comprehensively.

By supporting multiple graders, Paper to Digital also accelerates turnaround times, enabling instructors to manage assessments efficiently and ensure students receive timely insights into their performance. This approach fosters a more engaging and effective learning environment where formative assessment continues beyond assignment deadlines, empowering students to continuously improve based on actionable feedback.

Does Paper to Digital allow for multiple graders?

Paper to Digital in Feedback Studio offers the benefit of horizontal grading, where one question is graded at a time. This approach helps remove bias by ensuring that student information and other answers on their submission are not visible, allowing for greater objectivity in evaluating how all students respond to each question. It also provides a focused sense of whether the material is understood by the entire class.

Horizontal grading allows instructors to collaborate effectively, providing the flexibility to split work between a group of markers. This method facilitates alignment in grading criteria, standards, and practices, minimizing discrepancies that may arise from individual grading styles or interpretations of assessment criteria. Paper to Digital ensures there's no overlap when marking, always progressing to the next ungraded submission.

The primary aim of horizontal grading is to promote equitable evaluation of student work, regardless of which instructor is grading. By standardizing assessment practices, Paper to Digital helps reduce bias and ensures that all students receive fair treatment in their evaluations. This collaborative approach enhances grading consistency and also supports educational integrity by maintaining uniformity in assessment outcomes across diverse teaching environments.

How will Paper to Digital help me to uphold academic integrity?

Paper to Digital offers robust tools to uphold rigorous academic integrity standards effectively.

Unlike manual review, which can be impractical due to workload constraints, Paper to Digital creates secure, locked digital copies of students' original submissions. This feature enables instructors to easily reference and verify submissions, identifying any alterations made after grading and ensuring the validity of assessments.

Our auto grouping and horizontal grading capabilities play a key role in detecting anomalies or trends in student responses. For example, by systematically analyzing submissions, instructors can identify irregularities such as a group of questions that are suspiciously similar or wrong in the same way, which can indicate possible collusion. By proactively identifying and addressing potential issues, Paper to Digital maintains assessment integrity through accountable and informed actions.

With such a proactive approach to feedback, the reliability of the grading processes is amplified, fostering a climate of trust and fairness in all educational assessments.

How can my institution access Paper to Digital?

Paper to Digital is available both via the Turnitin website and through your chosen LMS.

If you use an LMS integration to access Feedback Studio, you must upgrade to LTI 1.3 to benefit from Feedback Studio’s new features. This upgrade will provide enhanced functionality, improved security, and a better integration experience.

Overview: Time to transform the grading experience

Paper-based assessment is here to stay, and its persistent relevance in educational assessment highlights the need for innovative solutions that marry the traditional with the digital.

Turnitin's Paper to Digital add-on for Feedback Studio addresses the inherent challenges of paper-based assessment through advanced AI and digital integration. By streamlining grading and strengthening the consistency of instructor feedback, institutions can foster a fairer and more effective assessment environment that upholds integrity.

This hybrid approach sets a new standard for assessment, balancing the benefits of traditional methods with the efficiencies of digital advancements to promote a more equitable and enriched learning experience.

How might students be using generative AI?

Understanding the various ways students might be using generative AI is critical for instructors. Students might use generative AI for various academic tasks, which can be both beneficial and potentially problematic depending on the context and extent of use. This knowledge can help in designing assignments that deter misuse, encouraging constructive uses, and maintaining academic integrity.

Some possible student uses of generative AI include the following:

Academic writing and essays

Sample uses

• Students may use AI to write entire essays or substantial portions of them, inputting prompts related to their assignment topics.
• AI can assist students in drafting essays , offering suggestions for improving clarity, coherence, and grammar.
• AI can summarize lengthy academic papers , helping students grasp key points quickly without reading the entire document.

Implications

• Risk: Students might submit entire or portions of AI-generated essays as their own, which constitutes academic dishonesty.
• Benefit: AI can help with brainstorming and refining ideas, improving the overall quality of student writing when used appropriately.

Research and information gathering

• Students can use AI to generate lists of research topics or questions based on initial keywords or subject areas.
• AI can condense complex articles, papers, and textbooks into concise summaries , making it easier for students to understand and engage with the material.
• AI can provide ideas for hypotheses or avenues to investigate.
• Risk: Over-reliance on AI summaries may lead students to a superficial understanding and reduced critical engagement with source materials.
• Benefit: AI can enhance the efficiency and breadth of research, allowing students to cover more ground in less time.

Study assistance and exam preparation

• AI can generate flashcards , quizzes , and practice questions tailored to specific subjects and topics.
• AI can create study guides summarizing key concepts and information for exam preparation.
• AI-powered tutors can provide personalized explanations and answer questions , helping students understand difficult concepts.
• Risk: Students might become dependent on AI, reducing their ability to study and learn independently.
• Benefit: AI can enhance study efficiency and effectiveness, providing additional support and resources for exam preparation.

Coding and problem solving

• AI tools like GitHub Copilot can write code snippets or complete coding assignments based on given specifications.
• AI can help identify and fix bugs in code, providing explanations and solutions.
• Students can use AI to generate and optimize algorithms for specific tasks.
• Risk: Students may submit AI-generated code without understanding it, undermining the learning process and academic integrity.
• Benefit: AI can act as a tutor, guiding students through complex coding challenges and helping them learn new programming techniques.

Creative projects

• AI can generate artwork , designs , and visual content based on student inputs, aiding in art and design courses.
• Students can use AI to write poems , stories , and scripts , providing inspiration and content ideas.
• AI can compose music, helping students create original pieces for music courses.
• Risk: Students might claim AI-generated creative work as their own, raising issues of originality and authenticity.
• Benefit: AI can serve as a creative partner, expanding the creative horizons of students and providing new avenues for artistic expression.

Language learning and translation

• AI chatbots can simulate conversations in foreign languages , helping students practice speaking and listening skills.
• AI translation tools can translate text between languages , assisting students in language assignments and learning.
• AI can provide instant feedback on grammar and vocabulary usage , helping students improve their language skills.
• Risk: Over-reliance on AI for translations and corrections may hinder the development of independent language skills.
• Benefit: AI can provide valuable practice and feedback, complementing traditional language learning methods.

Generative AI offers powerful tools that can significantly enhance the learning experience when used ethically and responsibly. However, it also poses risks to academic integrity if misused. By understanding how students might use these technologies, instructors can design assignments that encourage productive use, foster deep learning, and uphold the values of academic honesty.

This content was developed with the assistance of Open AI’s ChatGPT.