Turnitin is an online text-matching and plagiarism detection software that compares student submissions against a vast database of web pages, academic papers, and other student works to identify similarities and generate an Originality Report. It serves as both a tool to deter academic misconduct by highlighting potential plagiarism and an educational resource, helping students understand and avoid improper use of sources, as well as contributing to other functions like online assignment submission, marking, and feedback.
How it Works:
- Students submit their written assignments to the Turnitin system through a learning management system (LMS).
- Turnitin then electronically compares the submitted text against a massive database, including:
- Billions of web pages (both current and archived).
- A repository of student papers that have been previously submitted to the system.
- Premium subscription content from academic publishers.
- The software generates an Originality Report that highlights any matching text and provides a similarity score.
Purpose & Benefits:
- Plagiarism Detection: It identifies instances where a student’s work may contain unoriginal material by highlighting matched text.
- Educational Tool: It is used as a formative tool to help students learn about appropriate paraphrasing, citing, and summarizing to avoid plagiarism.
- Promoting Academic Integrity: By making students aware of the potential for their work to be checked, it encourages them to cite their sources properly and produce original content.
- Assessment Management: Beyond text matching, Turnitin also supports online assignment submission, feedback, and grading processes.
Resources for Students:
Visit your Moodle pages for additional guidelines, resources, and instructional videos to support your learning.