Turnitin

Turnitin support



Table of Contents

Turnitin informs about



Students

Contact your teacher or supervisor in the following issues:

  • features of the Turnitin submission inbox in your course
  • interpretation of the Turnitin originality check report.

Contact turnitin(at)aalto.fi in the following issues:

  • Technical problems in Turnitin submission inbox
  • A request of removing your paper from the Turnitin student papers repository. You need to provide the paper ID to be removed. It can not be removed until the assignment has been graded.
  • Suggestions to improve these instructions or usage of Turnitin in Aalto University.

Faculty

Contact MyTeaching Support for pedagogical and technical support:

  • Ask for a 1-3 hour Turnitin training
  • Request consulting for course development or thesis supervising with Turnitin
  • Report technical problems
  • Request a paper removal from the Turnitin student papers repository. You need to provide the paper ID to be removed.
  • Ask questions or suggest improvements to these instructions.

Available Turnitin and MyCourses trainings are listed here: https://www.aalto.fi/en/services/training-to-support-digital-teaching

Check also MyCourses instructions if needed.

If plagiarism is suspected, contact the investigator of your School (Head of Academic Affairs).

Turnitin provides newsletters about best practices, resources etc. You can sign up to Turnitin Newsletters and Communications mailing list.

Students - Frequently Asked Questions and Known issues

1.1. "Turnitin Error" notification when agreeing Turnitin User Agreement

  • When using Turnitin assignment inbox for the first time Turnitin asks you to agree the Turnitin User Agreement in a pop-up window. You might get "Turnitin error" notification when trying to agree the agreement. It can stem from your browser's settings. Enable pop-ups if they are disabled in your browser or add https://www.turnitin.com to the exceptions of the blocker. Some other settings might also produce Turnitin error. For example, check in Chrome settings that uBlock Origin or Ghostery are not on.

1.2. I don't manage to submit a paper without checking the consent box although the paper should not be saved in the repository.  I wonder, whether my paper is  saved in the Turnitin student papers repository (comparison database) or not?

  • Unfortunately, the check box function contains a feature: checking the consent box is always compulsory whether the paper is saved in the repository or not, because in the same sentence you also assure that the submission is your own work. As default, papers are not saved in the repository, but a teacher can change the settings of the submission inbox. If there is no information about this feature in the submission inbox, please, ask the teacher about it. 

1.3. "Exception - User not found" or "API Warning Error: 212" notification prevents paper submission.

E-mail the notification to the teacher. Teacher can fix the issue.

1.4. "The email address needs to conform to Internet Standard RFC822" notification prevents paper submission.

Students of Open university get this notification if they have not activated their email connected to their Aalto account. The problem is solved after a student activates his/her email in the service https://password.aalto.fi/ and logs into MyCourses again.

1.5. 1Why does file upload into MyCourses Turnitin submission inbox last so long (over 2 minutes)? It seems "frozen".

Allow third party cookies or add an exception for turnitin.com in your browser (in Safari, third party cookies are blocked by default)

1.6. "Error in uploading" prevents me submitting a file. What went wrong? 

Check that the file type is among the accepted ones: Check the accepted file types in Turnitin and other tips for solving the uploading error.

1.7. "There was an error trying to create the submission in Turnitin. Message: Your submission must contain 100 characters or more. | Code: 0"

There should not be more than one dot (the dot just before the file extension such as .pdf) in the file name

1.8. What if I do not give my consent to save my paper in the Turnitin student papers repository? How can I submit?

Contact your teacher or supervisor how to submit your paper. However , the teacher can check your paper with Turnitin Originality Check without saving it in the repository.

1.9. How long do I have to wait for the originality report of my paper?

  • Depending on the file size of your paper and the amount of submissions into the service, generating the report takes few minutes. If you resubmit your work it will take 24 hours to receive a new report.
  • You can also check twitter.com/turnitinstatus for temporary delays of breaks in the service.

1.10. The originality report does not appear in the browser window that was opened.

If you are using Firefox browser, open the Turnitin report by clicking the similarity percentage with right mouse click and choosing "Open link in new tab" or "Open link in new window".

1.11. My paper was saved in a repository and I want it removed.

You can send the paper ID (it is found in the submission box) and a request to remove the paper from the comparison database to  turnitin@aalto.fi

Faculty - Frequently Asked Questions and Known issues

IssueWhat kind of problems does it cause?How to deal with the issue?

1,1, The originality report does not appear in the browser window that was opened.

User waits something to happen but the browser window stays empty. This seems to happen with Firefox browser.

If you are using Firefox browser, open the Turnitin report by clicking the similarity percentage with right mouse click and choosing "Open link in new tab" or "Open link in new window" or try another browser.

1.2. Student's consent is required although submissions are not saved in Turnitin student papers repository (while submitting in MyCourses)

Students might find it confusing that they can not submit papers without checking the consent box even if submissions are not saved in the repository.

Papers are not saved in the repository by default. If teacher changes this setting, students should be informed in Summary.

1.3. students get the error notification "Exception - User not found" while submitting their papers into Turnitin submission box in MyCourses.

Some students can submit their papers fine, but some can not.

Teacher can enroll students manually in Submission Inbox > Enroll All Students.

1.4. A notification "API Warning Error: 212" appears when one tries to open a submission or when a student tries to submit.

Submitting or opening a submission is not possible. A connection between MyCourses and Turnitin does not work.

A teacher can click Enroll All Students button in the Submission inbox in order to refresh the connection between MyCourses and Turnitin. This action can last dozens of minutes, if there are plenty of students as workspace members.

1.5. An error notification "Duplicate copies of the same Turnitin assignments were found..." appears. This happens, when a Turnitin activity (or several) has been copied or imported to this workspace or this activity has been copied to another workspace. The copied Turnitin activity is still connected to the former workspace (or activity) in Turnitin's end of service.

The copies of the activity can not be used.

Note! There are 2 possible solutions: Create a new Turnitin activity (or several) or email a link of the course workspace to MyTeaching Support and ask to reset Turnitin activities.

1.6. Duplicate submissions are shown in the submission inbox and at least the other one has the status Pending. Duplicates appear after the originality report of the paper is generated, if Turnitin view of the submission is opened earlier while an originality report is still waited for the paper.

How to make the duplicate disappear.

Click the refresh icon for either submission row in the submission inbox. Note, that clicking the Refresh Submissions button at the top does not fix this.

1.7. Sorting submissions in the submission inbox at the MyCourses end does not sort the submissions at the Turnitin end of the service. Submissions at the Turnitin end are sorted out according to similarity percentages so that the biggest one is the first.

Assessing submissions according to alphabetical order of students' names or according to submission times is not supported in Turnitin GradeMark view.

Assess papers in GradeMark view following the order what it supports. Given grades are also seen at the MyCourses end in Submission Inbox and in Grades (automatic summary of assingments and their grades) where they are sorted according to alphabetical order of students' names.


Turnitin support news

If you wish to get news to your email, please, click Watch in the right upper corner.

DateNewsMore information
2020-01-14
"Thesis supervision in MyCourses with Turnitin" trainings during Spring 2020 are published in Workday
Welcome!
Training dates and enrolment in Workday > Search: Turnitin > Learning
2019-10-11
Issue concerning Turnitin.aalto.fi has reappeared
  • adding a new class in turnitin.aalto.fi is not possible
  • if a teacher logs in to turnitin.aalto.fi, the user account may drop from Aalto account of Turnitin. In that case the teacher can not add a Turnitin assignment in MyCourses either as it ends up getting an error notification. If this happens, a teacher has to contact turnitin@aalto.fi in order to get his/her user account restored.
Support requests: turnitin(at)aalto.fi
2019-08-22
Issue concerning turnitin.aalto.fi interface has been fixed
  • Since April -19 an issue has continued in turnitin.aalto.fi interface: new workspaces nor Turnitin activities could not be added. Fortunatelly, the issue has been finally fixed and the interface works normally again.

How to use turnitin.aalto.fi (for staff only)
2019-07-11
Thesis supervision in MyCourses with Turnitin trainings during Autumn 2019
  • 2 hour trainings on 27.9., 17.10. and 6.11
Trainings information and enrolment in aalto.fi event calendar
2019-03-28
Turnitin webinars in April 2019

2019-01-18 (originally 2018-10-23)
"Thesis supervision in MyCourses with Turnitin" trainings during Spring 2019
Description of the training
2018-07-05
"Thesis supervision in MyCourses with Turnitin" trainings during Autumn 2018

Thu 30.8.2018 at 9.15-11.30, enroll yourself on Tue 28.8. at the latest. Venue: Otakaari 1, U250a

Fri 12.10.2018 at 9.15-11.30, enroll yourself on Wed 10.10. at the latest. Venue: Otakaari 1, U121a

Enrolment for trainings in Autumn 2018
2018-01-18
"Thesis supervision in MyCourses with help of Turnitin" trainings during spring 2018

Trainings on 5.2., 5.3. and 9.3.2018 at Otaniemi campus are listed and their descriptions are available in Inside Staff training calendar: https://inside.aalto.fi/display/CurrentAffairs/Staff+training#

Trainings can also be ordered for a certain group of staff members, please contact:  turnitin@aalto.fi

Enrollment for trainings in spring 2018
2017-08-07
"Thesis supervision in MyCourses with help of Turnitin" 3 hour trainings during autumn 2017

Trainings Tue August 30th at 12.00-15, Mon September 4th at 12.00-15, Mon September 18th at 9.00-12, Mon November 27th at 9.00-12 are listed and their descriptions are available in Inside Staff training calendar: https://inside.aalto.fi/display/CurrentAffairs/Staff+training#

 

Enrollment for trainings during autumn 2017
2017-04-06
Viewing a match of a student paper as a teacher


Viewing a student's paper as a source of a match in an similarity (originality) report has been possible for a teacher only if the paper had been submitted in some of her own courses. A teacher have had a possibility to send a request to view the paper. The request is sent automatically to the teacher (or teachers) of the workspace where the student paper has been submitted.

From March 28th the practise has been changed: viewing student paper matches inside Aalto University are allowed without sending a viewing request. Teacher may still get viewing requests from teachers outside Aalto University if matches are found compared to student papers submitted in Aalto University.


turnitin@aalto.fi

2016-06-15
New Turnitin versions

A new version of a Turnitin assignment is available in MyCourses after MyCourses version release on June 14th 2016. Turnitin activities that were added before the release remain as they were, only their activity type is seen as "Turnitin assignment (V1)". Also a new view, called Feedback Studio, is available at Turnitin end by clicking a link. A user can switch back to the classic Turnitin view  at any moment. Respectively, you can switch back to Feedback Studio where originality check and assessment tools are seen in the same view instead of separate tabs. Aalto University Turnitin instructions will be updated by the beginning of the academic year 2016-17.

Service requests or issues concerning new Turnitin versions, please contact turnitin@aalto.fi.

See a demo video of Feedback Studio.

Note: Turnitin Assignment 2 includes tools for peer assessing, but they are not available in MyCourses until further notice because of perceived bugs.

2016-02-17
A report of Turnitin pilot in ELEC bacherlor's thesis seminar during autumn 2015

is available on Turnitin implementation project wiki (in Finnish).

ELEC kandipilotin 2015 raportti   ( Aalto login required)
2015-09-14

Turnitin scheduled system maintenance September 19, 2015 from 5-9 p.m. (Finnish time)

Turnitin services will be mostly unavailable globally during a scheduled maintenance period on Saturday, September 19, 2015 from 5-9 p.m. (Finnish time). Teachers should take this into account when setting due dates and assessing submissions.


2015-08-18
Copying / importing a Turnitin assignment -activity causes an issue that can be fixed

Courses for the academic year 2015-2016 are being prepared in MyCourses. Many workspaces

in Moodle are imported to MyCourses Sandbox or workspaces in MyCourses Sandbox are imported to the final course workspaces.

Importing a Turnitin assignment activity causes an issue, that fortunately can be fixed. The case has been described in Turnitin support >  Faculty Frequently Asked Questions and Known issues

Duplicate of the same Turnitin assignment and the solution