Overview

Turnitin is UCL's academic writing and plagiarism prevention tool. It can receive student submissions and match their work up against other sources, such as past papers, journals, websites, some books and other related academic sources. Upon submission it provides a similarity index, which helps to show if the paper is closely matching other sources. It does not detect plagiarism, nor does a high or low index give an indication of good or bad work.
Instead it is a tool for academic writing, especially when students can view their Originality Reports. Turnitin is integrated directly your Moodle course.
More info about Turnitin

Adding a Turnitin assignment to your Moodle course works in much the same was as adding a quiz, standard assignment or any other Moodle activity. Tutors on your Moodle course can set up and mark assignments, students on your Moodle course may submit work.

Enter the Moodle course in which the assignment is due to be submitted. If you would like to use a new Moodle course for this purpose, please contact ELE using the links given on the left of the Moodle homepage.
Click Turn Editing On in the top, right corner of the page.
From the Add an activity or resource drop down menu choose* Assignment (Turnitin).*

Work through these settings, considering each in turn and identifying what would be appropriate for your assignment. Guidance on each setting that you might need to change is shown below. The 'Maximum File Size' option doesn't needs to be changed.

Turnitin Assignment Name	You have to give your assignment a name. Choose something that will be easy for students to recognise. This is the text of the link in the Moodle course.
Summary	The summary is shown to students when they click on the assignment. Include details of topic, format and submission deadline. Include any important details to reduce ambiuity. You might also like to link to a coversheet in the form of a Word (or other editable) document.
Submission Type	You can choose whether students copy and paste text into a box or upload a file (e.g. a Microsoft Word document). Most common option: File Upload
Number of Parts	Your assignment can have several parts (e.g. the group work part and an individual reflection, or data and subsequent analysis). Select a number higher than 1 if you wish your students to be able to submit several documents for this assignment. Most common option: 1
Maximum File Size	By default, this is set to 20MB. This is the upper limit for Turnitin submissions. Most common option: 20MB
Anonymous Marking	You can choose if student names are anonymous to tutors during the submission and marking process. Most common option: depends on departmental policy - we haveseparate guidance on planning and setting up anonymous marking in line with UCL's marking policy. PLEASE NOTE - de-anonymising is a one way process. Anonymous submissions can be de-anonymised, un-anonymous submissions can't be made anonymous.
Student Originality Space	You can choose if students are allowed to see their Turnitin originality reports. Improve students' academic writing by allowing them to see their Originality Reports and reflect on their work. Most common option: Yes
Allow Late Submissions	You can choose whether you wish to allow students to submit after the due date. The submission will be marked as 'Late'. Most common option: Yes
Report Generation Speed	You can choose when reports are generated and if students can have multiple attempts to submit. Turnitin will require them to wait 24 hours between viewing second and subsequent reports. Most common option: Generate reports immediately, reports can be overwritten until due date
Store Student Papers	You can choose whether student papers are stored in the Turnitin database for comparison against future years. Choose 'No Repository' for particularly confidential or sensitive student work, or where you are testing the system. Most common option: Standard Repository
	You can choose which sources Turnitin will use to identify matches in student work. Most common options: Yes to all three
	You can choose to exclude the bibliography, quoted materials and small matches. Most common options: Yes, yes and (left blank).
Grade	If you are using Turnitin in Moodle to return grades to students, this sets the maximum grade obtainable. The grade is numeric. Most common option: 100

5. Click Save and return to course
6. Click on your new Turnitin assignment. You will see information about this assignment. Click on the pencil icon as shown:

7. You can now change your assignment part name(s), the Start, Due and Post dates (details of these below) and the maximum number of marks. Click on the tick to confirm your changes. The set up of your assignment is now complete.

Assignment Part	You can change the default name (Part #) to describe each file that needs to be submitted.
Start Date	The start date is the first date that students can submit their assignment
Due Date	The due date is when the submission need to be made by. If you have enabled late submissions any late submission will appear in red.
Post Date	The post date is the date that marks and feedback are returned to students. If you are using anonymous marking, then names are revealed to tutors at this point. Two things to keep in mind about the Post Date: one is that it can be changed (as long as it hasn't already passed) and the other is that you don't want to reveal marks and feedback until the entire cohort has been marked. So if you are not certain then we recommend setting it to a year in advance until you have a firm date - then you can return to Turnitin and apply it by editing the Post Date.
Max Marks	If you only have 1 part this will usually be 100. You can assign different weights to different parts (if using more than 1).

Once you have created your assignment, you may see the small duplicate icon alongside your assignment. This duplicate function normally works well for other activities and resources in Moodle, however, you should never duplicate a Turnitin assignment once there has been a submission to the assignment. This will create a shared submission inbox which means your submissions will become mixed. If your turnitin Assignment has NO submissions to it, then it is safe to use the duplicate icon.

When using Turnitin assignments with anonymous marking enabled it is important that the post-date is not changed once submissions are made. If it is moved either forward or backwards then the assignment inbox will be un-anonymised and all names revealed. This is a deliberate design feature by Turnitin and they state, 'Anonymity cannot be restored at all once the post date has been moved either forwards or backwards once submissions have been made. (In effect, it comes down to the adage 'what has been seen cannot be unseen', unfortunately).' Please be aware of this when setting up your assignments. We advise setting post dates to next year to allow plenty of time for marking, if required they can be moved backwards when you are ready to reveal the identities of students. Anonymity cannot be restored at all once the post date has been moved either forwards or backwards once submissions have been made. (In effect, it comes down to the adage 'what has been seen cannot be unseen', unfortunately).