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Best Practices for Using
Turnitin
[Compiled by Star Muir, with the assistance of the English Department faculty, and online resources].
Create Engaging Assignments
The best way to prevent plagiarism is to create assignments that engage students step by step in the researching and writing process. Used effectively, Turnitin will complement other teaching strategies and will also provide learning experiences about proper source attribution.
Use Multiple Strategies for Reducing or Preventing Plagiarism
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Use new topics each semester, consider using only very recent topics.
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Get a writing sample within the first week of class for future comparison.
Time permitting, require papers to be completed in stages; perhaps a thesis first, then an outline, then a draft, then a final version.
Place source or material constraints to reduce internet temptation: require a specific source, or an annotated bibliography (possibly due before the paper), or even copies of the first page of all references.
Communication
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Provide prior notice of intent to use to students in your syllabus. Experience at other institutions and common sense indicate that prior notice is an important part of maintaining trust in the classroom as well as an essential pre-requisite for deterring plagiar
January 28, 2008
ar the reference to the Honor Code: The instructor reserves the right to use Turnitin, a plagiarism-detection service.
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Use some class time to review assignment expectations and proper citation style, particularly for assignments being turned in through Turnitin.
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Provide clear and useful online resources for reinforcing expectations for source attribution and use of quotations.
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Emphasize the value of doing your own work and proper source attribution.
Maximizing Learning Experiences
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Allow students to view scores, either once or multiple times. Instructors have the option to prevent students from seeing Originality Reports, to allow students to see the report but only after a final submission, or to allow students to submit multiple times and then only have the last Originality Report available. To set up your course to allow students to view their own Originality Reports: 1) Once logged in, create a new class and set the bottom drop-down box for “Let students view their own Originality Report” to “Yes”; 2. Creating an assignment, set the drop down box at the bottom for “Show advanced assignment options” to “Yes” (wait for the refresh); 3. Use the drop down box for “Generate Originality Reports for student submissions” to allow single or multiple submissions.
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Consider using consultation time to review originality reports with students individually.
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Use online tutorials or supplemental books to enhance student understanding.
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Maximize Clear Decision-Making
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High matching scores don’t necessarily mean plagiarism. By default, Turnitin’s Originality Reports include all matching materials, even if quoted or in the bibliography. Select the links at the top of the originality report to recalculate the report: Exclude Quoted, or Exclude Bibliography.
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Exclude specific web sites if appropriate. If a student paper is legitimately listed on a web site, that URL can be excluded from the Report by clicking the gray X to the right of the source.
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Computers can track 1s and 0s, but don’t have judgment. While Turnitin can help make direct comparisons to matching material, only faculty can make a determination of plagiarism.
Make Choices About Turnitin Options
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The Instructor’s Manual (not the Quick Start Guide), available at
http://www.turnitin.com/static/pdf/
Instructor_guide_
v10.pdf,
has information about a variety of options which may be of interest or use to faculty.
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Single paper submission vs. student online submission. Instructors can create a class and assignment and then submit selectively themselves or require every student to submit online. For batch paper upload, see Ch. 1, 13-15.
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Student self-enrollment vs. Instructor batch-enrollment. Give students a Class ID and Account Join Password for self-enrollment, see Ch. 1, 11-12.
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Student paper database vs. Comparison to internet and external databases only. Under advanced options on assignment creation, faculty may exclude submission and comparison to the Turnitin student paper database.
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Master Class (with subsections) vs. Single course section, see Ch. 10.
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