how to submit an essay through turnitin

Technology Enhanced Learning and Design

for the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health

Turnitin: A student guide to submitting an assignment

Reviewed: 11/07/2022

What is Turnitin?

Turnitin is software that is used by the University to help to identify plagiarised work. It allows you to submit your work via your Blackboard course, where an originality report may be generated. This report will highlight text in your submission that matches text from one or more of the following sources:

• other students’ work at the University of Manchester
• students’ work at other institutions
• academic publications
• Internet sources.

These reports are examined as a standard part of the assessment process. When your work is submitted to Turnitin, it will normally be added to an international database of student papers. Your name will not be attached to your paper. Other students’ work will then be compared to your work from that point onwards. If your submission is confidential, your tutor can make sure that it is not added to the database.

File types and sizes

Please note: the file size must be less than 100MB, it must have a minimum of 20 words, be less than 400 pages, and the standard file types allowed are:

• Microsoft Word (.doc/.docx)
• OpenOffice Text (.odt)
• WordPerfect (.wpd)
• PostScript (.ps/.eps)
• Hangul Word Processor (.hwp)
• Rich Text (.rtf)
• Plain text (.txt)
• Google Docs via Google Drive
• Microsoft PowerPoint (.pptx/.ppt/.ppsx/.pps)
• Microsoft Excel (.xls/.xlsx).

Further information on plagiarism

Further information on plagiarism is available from:

• ‘Guidance to Students on plagiarism and other forms of academic malpractice’
• ‘Academic Malpractice – Guidance on the Handling of Cases’

How to submit an assignment

Stage 1: access the assignment submission link.

• Log into your Blackboard course. The assignment submission link will usually be located in the ‘ Assessments ’ area on the left-hand menu.
• Click the link to upload your assignment . You must read and follow any instructions given by your course leader.

• To submit your assignment, click the ‘ Upload Submission ’ button.
• Clicking the question mark  icon will display any extra information provided by your tutor, including feedback release date and assessment criteria (if an assignment rubric has been attached).

Stage 2: Upload your document

• Next, you need to enter a ‘Submission Title’. You must check any instructions given by your tutor. In many schools in the University, it is essential that you enter your 7-digit ID number in the submission title box and that you remove any references to your name in the submission document itself. This is to comply with anonymous marking regulations. Do not use quotation marks in the submission title as this can cause errors. It is also important that you remove any reference to your name from the submission document itself.
• Select ‘Choose file’ and locate the file you wish to upload.
• (Optional) This allows you to upload a cloud submission, e.g. Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox document. 

Stage 3: Review your document

This stage allows you to check you have uploaded the correct document. You can ‘ Preview ’, ‘ Cancel Submission ’ or continue to ‘ Submit to Turnitin ‘ .

Stage 4: Complete the submission

Upon submission, you will see this screen:

a) You will see a confirmation that your submission was successful. (If this is not the case, please try and submit again).

b) You may have the option to resubmit your paper if this has been allowed by your tutor. Please note: It can take up to 24 hours for re-uploaded files to be processed; however, the submission time will be marked as the time that the re-upload occurred. If you need to re-upload your work and the resubmit button is not available, then please contact your tutor to discuss arrangements for this, as they will vary from course to course.

c) You have the option to download a copy of the paper you have submitted.

d) You have the option to download a digital receipt for the paper you have submitted. It is very important that you retain your digital receipt as a record of your submission.

Important note for users of Mac systems (MacBook, iMac etc.)

If your assignment document is created on a Mac computer and you intend to include images copied and pasted from a PDF source document, it is essential that you use one of the following methods to bring the images into your assignment document. For any Mac software, including the ‘Preview’ application, do the following:

• Use ‘ Shift + Command + 5 ‘ to open the Screenshot tool. (Alternatively, search for the Screenshot tool from your Launchpad or go to ‘ File > Take Screenshot > From Selection… ‘)
• Select the area of the page you wish to save as an image (the image will automatically be saved to the desktop).
• In Word, use ‘ Insert > Image ’ to import the image.
• Do not use the Select tool in Preview to copy and paste images from the PDF into your assignment document.
• ← Reading a Similarity Report
• Turnitin: A Student Guide to Downloading Feedback →

Submitting a Turnitin paper - Student Guide

Turnitin is a submission service designed to detect and prevent plagiarism and support online grading.

On this page:

Before you submit Submitting your file Cut and paste submission Grading rubrics and forms  Keeping a copy of your Submission and Digital Receipt Resubmitting your work Viewing your feedback

Before you submit

If you encounter any problems during the submission process, please contact the IT Service Desk immediately.

Turnitin is accessed via Minerva. We do not recommend accessing Minerva via the UniLeeds App as you may have technical issues. Use a browser and go to minerva.leeds.ac.uk to access Minerva. To ensure you don’t experience issues when accessing Turnitin we recommend the latest versions of Chrome (installed on the student desktop), Edge Chromium, or Firefox. On a Mac, you can use Safari. Stay up to date with the latest versions.

Avoid opening multiple Turnitin assignments simultaneously. This may result in submitting to the wrong assignment.

Submitting your file

Follow your tutor's guidance.

Your tutor may tell you which type of file they expect you to submit, however for typical essay and report type assignments we recommend submitting as  PDF .  

The file size limit per assignment is 100MB (2MB for plain text files), and no greater than 800 pages in length. If your file is larger than this, you'll likely need to compress or remove images to submit. See the guide on Reducing Files

Check the file type -  In general, PDF is recommended.

Turnitin will not accept PDF files that do not contain highlightable text (e.g. a scanned file – usually an image) or documents containing multiple files. PDFs created using Adobe Acrobat® are officially supported. Web-based PDF creators should be avoided.

Turnitin will also accept the following file types (though if you have not been told to submit any particular format the best choice is PDF):

Do not use any of the following characters in your filename:

How to submit a Turnitin assignment

Video guide, written guide.

When submitting you need to:

1. Find your assignment

Find your Turnitin assignment (your tutor should tell you where it is).  

Select the assignment link.  

The Turnitin assignment area will open.

Click the question mark icon  to see assignment details including the  due date and any instructions .   

Other assignment details can be seen under Additional Settings  

2. Upload your file

The submission area will now open. You can submit an assignment  by  choosing  the   file  to  upload from your  computer ,  selecting  Cloud submission  (Dropbox, Google Drive ,  OneDrive  )  or  c ut ting  & past ing your text.  Always ensure your file has successfully saved on your computer by saving and then closing the file before attempting to upload it.  

Pay Attention while Submitting 

The submission area will open by default for file upload submissions.  

Select the  Upload Submission  option if not already selected. It isn't possible to upload multiple files or use multiple submission options.  

Add a  submission title  for the paper, and make sure you follow any instructions provided by your department  

If you are unsure if your file type is accepted, check the list provided earlier in this guide    

You have these options for uploading files: A  file on your computer  or upload from your personal  Dropbox  or  Google Drive  or your University  OneDrive :  

• Click Choose File to browse your computer, to locate and open the file you wish to upload  
• For files on your personal Dropbox, sign into your Dropbox account if asked, then select the file you wish to upload and click 'Choose'  
• For files on your personal google Drive, sign into your Google drive account if asked, then select the file you wish to upload and click 'Select'  
• For files on your University OneDrive, sign into your OneDrive account if asked, then select the file you wish to upload and click ‘Open’  

Click  upload  and review  

3. Review the file you're about to submit

You will be presented with a formatted version of your paper and will be asked to confirm the submission. 

Check it is the correct submission.

Click   Submit to Turnitin.

Wait until submission is confirmed   - you must wait until you see the words ‘Submission Complete!’ and a green tick.  

The window will close automatically  and you can  view  the details of your submission.   

5. Download your receipt

M ake sure you  download your digital receipt .  This is proof of your submission.   Click the  d ownload digital receipt  icon  

Or alternatively, the prompt in the interface:  

Once this has downloaded, o pen the digital receipt to see your submission id . Save a copy of your receipt in case you need it later ( e.g.  to your OneDrive account). This is the only acceptable proof of submission. 

You have not finished until you see a confirmation of a successful submission on your screen and you save your Turnitin receipt with your submission ID.  

Cut and paste submission

In some scenarios you may wish to use the Text Input option to submit to Turnitin. The steps are similar except you choose the text input option to submit instead of a file upload.

• Select the  text input  option   
• Add a  submission title  for the paper  
• Paste or enter the text  
• Click  Upload and Review  
• Wait until submission is confirmed and download your digital receipt  

Grading rubrics and forms

If there is a link under GradeMark/rubric in the Assignment information, your work will be graded with a rubric.  To check, expand the assignment information by clicking the question mark.

If there is a link under GradeMark/rubric in the Assignment information, your work will be graded with a rubric. Click the link to view the rubric.

This will open the rubric details where you can see the criteria. If you have questions about the rubric, you should contact your tutor.

Keep a copy of your submission and receipt

Keep an electronic copy of your submitted paper and digital receipt in a safe place in case there is a problem with the submission.

You can always return to view this information by clicking on the Turnitin assignment link.

If you want to see your original submission click on the  download icon:

To get a copy of your digital receipt, click the download digital receipt icon:

Resubmitting your work

If your assignment allows for resubmission, you can open a new submission window by clicking the  upload icon  (a tray with an up arrow) for your previous submission.   

You have three resubmission attempts for each assignment. After the third upload, you will have to wait 24 hours before making another resubmission to that assignment.  

Resubmission is only possible before the assignment deadline. After that point, you will need to contact your School to request a new submission attempt.  

Please be aware that resubmitting will completely overwrite your past submission, including the submission date. Your previous submission will not be recoverable.  

Remember to download a new receipt for any resubmissions.

Viewing your marks and feedback

If your tutor has used Turnitin to grade your paper and/or provide feedback, you can access this by  clicking the grade.

Once the Turnitin paper opens, feedback should automatically load. There may be feedback to the right of your paper (via comments or an assessment rubric):  

If you cannot see this feedback section, click on the feedback icon:  

You may have feedback entered directly onto your paper - you may see text inserted or a comment icon to click - click a bubble comment to see what your instructor has said:

Your Turnitin guidance is moving! We’re migrating our content to a new guides site. We plan to fully launch this new site in July. We are making changes to our structure that will help with discoverability and content searching. You can preview the new site now . To help you get up to speed with the new guidance structure, please visit our orientation page .

Turning in Your Essay

• When you’re done working, review your work. Remember! For Signal Check assignments, you have to get a Signal Check before you can turn in your paper.   
• Click the  Turn In  button to submit your essay to your teacher. Even after submitting your essay,  you can turn in drafts until the assignment is closed!
• You will receive a notification once the teacher has closed the assignment.  
• Once the assignment has ended, you won’t be able to keep working or turn in any more drafts. However, you are able to review your submitted essay and your saved drafts.

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Center for Faculty Excellence and Teaching Innovation

Turnitin is an Internet-based plagiarism-prevention service created by iParadigms, LLC.

Essays written by students are submitted to Turnitin, which checks the documents for unoriginal content. The results can be used to identify similarities to existing sources or can be used in formative assessment to help students learn how to avoid plagiarism and improve their writing.

Our Learning Management System, Canvas, has Turnitin integrated inside it.

The Turnitin website has additional resources, such as White Papers, Webcasts, Research, and Blogs that showcases the features and potential of this software. Visit the Turnitin Resource Webpage to access these resources.

There are two options to use Turnitin:

Option 1: Enabling the Turnitin Online option 

You can enable Turnitin in the editing options while selecting the  Online  option under the submission type for an assignment. In this option, you can see the Originality Check and use GradeMark.

• Submitting the Assignment and Viewing the Similarity Report [pdf]
• Turnitin Submission Video Guide

Instructors:

• Enabling Turnitin in Assignments Guide [pdf]  
• View and Comment Turnitin Submissions [pdf]

Option 2: Using the Turnitin External Tool

You can enable Turnitin in the editing options when selecting the  External Tool  option under the Submission type for an assignment. In this option, you can see the Originality Check, use GradeMark, PeerMark, Grade Anything, and the ETS ® e-rater ® technology.  

• Submitting the Assignment with Turnitin LTI [pdf]
• Viewing the Originality Score and GradeMark [pdf]
• Turnitin Assignment Dashboard [pdf]
• Writing a PeerMark Review

Video Tutorial: 

• Submitting an assignment using Turnitin LTI
• How to Integrate Turnitin LTI with Canvas [pdf]
• How to adjust Turnitin Assignment Settings for Storing Papers [pdf]
• Turnitin Assignment Inbox
• PeerMark Assignments

Video Tutorial:

• How to Integrate Turnitin External Tool with Canvas

Please contact  [email protected]  for further information.

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If I previously submitted an essay for through turnitin, and I now want to reuse that same essay for another class, will it be flagged?

They’re completely different classes but both teachers use turnitin

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