This article explains how to set up plagiarism control in an Assignment. The plagiarism checker Turnitin is used for this purpose.
Saxion uses Turnitin: a tool integrated in Brightspace that helps maintain academic integrity. Turnitin itself does not detect plagiarism, it is an application that detects duplication of work from other sources. This may give an examiner grounds for suspecting plagiarism. If an examiner suspects plagiarism in a completed exam, they then report this suspicion to the Examination Board. The Examination Board then conducts further investigation.
At Saxion we do not use Turnitin as a learning tool to learn how to quote and paraphrase correctly. These learning objectives are included in modules, where at Saxion we use the APA guidelines and instructions from the Saxion Library. We therefore choose to disable the option 'Allow learners to see similarity scores in their submission folder' by default.
Because plagiarism is a serious topic in student submitted work, we also make a number of important recommendations in this article.
If plagiarism is suspected, the similarity report can be shared with the student in question. This is always followed by a conversation between the examination committee and the student. How a similarity report can be shared can be read in this manual.
Setting up a new or existing Assignment
You set the plagiarism control options in a new Assignment or in an existing Assignment where you have not yet set these options.
- To create a new Assignment follow the steps in How do I create an Assignment?
That will take you to the point where you set the plagiarism control options, which is explained further on this page. - Want to set up plagiarism control on an existing Assignment?
- Go to Course Tools in the navigation bar of your course.
- Click on Assignments.
- Click the little arrow behind the assignment, and then click Edit Assignment.
Setting a due date
Take the following into account:
- It is recommended to set a Due Date. This ensures that Turnitin will also check for plagiarism between students' work in the current assignment. ('collussion check')
To ensure the Turnitin similarity scores are accountable we advise you to always enter a Due Date. Moreover, setting a due date helps setting clear deadlines for your students. Due Dates will automatically appear in the Course Calendar.
Be aware that if you only set a due date, students still have the opportunity to submit an assignment after that due date. You will see in the overview which students submitted after the due date, and thus late. You can use this information (e.g., how many hours late) to determine if/how you want to apply a late submission policy. Read the following article for more information about: using start dates, due dates and end dates.
If you don't want student to submit anything after the deadline, see here how to restrict access to an assignment.
Submission settings for plagiarism control
Open Submission & Completion on the right side of your screen.
- Make sure File submission is selected
- Choose whether a student may upload one or more files.
- Select Compatible with Turnitin as the allowable file extensions
- Now choose how often the submission may take place:
There are two options related to a due date:
-
With due date we allow infinite submissions until the due date, because students can make a mistake when uploading. See table at the bottom of this article. For this option, you check one of these two options in Brightspace: In this manual all options are described.
- All submissions are kept*: all submissions are saved; or
- Only the most recent submission is kept: only the most recent submission is saved. Please note: this last option has risks. The older versions are overwritten and the student's development is not visible.
- Without a due date, we only allow one-time submissions:
For this option, you must check the box in Brightspace:
- Only one submission allowed: one submission allowed
*If you choose All submissions are kept, Turnitin will generate a similarity report for each submission and all submissions will be kept.
If you choose Only the most recent submission, Turnitin will always generate a new report.
The option Only one submission allowed is not recommended because something can always unexpectedly go wrong for the student when submitting.
Enable Turnitin
Open Evaluation & Feedback on the right side of your screen and click on Manage Turnitin.
A pop-up window will appear.
- Check the box Enable Similarity Report for this folder. It may take a few seconds before the other options become available.
- Under 'Display', the option 'Allow learners to see similarity scores in their submission folder' is unchecked by default. Do not check that option.
- Leave Submissions Checked on Automatic similarity checking on all submissions, as it will save quite some work.
- Click on More Options
The first time you click on More Options you will need to accept the terms of agreement.
Turnitin More Options
By default, option 2 is set (so that a plagiarism check takes place anyway), but that option must be adjusted based on the chosen characteristics in Brightspace.
Option 1 is prescribed for submission points without a due date.
Option 3 is strongly recommended for submission points with a due date. With option 3, both a plagiarism check and a collusion check are done after the due date, while with option 2 a plagiarism check is done before the due date and a collusion check after the due date. Option 2 can therefore provide a sense of 'false' security before the due date with regard to the plagiarism check carried out.
In the appendix you will find the pros and cons per option written out in Turnitin.
Scroll down until you see Similarity Report.
- Check the setting for generating reports:
- Option 1: Generate reports immediately = the prescribed option for assignments without a due date. Only one submission may be made. Then a similarity report is immediately generated, without a collusion check.
- Option 2: Generate reports immediately (students can resubmit until due date) = option for assignments with a due date. For an assignment with a due date, submissions may be made indefinitely, until the due date (unless a maximum of one submission has been set). A similarity report is generated with each submission. After the set due date, a collusion check is done.
- Option 3: Generate reports on due date (students can resubmit until due date) = option for assignments with a due date. For an assignment with a due date, submissions may be made indefinitely, until the due date (unless a maximum of one submission has been set). After the set due date, a similarity report is generated with a collusion check.
For both options 2 and 3: If you have set the assignment settings to allow only one submission, the student will not be able to resubmit in Turnitin.
- Decide what the submitted work should be compared against.
- Optional: If students fill out a template that includes a long assignment description or case, you can upload this document to exclude that text from the similarity check. See here for more information.
- Optional: Click Save these settings for future use to save your settings for future assignments.
- Before uploading a template, it is recommended to first check this option and then click Submit. This ensures that your template is not used in other assignments.
- If you have uploaded a template, do not check this option but simply click Submit.
Want to know more about the other options? Please read Tell me more on the More Options in Turnitin
What is collusion check? Turnitin More Options
When students submit their work, Turnitin will always compare it to internet resources or previously submitted work from other students from other assignments. Collusion check simply means, Turnitin will also check on plagiarism between the students' work in the current assignment.
Adjust the visibility and save
- Optional: Make sure the assignment is set to visible, otherwise your students will not be able to submit anything. You are of course able to change the visibility on a later time.
- Click Save and Close to return to your Assingments overview.
Share a Similarity Report
At Saxion, a similarity report is not shared with a student. The similarity report can only be shared with the student in question if plagiarism is suspected. This is always followed by a conversation between the examination committee and the student.
If you want to share a similarity report, you can download the report as a PDF and manually share it with the student. This can be done by opening the report and using the download symbol, as described in the guide to downloading a Similarity Report.
What files are supported by Turnitin?
The following file types are compatible with Turnitin:
- Microsoft Word (DOC, DOCX)
- Corel WordPerfect (WPD)
- Adobe Acrobat PDF
- HTML (HTM, HTML)
- Rich text (RTF)
- Plain text (TXT)
- Hangul Word Processor (HWP)
- PostScript (PS)
- Microsoft Excel (XLS, XLSX)
- Microsoft PowerPoint (PPTX, PPT, PPSX, PPS)
Appendix: Turnitin Options and Scenarios
The table below helps you determine which Turnitin option is most suitable for which assignment. We distinguish a scenario without a due date (corresponding to option 1 of Turnitin) and two scenarios with a due date (corresponding to options 2 and 3 of Turnitin).
