TurnItIn

TurnItIn is a tool to help students maintain academic integrity. The software detects possible instances of plagiarism, defined as presenting as one’s own the words or ideas of another person. Instructors and students may use the TurnItIn software through the Blackboard course management system or through the company's website.

TurnItIn accepts documents in these formats: MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, Rich Text Format, PostScript, and PDF.

TurnItIn will work best with the following browsers: Firefox 2 and above, Internet Explorer 7 and above, Safari 2 and above. The TurnItIn help desk no longer provides technical support for earlier versions of Internet Explorer.

NNU Academic Integrity Policy
Log in to TurnItIn.com
Support for Students
TurnItIn Help Center

Note: You will need a PDF viewer such as Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the tip sheets and Macromedia Flash Player to view the video tutorials on this page.

TurnItIn Support for Instructors

First, view this overview presentation (.ppt) to familiarize yourself with the basic premise of how TurnItIn works. Then, choose your desired how-to resources depending on how you wish to use the software -- via Blackboard or via the TurnItIn website.

Note: NNU has licensed only TurnItIn's Plagiarism Prevention tool. In the training materials, you may see references to other features such as GradeMark, Peer Review, or WriteCycle, but only the Plagiarism Prevention and GradeBook tools are available with our license.

New Features

Instructors may choose an option to exclude quoted and/or bibliographic material from the Originality Reports for an entire assignment.

Instructors may tell TurnItIn to ignore small content matches (such as matches of fewer than 5 words or lower than 5 percent).

Visit the TurnItIn website for details on these and other new features.

Using the Software Via Blackboard

Instructors may create TurnItIn Assignments that are similar to Blackboard's trackable Assignments. These also allow the instructor to give personalized feedback. No special account set-up is necessary due to the integration between TurnItIn and NNU's Blackboard system.

Creating a TurnItIn Assignment within Blackboard (video)
Viewing Originality Reports within Blackboard (video)
TurnItIn and Blackboard Manual for Instructors (PDF)

Using the Software Via the TurnItIn Website

Students may check their own papers before submitting them in class. The instructor must first create a Class area on the site, then give a password to students.
Instructors may set up Assignments that students must specifically complete using the software. The instructor first sets up the Class area, then creates Assignment areas within it. Again, students receive a password to access this area.
Instructors may check one suspicious paper at a time, using the QuickSubmit feature.

Guides
Instructor QuickStart (PDF)
Instructor Full Manual (PDF)

Narrated Tutorials
Logging In, Setting Up Classes, & Creating Assignments (11 mins.)
Viewing and Interpreting Originality Reports (5.5 mins.)
Using TurnItIn Management Tools (2 mins.)

Silent Tutorials
Creating an Instructor User Profile (3 mins.)
Setting Up a Class (1 min.)
Creating a Student List (3.5 mins.)
Submitting Papers for Your Students (.5 min.)
Viewing an Originality Report (7 mins.)

Illustrated Tips
Creating an Assignment
Handling "100% Match" Results
Analyzing One or Two Papers

Getting Started via TurnItIn.com (not through Blackboard)
Faculty and adjuncts desiring to use the plagiarism-detection software through TurnItIn.com may request a TurnItIn account by contacting the Technical Response Center (208-467-8111). Once the request has been properly routed, you will receive an e-mail from the TurnItIn help desk containing a temporary password. Go to TurnItIn.com and login with your NNU e-mail address and the temporary password. Be sure to update your user profile with a password you can remember.

Instructor Training

Training is available in four ways:

Learning Opportunities - Face-to-face workshops usually held at the beginning of a semester. RSVPs appreciated to elearning(at)nnu.edu or 208-467-8782.

Wednesday, August 26 - Noon to 1 p.m. in Helstrom 205
Thursday, August 27 - 9 to 10 a.m. in Emerson Lab

Online demo - TurnItIn offers free 45-minute webinars each weekday; visit the TII training page for details.

Self-paced tutorials - Resources related to understanding basic copyright issues, encouraging academic integrity and using the TurnItIn software are available online in the E-Learning Resource Center located on Blackboard.

Consultation - Crystal Nielsen, Instructional Technologist for E-Learning, is available to provide one-on-one assistance (elearning(at)nnu.edu or 208-467-8782).