Create a Turnitin Submission Box in MyCourses
Add a Turnitin Assignment activity
Log in to mycourses.aalto.fi and go to your course workspace.
Add a Turnitin Assignment as follows (see the same steps numbered 1-10 in screenshots below) :
- Click Turn editing on and Add an activity (Note: do not add Turnitin assignment activity by copying an existing activity. More information about "Duplicate copies..." notification)
- Choose T urnitin Assignment from the list, and Add it.
- Add a name and a summary and click Save and display in the bottom of the page.
- Edit dates by clicking the pencil icon.
- Start date = Submission box is availabe for students.
- Due date = Submission box is closed.
- From the Post date on students can see feedback and grades given by the teacher.
- To set a grade scale or change the default settings, click Update this Turnitin Assignment. It is recommended, that you inform students about the chosen settings in Summary.
Please read also the chapter "Arrange students a possibility to practice" after screenshots.
Picture series. Creating a Turnitin submission box
File types for Turnitin similarity check
File types that are that are accepted for Turnitin similarity check are listed in students' instructions.
Turnitin Assignment settings explained
Note! If you change default settings, inform students about chosen settings in the Turnitin Assignment Summary.
The following settings are spesific for a Turnitin assignment. There are also settings under titles Grade, Common Module Settings and Restrict Access that are common for all Moodle activities. Remember to set the "Grade" (the default value is "100" which means the grading scale 1-100).
| Settings of Turnitin Assignment | Default value | Some cases when settings need editing (chosen value bolded) |
|---|---|---|
| Submission Type | File upload | Text submission: if a file type is not accepted by Turnitin, plain texts can be copied into the editing box (online text) |
| Any Submission Type, if both files and online texts are allowed | ||
| Number of Parts | 1 part | 2 or 3 Parts: if file size can is bigger than 40 MB, it has to be splitted into two or more files. 2 parts: the first part for a draft and another part for a final version of an assignment |
| Student similarity reports | Yes | |
| Allow Late Submissions | No | Yes, if the due date is only a recommendation but not strict |
| Report Generation Speed | Generate reports immediately, reports can be overwritten until due date | Generate reports on due date, resubmissions are allowed until due date for the final version, if there has been another submission box for drafts. |
| Store Student Papers | No Repository | Standard Repository (= global repository), if submitted papers should be compared against each other and protected against plagiarism globally. Standard Repository is recommended instead of Institutional Repository. After Due Date submissions are compared to each other and all similarity check reports are updated if they were formed right after submitting. |
| Institutional Repository (= Aalto repository), if submitted papers should be compared against each other and protected against plagiarism inside Aalto University. After Due Date submissions are compared to each other and all similarity check reports are updated if they were formed right after submitting. | ||
| Check against stored student papers | Yes | |
| Check against stored internet | Yes | No, if papers submitted are compared only against each other |
| Check against journals, periodicals and publications | Yes | No, if papers submitted are compared only against each other |
| Exclude Bibliography | No** | Yes, if the following three conditions are valid at the same time: a big file size (= it would take too long time to change this setting while viewing the similarity report), a bibliography will result a significant part of overall similarity percentage, you want to see the percentage concerning only the rest of the paper |
| Exclude Quoted Material | No** | |
| Exclude Small Matches | No** | Yes, if you know from experience that typical phrases or definitions of the field cause "useless" matches in the similarity check report. For example, matches up to 3 words are excluded or matches under 1% of the paper are excluded. |
** These settings can be changed also on the fly while viewing the similarity report.
Arrange students a possibility to practice
There are alternative ways to arrange students a possibility to practice similarity check before the final submission (which is graded).
1) Create only one Turnitin assignment acitivity with default settings.
Only one due date for an assignment can be set, but a student can submit a draft well before the due date. A student sees the similarity report, interprets it, edits the draft if needed and resubmits a final version before the due date. The latter version overwrites the earlier version and its similarity report. Students can consult the teacher in interpreting the report if needed. Remember to write about this possibility in Summary of the submission box. A disadvantage in this way is that if a teacher gives feedback on a draft version, it is overwritten when student submits another version.
2) Create only one Turnitin assignment activity with altered settings.
Choose "Number of Parts = 2" in the settings. The first part is for a draft and the other one for the final version. Separate due dates can be set for each part. Teacher can give feedback about drafts and possible issues found in the similarity report.
If papers need to be compared against each other, choose the setting "Store student papers = Standard repository". A student's draft (saved in the part 1) is not compared against his/her final version (saved in the part 2).
3) Create two Turnitin assignment activities, one with default settings and the other one with altered settings.
Separate due dates for a draft and a final version can be set. Teacher can give feedback about drafts and possible issues found in the similarity report.
If papers need to be compared against each other, choose this feature only for final versions (choose the setting "Store student papers = Standard repository"). A disadvantage in this way is that possible issues between papers in the same inbox comes out only in final versions.
See pedagogical tips for supporting writing of an assignment by dividing it to subtasks