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This page introduces UCLA Humanities faculty and TAs to Turnitin, a plagiarism prevention service available to all instructors at UCLA. It contains information and tips on the topics listed below. However, for technical or access problems, instructors should contact the MyUCLA helpdesk of the College Information Services: email myucla@college.ucla.edu or call (310) 206-4525.

 

What Exactly Is Turnitin?

Turnitin offers instructors a variety of tools for assigning and evaluating student work. The services are accessible via an online website (www.turnitin.com) and are available by subscription only. UCLA has an institutional subscription for the Plagiarism Prevention service. Turnitin also provides related tools like a Calendar, Discussion Board, Peer Review, GradeBook, GradeMark, and Digital Portfolio. Some of these services require an additional subscription fee, and may or may not be available at UCLA. Similar tools may be available through your Ecampus course sites or MyUCLA.

 

The Plagiarism Prevention service works by comparing student submissions to a variety of sources: the Internet, articles and essays in proprietary databases, and all student papers previously submitted at Turnitin. It helps instructors to identify instances of plagiarism and improperly used sources. They can discuss these misuses with their students and, if necessary, refer them to the Dean of Students for appropriate disciplinary action.

 

Turnitin and Academic Integrity

Turnitin is just one tool instructors can use to promote academic integrity. It works best as a preventative measure, when announced to students at the beginning of a term and made a required part of the course. The idea is to take away the temptation to cheat.

 

Turnitin not only discourages students from borrowing improperly from print and Internet sources, it also discourages multiple submissions of the same paper by different students, reuse of papers from previous classes, and other forms of inappropriate collaboration, since it compares the submissions to all other papers in the database.

 

Use of Turnitin should be combined with other strategies to promote academic integrity, such as

  • creating a "culture" of academic integrity
  • designing assignments and exams to make cheating difficult (changing assignments often, creating multiple versions of a test, collecting an assignment in stages, etc.)
  • including citation methods and research strategies as part of the curriculum
  • reminding students of the alternatives to dishonesty, such as tutoring, psychological services, accepting late penalties, and retaking the course at a better time

These websites provide further information and strategies. Some even provide modules that can be assigned to students as homework or offered as supplemental material:

 

Legal Considerations

Sometimes questions about the legality of Turnitin's services arise, especially in regards to confidentiality of personal information and infringement of copyright ownership. A reputable lawfirm has performed extensive legal analysis and determined that Turnitin's activities comply with existing U.S. privacy and copyright laws. To read the full legal analysis, please go to www.turnitin.com/static/legal.

 

Moreover, the UCLA Registrar has issued an Official Notice endorsing instructors' using services like Turnitin to confirm the integrity of student work and assist with the evaluation process. You can read this statement at www.registrar.ucla.edu/soc/notices.htm#AnchorPlag.

 

If you plan to use Turnitin, we recommend requiring all students to submit their work to Turnitin, rather than spot-checking papers on a random basis. When students self-submit it implies their consent and ensures all are undergoing the same evaluation process. However, it is legal and acceptable for instructors to submit individual papers on their own.

 

Basic Instructions for Using Turnitin

Only the Instructor of Record can activate Turnitin for a course through MyUCLA and access the papers. TA access is also available through MyUCLA.

 

Step-by-step Instructions

The chart below outlines the basic steps for using Turnitin. To view the tutorial click HERE. (provided by the Office of Instructional Development at UCLA)

 

  Through MyUCLA
Add to syllabus Include a statement on your syllabus defining plagiarism and announcing your use of Turnitin
Login Login to MyUCLA at my.ucla.edu
Create the class Go to your MyUCLA "Courses" page and find the course under "My Classes." Click the "Turnitin" link for that course. Another MyUCLA screen will appear. Click on the class name to confirm activation and enter the Turnitin website. The process may take a few minutes.
Add students No action necessary; MyUCLA automatically adds them.

 
Create assignments Click on the class name (if you haven't already entered it), and click "create a new assignment." Fill out the required information and click "Submit" (you can edit these settings later)
Ask students to submit papers Instruct your students to login to MyUCLA, go to their "Courses" page, and look for the "Turnitin" link under the name of your class. When they click this link, they will enter your class on Turnitin. To submit a paper, they click the "submit" icon next to the assignment name.
Upload papers yourself Click the "submit" button next to the name of the assignment. Once uploaded, the paper will appear in the assignment's inbox.
Review the originality reports Go to an assignment's "inbox" to view the submissions. Click on the icon under "reports" to view the Originality Report for a paper.
Evaluate and respond Evaluate the reports and take action if necessary. This may include meeting with the student to explain better writing and research methods, discussing the assignment with them to determine whether plagiarism has in fact taken place, and/or referring them to the Dean of Student's office.

 

 

Where to Go for Further Help

If you have questions regarding Turnitin, your ITC may or may not be able to assist you. ITCs can walk you through the instructions in this page and help troubleshoot, but we recommend that people use online help or contact the MyUCLA Helpdesk for problems using Turnitin:

 

Turnitin® is a registered trademark of iParadigms, LLC.

 

 

Contributed by haw. Last updated Oct 9, 2009 by BRB