General Guidelines: What is Turnitin?
Turnitin is a web-based text-matching software system which can assist in determining plagiarism and which can be used to teach students how to properly acknowledge quotations.
Turnitin provides a report on any text matches. Turnitin does not interpret the report nor dictate action in response to the report, nor does access to the software, in itself, imply any requirement to act on the report. Those questions remain properly the responsibility of the University's academic processes.
Using Turnitin is part of La Trobe University’s educational approach to minimise plagiarism and highest standards of academic honesty in assessable work.
Turnitin is now linked, via a PowerLink, tp the University’s Learning Management System (LMS) (Blackboard CE, formerly WebCT). This gives staff and students access to Turnitin via the LMS.
NOTE: If you are accessing Turnitin via the LMS, there is no longer the requirement for staff to set up a ‘Class’ or receive a ‘Class ID’. Students are no longer required to submit to the Turnitin website using additional authentication credentials. These requisites are processed automatically via the LMS.
See also www.latrobe.edu.au/text-match.
Recommendations for Use
La Trobe University recommends that Turnitin is used as an educative tool which students can use to check their work for correct referencing. Staff can also use Turnitin to check student work for the purposes of plagiarism.
La Trobe University recommends that students submit their writing to Turnitin as drafts for revision. After revising their writing, students can submit their final text for assessment to the LMS Assignment Dropbox.
It is suggested that staff set up a ‘Revision’ for students for each assignment and then advise students they can preview their work in ‘Revision mode’. This way students can review their work and revise it. Revision assignments are not stored in the database.
This process supports the development of academic writing by encouraging students to:
- read and check their work before submission
- self-correct their work
- find out about referencing conventions
- prepare work well in advance of final submission dates.
Students must be advised that staff can also use Turnitin to check student work for plagiarism.
Staff and students can seek advice from Language and Academic Skills (LAS) Advisers in their Faculties about how to properly use citations in assignments.
Staff should take any suspected plagiarism to their Head of School or proxy. Any action on plagiarism must be aligned with the Academic Misconduct Policy.
Staff and students can seek advice from Language and Academic Skills advisers in their Faculty about how to properly use citations in assignments.
Important Information
Student assignments submitted to the Turnitin Assignment Inbox (not Revision) are stored in a Turnitin document repository. This document repository is physically located in the United States of America.
La Trobe University is bound by a regulatory requirement to retain students’ completed examination papers and essays. This material must be retained at La Trobe University for a minimum of one year after all administrative use has concluded.
This means that you cannot use only the Turnitin document repository to store students’ assignment submissions. All final assignment submissions should either be made directly to the LMS Assignment Dropbox or should be downloaded from Turnitin.