Turnitin Suite Support: OriginalityCheck, Grademark, PeerMark
To read more about the Turnitin Suite, including how it is being used, please visit the Turnitin Suite page under the Technologies for Learning area of our website.
Getting Started
The recommended way to use any of the tools in the Turnitin Suite is to set up an assignment within an existing ULearn section. CEAD provide advice and support materials about how it can be used in this way.
The workshop Detecting and deterring plagiarism with Turnitin and ULearn (EL09) explores the significant potential benefits of using the Turnitin Suite and particularly OriginalityCheck. These range from deterring and investigating plagiarism, through to supporting the development of academic practice. It will help you to understand more about the information that OriginalityCheck provides access to and to consider a range of practical applications. Also there is the chance to consider opportunities and issues associated with online submission and feedback more generally and the combination of tools within the Turnitin Suite.
Upcoming workshops are shown on our Technology-related workshop page
Support Materials
The following guide, produced by CEAD, includes background information and guidance about setting up a Turnitin assignment, managing submissions and viewing and interpreting originality reports.
Using_Turnitin_within_ULearn (824.18KB - Requires Adobe Reader)CEAD can also provide consultancy, tailored guidance and support if you are considering using GradeMark or PeerMark. These tools offer great potential and we can support you to consider how to best apply them within your particular context. Please contact us at e-learning@surrey.ac.uk
The following resources may help you to consider their potential applications:
An introductory video about using GradeMark is available on the Turnitin website
A blog kept by Cath Ellis, Principal Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Huddersfield, includes a number of useful posts and tips about using GradeMark.
An introductory video about using PeerMark is available on the Turnitin website
Resources and support for students
All students are enrolled in a ULearn module called ‘Plagiarism and Referencing – A guide for students’. This includes useful information, activities and guidance on referencing and academic writing. This also has a Turnitin assignment submission facility that you can use confidentially to help you develop your practice in correctly using and referencing sources etc.
The University of Surrey skills portal is a regularly updated source of information about referencing, good practice and many other academic skills.
The Library & Learning Support website contains a lot of useful information
General information about Academic Integrity & Plagiarism
guidelines about referencing for each department on the My Subject pages
SPLASH runs workshops explaining how you can use Turnitin to help you to develop your understanding of plagiarism (and how to avoid it).
You can contact the Academic Liaison Librarian for your subject for further help.
Frequently Asked Questions
Click on a question below to reveal the answer.
- What types of file will Turnitin accept?
Turnitin will accept most common word-processing formats such as documents in Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, PostScript, PDF, HTML, RTF and plain text. There is currently a maximum length of 400 pages. Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel documents, and most formats used for computer programming languages are not accepted.
The maximum file size is currently 20MB. If a student’s work is this file size it is likely that they have included high resolution images. Usually images can be compressed to a great extent whilst still maintaining acceptable quality. A simple method is to convert the document to a PDF (Portable Document Format) and the images will be compressed in the process. It is also possible to submit text by choosing to upload by ‘copy and paste’ which can help to resolve these issues.
- How can you find the exact time of a submission in Turnitin?
Open the paper or the report in the document viewer. Click the information icon in the left corner at the bottom of the report. Details about the paper are revealed including the date and time of submission. Also from the assignment inbox you can export a report to Microsoft Excel, which displays the specific times that all submissions were processed by the system.
- Can I use special symbols and graphs in my feedback?
You can enter mathematical equations such as \int f dr = r_{-1} in Grademark, but only as long as they are text-based. At this time, it is not possible to enter mathematical symbols or graphs in the feedback comments in GradeMark.
- Do Turnitin and GradeMark support anonymous marking?
Yes, anonymous marking is an option which can be selected during the set up of a Turnitin assignment. This allows instructors to grade papers without knowing the name of the authors. However, this option only works fully if you use using Grademark to mark work completely online. If selected, the authors’ names will be replaced by a button “Anonymous marking Enabled” in the assignment inbox, document viewer, originality report, paper view and the GradeMark report. Also you will not be able to download the original student submissions until after the ‘post date’ you have set, at which point the students’ identities become visible in the system. After the first paper has been submitted to an assignment the anonymous marking setting will be locked and cannot be altered at the overall level.
- How can I find the name of the author of a particular paper if anonymous marking has been selected?
Click on the “Anonymous Marking Enabled” button for the corresponding paper. This will open a dialog box in which you can enter an explanation as to why you need to disable anonymous marking for the paper. The name of the author will be revealed and your explanation will be sent to the anonymous marking tracking list in the institution’s Turnitin administrator’s account.
- How does re-using a section affect existing Turnitin assignments?
When reusing a section containing Turnitin assignments, the existing Turnitin assignments will not be correctly cleared and made available for a new cohort. Therefore, it is recommended you delete any Turnitin assignments that have been carried over and create new ones.
- My colleagues and I team-teach a module. Can we all mark work in GradeMark?
Anyone who is enrolled as a section instructor on the ULearn section in which the assignment is set up can mark work submitted to the assignment inbox in that section. Being able to share common rubrics and Quickmarks sets can also facilitate joint marking.
- How can I give the external examiner access to the students’ work in GradeMark?
If you are using GradeMark/Turnitin through ULearn, and want to provide an external examiner with access to the assignments, you can do this by giving him or her access to the ULearn module. The module owner/co-ordinator needs to submit the ULearn External Examiner access form and follow the instructions.
- Why have I received an e-mail with the subject ‘TurnitinUK Paper Request’?
This will usually be a request generated by the Turnitin system on behalf of a tutor in another institution. Usually this will be because one of your students’ papers has shown up as a match for one of the sender’s students’ papers. If the sender wishes to view the source (i.e. your student’s paper), the system generates an e-mail titled ‘TurnitinUK Paper Request.’
Before sharing your student’s paper, check if there is anything in the paper requested that is confidential and cannot be viewed by another party. The text of the paper will be in the e-mail that you receive. If there is anything confidential you can remove it (if this isn’t feasible you don’t have to comply with the request). To comply, remove the name of the person who submitted the paper, and then simply follow the instructions in the e-mail by copying the whole e-mail and sending it to the given address.
Further Support
If you are currently using or considering using the Turnitin Suite in your teaching CEAD can provide a range of support, consultancy and resources to aid you. Please contact us at e-learning@surrey.ac.uk.
Guidance information and resources about plagiarism, academic integrity and academic writing can be found in the ULearn module ‘Plagiarism and Referencing – A guide for students’. All students at the University, and staff who are active on ULearn are enrolled on this module, which includes :
Definitions of plagiarism, strategies for avoiding it and guidance about good practice and referencing
A submission area which students can use confidentially to submit work to Turnitin and view their report (they can only submit one piece of work at a time and there is an enforced 24 hour time delay between submissions).
Details of further help and guidance including support and resources that SPLASH and Library and Learning Support offer for academic writing
A range of tutorials and videos about using Turnitin are available from https://turnitin.com/static/training/instructor.php
For issues or problems related directly to using Turnitin there is a useful helpdesk accessible from within the system and via http://www.submit.ac.uk/help/helpdesk.asp
For help on designing assessment to reduce incidents of plagiarism or other forms of cheating, please contact CEAD. A useful quick guide on Designing out Plagiarism is available on the CEAD website.
Plagiarismadvice.org is a national service which offers support and guidance on using Turnitin as well as on plagiarism related issues and topics more widely. A range of resources including videos, fact sheets, papers and case studies can be found at http://www.plagiarismadvice.org
For information about using Turnitin directly, without using ULearn, please consult the Assessment and Awards Office web site or contact Sarah Pendred in Registry.
For information about University of Surrey policies and procedures please contact the Assessment and Awards Office, the General Regulations within the University Calendar or your Academic Integrity Officer.
