Using the Turnitin Plagiarism Plugin

The Turnitin plagiarism plugin can be enabled within Moodle assignments to check student submissions for text similarity against a wide range of sources, including published works, web content, and previously submitted papers.

When the plugin is activated, submissions are processed through Turnitin and a Similarity Report is generated. This report highlights matched text and provides a similarity score, which can help tutors identify potential instances of poor academic practice or plagiarism.

The plugin includes a range of configurable settings that control how and when reports are generated, whether submissions are added to the Turnitin repository, what sources are checked, and whether students can view their reports. Understanding these settings is important to ensure the tool is used appropriately and in line with institutional policy.

The guidance below explains how to manage the Turnitin plugin within Moodle assignments and how to interpret and configure its available options.

Create your assignment in Moodle as usual. For detailed guidance, see: Creating a Moodle assignmentPreview.

1. Open the assignment and go to Settings.

2. Scroll to the Turnitin section.

3. Set Enable Turnitin to Yes.

4. Store student papers - You will need to choose a repository option:

   • Standard Repository
     Student submissions are stored in Turnitin. Papers will be checked against:

     • other submissions within the same assignment

     • Turnitin’s existing database

     • other published sources

   • No repository (required for draft assignments)
     Submissions are not stored in Turnitin. They will still be checked against external sources, but not against other students’ submissions within the assignment.

You can allow students to generate a Similarity Report on a draft submission before they make their final submission.

This can be done either within the same assignment or by creating a separate draft assignment. If using a separate draft assignment, set the Turnitin option to No Repository. Provide guidance to help students understand and interpret their Similarity Report.

For final submission points, ensure the Turnitin setting is ‘Standard Repository’.

• Mark within Moodle
  All grading should be completed using the Moodle assignment grading interface. We do not recommend marking in Turnitin Feedback Studio, as this can cause confusion for students about where to find their marks and feedback.

• Use Moodle rubrics
  If you are using a rubric, select the Moodle rubric, not the Turnitin rubric. Turnitin rubrics should only be used with a Turnitin Assignment (not a Moodle assignment with the Turnitin plugin enabled).

• Similarity Report percentages
  The percentage match shown in the Similarity Report is not an indicator of plagiarism. It highlights matched text only and must be interpreted in context.

• Word count differences
  The word count shown in Turnitin may differ from:

  • the original word-processed document

  • a PDF exported from that document

• Quotation marks
  Turnitin recognises quotations enclosed in double quotation marks only. It does not recognise single quotation marks (inverted commas) in the same way, which may result in a higher percentage match.

• Peer marking
  If you require peer assessment, we recommend using the Moodle Workshop activity. Avoid using Turnitin PeerMark, as it has known outstanding issues and is no longer being actively developed.

• Student notification
  Depending on the student's Notification preferences, the students should receive an email from Moodle confirming that they have submitted successfully. They will also receive an email from Turnitin which confirms the submission and provides a digital receipt. 

• Warning message when uploading a large file
  If the file is larger than 100 MB, Turnitin cannot generate a similarity report due to its size restriction. Moodle will still accept the submission, but Turnitin will display a warning and no report will be produced.