turnitin assignment checker

Scribbr Plagiarism Checker

Plagiarism checker software for students who value accuracy.

Extensive research shows that Scribbr's plagiarism checker, in partnership with Turnitin, detects plagiarism more accurately than other tools, making it the no. 1 choice for students.

How Scribbr detects plagiarism better

Powered by leading plagiarism checking software

Scribbr is an authorized partner of Turnitin, a leader in plagiarism prevention. Its software detects everything from exact word matches to synonym swapping .

Access to exclusive content databases

Your submissions are compared to the world’s largest content database , covering 99 billion webpages, 8 million publications, and over 20 languages.

Comparison against unpublished works

You can upload your previous assignments, referenced works, or a classmate’s paper or essay to catch (self-)plagiarism that is otherwise difficult to detect.

The Scribbr Plagiarism Checker is perfect for you if:

• Are a student writing an essay or paper
• Value the confidentiality of your submissions
• Prefer an accurate plagiarism report
• Want to compare your work against publications

This tool is not for you if you:

• Prefer a free plagiarism checker despite a less accurate result
• Are a copywriter, SEO, or business owner

Get started

Trusted by students and academics worldwide

University applicants

Ace your admissions essay to your dream college.

Compare your admissions essay to billions of web pages, including other essays.

• Avoid having your essay flagged or rejected for accidental plagiarism.
• Make a great first impression on the admissions officer.

Submit your assignments with confidence.

Detect plagiarism using software similar to what most universities use.

• Spot missing citations and improperly quoted or paraphrased content.
• Avoid grade penalties or academic probation resulting from accidental plagiarism.

Take your journal submission to the next level.

Compare your submission to millions of scholarly publications.

• Protect your reputation as a scholar.
• Get published by the journal of your choice.

Happiness guarantee

Scribbr’s services are rated 4.9 out of 5 based on 3,681 reviews. We aim to make you just as happy. If not, we’re happy to refund you !

Privacy guarantee

Your submissions will never be added to our content database, and you’ll never get a 100% match at your academic institution.

Price per document

Select your currency

Prices are per check, not a subscription

• Turnitin-powered plagiarism checker
• Access to 99.3B web pages & 8M publications
• Comparison to private papers to avoid self-plagiarism
• Downloadable plagiarism report
• Live chat with plagiarism experts
• Private and confidential

Volume pricing available for institutions. Get in touch.

Request volume pricing

Institutions interested in buying more than 50 plagiarism checks can request a discounted price. Please fill in the form below.

Name * Email * Institution Name * Institution’s website * Country * Phone number Give an indication of how many checks you need * Please indicate how you want to use the checks * Depending of the size of your request, you will be contacted by a representative of either Scribbr or Turnitin. * Required

You don't need a plagiarism checker, right?

You would never copy-and-paste someone else’s work, you’re great at paraphrasing, and you always keep a tidy list of your sources handy.

But what about accidental plagiarism ? It’s more common than you think! Maybe you paraphrased a little too closely, or forgot that last citation or set of quotation marks.

Even if you did it by accident, plagiarism is still a serious offense. You may fail your course, or be placed on academic probation. The risks just aren’t worth it.

Scribbr & academic integrity

Scribbr is committed to protecting academic integrity. Our plagiarism checker software, Citation Generator , proofreading services , and free Knowledge Base content are designed to help educate and guide students in avoiding unintentional plagiarism.

We make every effort to prevent our software from being used for fraudulent or manipulative purposes.

Ask our team

Want to contact us directly? No problem.  We  are always here for you.

• Email [email protected]
• Start live chat
• Call +1 (510) 822-8066
• WhatsApp +31 20 261 6040

Frequently asked questions

No, the Self-Plagiarism Checker does not store your document in any public database.

In addition, you can delete all your personal information and documents from the Scribbr server as soon as you’ve received your plagiarism report.

Scribbr’s Plagiarism Checker is powered by elements of Turnitin’s Similarity Checker , namely the plagiarism detection software and the Internet Archive and Premium Scholarly Publications content databases .

The add-on AI detector is powered by Scribbr’s proprietary software.

Extensive testing proves that Scribbr’s plagiarism checker is one of the most accurate plagiarism checkers on the market in 2022.

The software detects everything from exact word matches to synonym swapping. It also has access to a full range of source types, including open- and restricted-access journal articles, theses and dissertations, websites, PDFs, and news articles.

At the moment we do not offer a monthly subscription for the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker. This means you won’t be charged on a recurring basis – you only pay for what you use. We believe this provides you with the flexibility to use our service as frequently or infrequently as you need, without being tied to a contract or recurring fee structure.

You can find an overview of the prices per document here:

Please note that we can’t give refunds if you bought the plagiarism check thinking it was a subscription service as communication around this policy is clear throughout the order process.

Your document will be compared to the world’s largest and fastest-growing content database , containing over:

• 99.3 billion current and historical webpages.
• 8 million publications from more than 1,700 publishers such as Springer, IEEE, Elsevier, Wiley-Blackwell, and Taylor & Francis.

Note: Scribbr does not have access to Turnitin’s global database with student papers. Only your university can add and compare submissions to this database.

Scribbr’s plagiarism checker offers complete support for 20 languages, including English, Spanish, German, Arabic, and Dutch.

The add-on AI Detector and AI Proofreader are only available in English.

The complete list of supported languages:

If your university uses Turnitin, the result will be very similar to what you see at Scribbr.

The only possible difference is that your university may compare your submission to a private database containing previously submitted student papers. Scribbr does not have access to these private databases (and neither do other plagiarism checkers).

To cater to this, we have the Self-Plagiarism Checker at Scribbr. Just upload any document you used and start the check. You can repeat this as often as you like with all your sources. With your Plagiarism Check order, you get a free pass to use the Self-Plagiarism Checker. Simply upload them to your similarity report and let us do the rest!

Your writing stays private. Your submissions to Scribbr are not published in any public database, so no other plagiarism checker (including those used by universities) will see them.

Turnitin Originality

Turnitin Originality is Purdue’s centrally supported originality checker and plagiarism detection tool for files submitted through Brightspace assignments. The tool works by comparing the text in file submissions to Turnitin’s database of previously submitted papers, published research papers, and numerous internet resources. A “similarity report” is then produced highlighting areas of the paper that match content in Turnitin’s database. Originality also includes E-rater grammar feedback technology that can check submissions for grammar, mechanics, style, and spelling errors. 

Turnitin Originality is free to both instructors and students. The tool is only available within Brightspace and only for assignments where the instructor has enabled it. Files previously submitted to SafeAssign through Blackboard have been migrated to the Turnitin database. 

Getting Started

Instructors

• How to Enable Turnitin for a Brightspace assignment  
• How to interpret the Similarity Report  
• Supported File Types  
• How do I interpret the Similarity Report?  
• Turnitin Roadmap    
• Why has the Similarity Report not generated?   

Support Information

Contact  

• Purdue Information Technology  
• Weblink: https://it.purdue.edu/help/index.php   
• Email: [email protected]  
• Phone: 765-494-4000 (44000 when dialing from a campus phone) 

Funding  

• West Lafayette Central Campus 
• New Brightspace Tool Integration  
• Support & Training
• Request a New Tool

Request a Consultation

Plagiarism Checker

Detect accidental plagiarism with
 scribbr’s free plagiarism checker.

What you get with a premium plagiarism check

Catch accidental plagiarism with high accuracy with Scribbr’s Plagiarism Checker in partnership with Turnitin.

AI Detector

Detect AI-generated content, like ChatGPT3.5 and GPT4, with Scribbr’s AI Detector.

AI Proofreader

Find and fix spelling and grammar issues with Scribbr’s AI Proofreader.

* Only available when uploading an English .docx (Word) document

Rely on the most accurate plagiarism checker of 2023

Scribbr’s plagiarism checker, in partnership with Turnitin, detects plagiarism more accurately than other popular tools — particularly when texts are edited. This makes it the go-to plagiarism checker for students in the UK.

See test results

Find out if your writing contains potential plagiarism

The free plagiarism checker, in partnership with Turnitin, will give you a heads-up if your writing is similar to the content in our database.

View your top 5 matching sources

The Sources Overview shows you the top five sources that match your writing. You can see the domain, database, and the number of matching words for each source. It’s important to cite these sources!

Identify spelling and grammar issues in your document

In addition to checking for plagiarism, powerful AI software scans your English text for spelling and grammar issues. The free check gives an overview of the issues per category.

Submit your paper with confidence, knowing it’s free of plagiarism

Make your writing plagiarism-free with the premium plagiarism checker.

Get a precise similarity percentage

The premium plagiarism checker provides you with an accurate similarity score that tells you what percentage of your paper is not original.

Review highlighted text snippets for missing citations

Similarities in your document are highlighted for quick and easy reviewing. Each color corresponds to a source in the Sources Overview.

Compare your writing to the original text side by side

Use the comparison feature to see how similar your writing is to the original without leaving the plagiarism checker report.

Check for self-plagiarism by uploading previous assignments

Upload previous assignments or a classmate’s paper to catch (self-)plagiarism that is otherwise difficult to detect by regular plagiarism checkers.

Review your spelling and grammar corrections in Word

Writing issues are corrected automatically when you upload a Word document. To review the corrections, you can download a Word document with Track Changes.

Price per document

Prices are per check, not a subscription

Volume pricing available for institutions. Get in touch.

Request volume pricing

Institutions interested in buying more than 50 plagiarism checks can request a discounted price. Please fill in the form below.

Name * Email * Institution Name * Institution’s website * Country * Phone number Give an indication of how many checks you need * Please indicate how you want to use the checks * Depending of the size of your request, you will be contacted by a representative of either Scribbr or Turnitin. * Required

Excellent Review score

Scribbr’s plagiarism checker is rated 4.9 out of 5 based on 3,681 reviews.

Privacy guarantee

Submissions will never be added to our content database. Therefore, no other plagiarism checker will see your text.

Scribbr's plagiarism checker is perfect for you if you:

• Are a student writing an essay or paper
• Value the confidentiality of your submissions
• Prefer an accurate plagiarism checker
• Want to compare your work against publications
• Can benefit from an AI Detector

This plagiarism checker is not for you if you:

• Are a copywriter, SEO, or business owner
• Need to check lots of documents for plagiarism

Start for free

The go-to plagiarism checker for students and academics

University applicants

Ace your personal statement for your university application.

Compare your UCAS personal statement against billions of webpages, including other essays.

• Avoid having your personal statement flagged or rejected for accidental plagiarism.
• Make a great first impression on the admissions officer.

Submit your assignments with confidence.

Detect plagiarism using software similar to what most universities use.

• Spot missing citations and improperly quoted or paraphrased content.
• Avoid grade penalties or academic probation resulting from accidental plagiarism.

Take your journal submission to the next level.

Compare your submission to millions of scholarly publications.

• Protect your reputation as a scholar.
• Get published by the journal of your choice.

You don't need a plagiarism checker, right?

You would never copy-and-paste someone else’s work, you’re great at paraphrasing, and you always keep a tidy list of your sources handy.

But what about accidental plagiarism ? It’s more common than you think! Maybe you paraphrased a little too closely, or forgot that last citation or set of quotation marks.

Even if you did it by accident, plagiarism is still a serious offense. You may fail your course, or be placed on academic probation. The risks just aren’t worth it.

Scribbr & academic integrity

Scribbr is committed to protecting academic integrity. Our plagiarism checker, AI Detector , APA Reference Generator, proofreading services , and free Knowledge Base content are designed to help educate and guide students in avoiding unintentional plagiarism.

We make every effort to prevent our software from being used for fraudulent or manipulative purposes.

Ask our team

Want to contact us directly? No problem. We are always here for you.

• Chat with us
• Email [email protected]
• Call +44 (0)20 3917 4242
• WhatsApp +31 20 261 6040

Frequently asked questions

Extensive testing proves that Scribbr’s plagiarism checker is one of the most accurate plagiarism checkers on the market in 2022.

The software detects everything from exact word matches to synonym swapping. It also has access to a full range of source types, including open- and restricted-access journal articles, theses and dissertations, websites, PDFs, and news articles.

Scribbr’s  Plagiarism Checker is powered by elements of Turnitin’s Similarity Checker , namely the plagiarism detection software and the Internet Archive and Premium Scholarly Publications content databases .

The add-on AI detector is powered by Scribbr’s proprietary software.

Your document will be compared to the world’s largest and fastest-growing content database , containing over:

• 99.3 billion current and historical webpages
• 8 million publications from more than 1,700 publishers such as Springer, IEEE , Elsevier, Wiley-Blackwell, and Taylor & Francis

Note: Scribbr does not have access to Turnitin’s global database with student papers. Only your university can add and compare submissions to this database.

At the moment we do not offer a monthly subscription for the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker. Plagiarism checks can be bought separately — prices depend on the size of your document.

Your writing stays private. Your submissions to Scribbr are not published in any public database, so no other plagiarism checker (including those used by universities) will see them.

The free report tells you if your text contains potential plagiarism and other writing issues. The premium report gives you the resources you need to review issues in detail and resolve them.

Generating your (free or premium) plagiarism report takes between 1 and 10 minutes, depending on the document size.

In that time, your document is compared to the world’s largest content database, with over 99 billion webpages and 8 million publications.

Scribbr’s plagiarism checker offers complete support for 20 languages, including English, Spanish, German, Arabic, and Dutch.

The add-on AI Detector and AI Proofreader are only available in English.

The complete list of supported languages:

If your university uses Turnitin, the result will be very similar to what you see at Scribbr.

The only possible difference is that your university may compare your submission to a private database containing previously submitted student papers. Scribbr does not have access to these private databases (and neither do other plagiarism checkers).

Luckily, many papers, theses, and dissertations are also published in public databases that Scribbr does have access to.

Creating an assignment

• Log into Canvas as a teacher.

If the course is not displayed in the My courses list, select All courses , and use the checkboxes to add the course to the list.

• Select the + Assignment button.

• Group assignment • Peer reviews • Moderated grading • Points • Assignment group • Display grade as

Students can now submit group work to the Canvas Plagiarism Framework; each student in a group will receive an individual similarity score.

• Under Online entry options , select the File Uploads or Text entry check box.

The integration name is chosen by your administrator when first configuring Turnitin with Canvas . In the illustration above the chosen name is 'Turnitin Beta'. If you are unsure on what option to choose, contact your Canvas administrator.

• Submission indexing options
• Similarity Report exclusion options
• Changing Similarity Report availability options
• Choose a Similarity Report generation option that best suits your needs. Immediately - A Similarity Report will be generated at the time of submission. Immediately and on due date - A Similarity Report will be generated at the time of submission and on the assignments due date. We recommend this option as it allows for a collusion check within your class.

• (optional) Select the course you would like to assign the assignment to. This ensures that your assignment will only be available to students in this particular course.
• Amend the assignment's dates.

As Canvas may not immediately notify Turnitin that an assignment has been created, we advise waiting 90 seconds between creating the assignment and making the first submission. This will allow Canvas to notify us that the assignment has been created.

If you continue to encounter an issue with the Similarity Report failing to generate, you can select Resubmit to Turnitin from SpeedGrader, which forces the Similarity Report to generate.

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• Turnitin.com
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• Teaching Resources: Commonly Asked Questions about Teaching Practices and Educational Technology

Checking the Checkers: Guidance for Using Turnitin (including its Artificial Intelligence detection tool)

• Post author: Jeff Schwartz
• Post published: April 25, 2023
• Post category: Academic Technology / Artificial Intelligence / Assessment / Online/Hybrid Learning / Pedagogy / Teaching Strategies

By Jeff Schwartz, Instructional Designer; Stephen Riley, Director of Academic Assessment

Almost immediately after the large-scale introduction of the ChatGPT chatbot late last year, tech companies (and at least one student ) began developing software to counteract the program’s misuses. Just recently Turnitin , a plagiarism prevention service that is integrated with Canvas’s SpeedGrader, released an update with a so-called “AI Writing Indicator,” which assigns a score out of 100 meant to indicate the probability that student work has been generated by an AI writing program.

The goals of Turnitin, and its AI checker more specifically, are obviously noble and intended to help faculty identify and discourage academic dishonesty. But no tool does everything. To put it bluntly, Turnitin’s AI checker is no panacea for weeding out AI-generated texts. This is a tool that should be used with caution and in tandem with other practices. Indeed, any use of Turnitin should proceed with caution, due diligence, and common sense.

What is Turnitin, anyway?

We will return to how Turnitin’s AI checker works, and advice on how best to use it, but first we thought it would be beneficial to say a bit about the other features of Turnitin.

Even according to its own website , Turnitin is not a plagiarism detector. Instead, it is better to think of it, in the words of one study , as a “‘text-matching tool’ that electronically checks the similar text of submitted material against web contents, its database of academic publication and earlier submitted documents.”

If you choose to enable Turnitin, you will see a percentage score out of 100 when you pull up an assignment in SpeedGrader; the lower the score, the less likely (according to Turnitin, at least) that the text bears any similarity to other texts in Turnitin’s database.

It should be said as well that this “similarity score” does not factor in Turnitin’s AI Writing Detector (which is discussed in more detail below). Thus,  even a low similarity score does not necessarily mean an assignment was generated without the use of AI.

What to know about using, or not using, Turnitin

Two of the best things about Turnitin are that it is optional and customizable.

To the first point, if you do not think your course would benefit from using Turnitin, you can choose not to use it. In the settings for an assignment, simply make sure under the menu for “Plagiarism Review” you have selected “none.”

Deciding not to use Turnitin is a perfectly valid decision; text-matching tools are not beneficial across disciplines and may not comport with your pedagogical approach within the classroom.

If, however, you want to use Turnitin to determine the similarity of student texts to other texts – or better yet (and more on this below) you want to use it as a teaching tool within the classroom – you can select Turnitin from the Plagiarism Review menu. Then, you can decide what features you want to utilize. For example, Turnitin can theoretically exclude quotes or bibliographic material from its similarity report if you check the appropriate boxes.

We say “theoretically” because this feature is not foolproof and will sometimes include properly quoted and cited material in its similarity report.

Another feature is the Student Repository, which is a digital storehouse of student work submitted through Turnitin. If you enable this feature, Turnitin will compare a student’s paper against any other work submitted to Turnitin. And, as with the “exclude” settings outlined above, this feature is also not foolproof. To test it out, we used a paper that a student had turned in for an assignment in one of our courses and uploaded the paper as a “Test Student” in Canvas. The similarity score generated for the Test Student was 97% (and color-coded a forbidding red). Obviously, 97% betrays more certainty than, say, 50%. But it is interesting, and useful to know, that even in cases without ambiguity, Turnitin cannot be depended upon for 100% certainty (a fact that will become even more important when we discuss its AI checker below).

Once students turn in work, you can access their similarity score in SpeedGrader.

Clicking on the score will bring up a new tab that allows you to view the sections of a text that Turnitin has marked as similar to other texts. The video below shows how to use Turnitin as an instructor.

You can also choose if students can see their similarity scores. Students can view their scores by navigating to an assignment, and selecting “submission details,” as explained in the video below.

Letting students see their similarity score can be a worthwhile practice if an instructor has concerns and wants to share those concerns with students. Even better, the similarity score could be used as a formative assessment practice. For example, say you ask students to submit a draft of an assignment for instructor and/or peer feedback. If you also allowed students to view their similarity score, they could use their score to check and refine their work.

More broadly, using Turnitin could occasion an opportunity to discuss issues of honesty, academic integrity, and the uses and limitations of technology with your students.

Turnitin’s AI Writing Indicator

And speaking of the uses and limitations of technology, let’s turn, as it were, to Turnitin’s latest feature: its AI Writing Indicator.

According to Turnitin’s website, the AI Writing Indicator works by cross-checking segments of text (usually a few hundred words) against its proprietary AI detection algorithm, and awards the text either a zero or a one; zero means the text was likely not produced by AI, while a one means that Turnitin has “98% confidence” the text was produced by AI. The detection algorithm is trained on GPT-3.5, which is the latest free version of ChatGPT (the more advanced GPT-4 is only available to subscribers ).

Despite Turnitin’s sophisticated programming and “98% confidence” in its accuracy, the program is not perfect, and can sometimes misidentify original writing as AI writing , or vice versa. Our own tests within the OTL have confirmed this issue. One of our faculty developers submitted a two paragraph sample assignment to Turnitin that she wrote without the use of AI. However, Turnitin AI’s score for this sample assignment was 100 – meaning that Turnitin’s programming believed 100% of the text was AI-generated. This blunder is, needless to say, concerning – and one of the many reasons Turnitin’s AI score should not be used as definitive proof that a student has engaged in cheating or academic misconduct.

To its credit, when you click on the AI writing report in Turnitin, a bubble pops up with the following text: “Caution: Percentage may not indicate academic misconduct. Review required.”

So, to sum up, Turnitin is 98% confident in its AI writing detection software…but not so confident that it does not feel the need to add a warning about trusting its own AI score. All of which begs the question, what should you do if you suspect a student has used AI to complete an assignment?

Recommendations for if you suspect plagiarism

As we recommended in a prior blog post , whether you use Turnitin or not, if you suspect a student of using AI to complete an assignment, “Instead of assuming the worst and demonizing the student, take the time to have a conversation.” For instance, ask the student to come to office hours. Perhaps open the discussion by asking the student to talk about their process, how they arrived at certain ideas or located sources. If a student cannot capably or credibly talk about how they created their work, it is possible (though not certain) they may have used AI. And if you suspect more than one student of having used AI to complete an assignment, it could be beneficial for the class to have a broader discussion about the appropriate and inappropriate uses of AI, research, academic ethics, and DU’s honor code.

Below we discuss some recommended practices for promoting academic integrity and dealing with misconduct:

Have a discussion

• Review DU’s honor code and discuss the importance of academic integrity with your students.
• More information about Academic Integrity can be found at the Student’s Rights and Responsibility website and at this Office of Teaching and Learning resource .
• Make your expectations regarding student use of AI explicit in your syllabus and discuss this issue with students on the first day of class. Be specific and give both positive and negative examples for students to understand your expectations.
• Regularly remind students of the importance of academic integrity and your expectations regarding the use of AI when discussing assignments.
• This Colin and Samir podcast includes a helpful discussion about how students could think about their creativity in light of the copy and paste culture of YouTube.
• Pietryka, M.T.; Glazier, A. Learning through Collaborative Data Projects: Engaging Students and Building Rapport. Educ. Sci. 2022, 12, 897.
• Supiano, Beckie. Will ChatGPT Change How Professors Assess Learning? It won’t be easy without their colleges’ support. The Chronicle of Higher Education. 2023, 4.
• Draft prompts that reference, engage with, and/or build on other class assignments.
• Consider incorporating personal reflections from students into essays where possible.
• Require at least some writing to be done in class (by hand if possible).
• Consider requiring students to submit multiple drafts of an essay (using what is often referred to as a “scaffolding” or “chunk” approach to writing instruction) that students then revise based upon feedback.
• Ask students to use diverse media, such as a video or audio file, that goes along with or in place of a writing assignment.
• Extend Flipped Learning in your classroom. Ask students to read, view, and digest material at home, and then apply, demonstrate, and perform in class.
• Consider encouraging a specific use of AI into an assignment.
• Consider incorporating a verbal exam requirement tied to an essay so that students must discuss what they are submitting.
• Require a combination of in-person and outside-of-class writing assignments so that a student’s outside-of-class writing can be compared to their writing produced in class.
• Vague general comparisons that tend to “beg the question” as opposed to getting at the heart of an essay topic.
• Factual claims that are asserted confidently but turn out to be false on closer inspection.
• Claims that are backed up with citations of “evidence” but evidence that does not support the claims made.
• Lack of connections between and among ideas, or a lack of substantive analysis.

Parting thoughts

There is no perfect tool to help you determine if a student has plagiarized or improperly used AI to complete an assignment. While Turnitin does have capabilities to check for such things, it is limited and must be used with a significant dose of critical reflection.

Another important thing to bear in mind is the proverbial arms race between AI and AI checkers. Turnitin will no doubt continue to iterate on its programming and improve its ability to detect AI. At the same time, AI will continue to grow more sophisticated. All of which means it is unlikely there will ever be a foolproof AI checker that you can invest 100% confidence in.

It is also clear that policing students’ academic integrity will require significant time and effort that not everyone has the ability to follow through on. The best approach will be a combination of the practices mentioned above.

In the meantime, keep an eye on our website and calendar for more resources and events related to AI. And if you would benefit from a one-on-one consultation, feel free to schedule an appointment with an OTL Instructional Designer.

2150 E. Evans Ave University of Denver Anderson Academic Commons Room 350 Denver, CO 80208

Copyright ©2019 University of Denver Office of Teaching and Learning | All rights reserved | The University of Denver is an equal opportunity affirmative action institution.

Turnitin an ASU-licensed plagiarism checking tool for assignments This toolkit is an overview of what it is and benefits of using it, creating an assignment, which file types are accepted and which not, and related resources. 

It is an originality checker that deters plagiarism and promotes academic integrity; while comparing the assignment text with the Turnitin database student of work, websites, articles and books. 

Turnitin allows for streamlining of grading and feedback; and instructors can decide to allow students to view their reports, or resubmit and receive revised reports.

Information about Turnitin and AI detection

Resources for Students:

• Turnitin for Students
• Student Quick Start Guide

Resources for Faculty:

• Instructors
• Instructor Quick Start Guide ( PDF version )
• Academic Integrity in the Age of AI
• Anti-Cheating Education Software Braces for AI Chatbots
• Sneak Preview of Turnitin’s AI & ChatGPT
• Gradescope Workshops

Quick Tips:

Additional Resources:

• Turnitin Resource
• Video Tutorials
• Support Center
• Turnitin Help

Can students self-check a paper in Turnitin for plagiarism before submitting it to the assignment?

Nov 21, 2023 • knowledge article, information.

It is not possible for students to self-check a paper within Turnitin without submitting it to an assignment created by an instructor, unless your institution has enabled Turnitin Draft Coach for your institution's Turnitin account.* If an assignment allows resubmissions, you may be able to resubmit a paper several times before the assignment’s due date, and any second or subsequent submission will overwrite the original submission in this assignment. You are allowed three resubmission attempts where the Similarity Report will be generated immediately; after three attempts, you will have to wait 24 hours before a new Similarity Report can be generated. If resubmissions are not allowed, your first attempt will be final. If you wish to check a paper beforehand, you will need to ask your instructor and see if they are willing to set up a separate assignment for this specific purpose. Instructors can also set up assignments that will allow students to submit multiple drafts without overwriting previous submissions. *Note : Please check with your institution if access to Turnitin Draft Coach is available to you, this is one of Turnitin's latest products that allows students to effortlessly run a Similarity Report and check a document for similarities against our vast database which also includes citation and grammar checks.

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Turnitin is a complete Web-based solution for managing writing intensive assignments. Turnitin now has two options in Canvas for plagiarism detection: Turnitin External Tool Integration and Plagiarism Review. Can't decide which integration is most suitable for your needs?   The Turnitin Canvas integration matrix   can help you make an informed decision!

Faculty at the University of North Texas can use Turnitin to help prevent plagiarism. Students submit papers to Turnitin and the tool compares the submissions against other sources on the Internet, the Turnitin database, and other commercial databases. Turnitin does not decide if a paper has been plagiarized but instead provides the faculty member with a report of how much text is similar to other sources. The faculty member ultimately decides if a paper has been plagiarized. In your syllabus, inform students that you are using the Turnitin tool to help prevent plagiarism.

Our license agreement with Turnitin allows it to be used exclusively in classes offered as part of UNT’s curriculum and exclusively for the purpose of submitting student work for evaluation. If you need to check your own work for duplication and attribution, please email   [email protected]   and   [email protected]   for access and all other questions.

AI Writing Detection

Turnitin's AI writing detection capability is designed to help educators identify text that might be prepared by a generative AI tool. The AI writing detection model may not always be accurate (it may misidentify both human and AI-generated text) so it should not be used as the sole basis for adverse actions against a student. It takes further scrutiny and human judgment in conjunction with an organization's application of its specific academic policies to determine whether any academic misconduct has occurred. See   TurnItIn's site   to review the AI writing indicators for more information.

File Submission Requirements:

• File size must be less than 100 MB
• File must have at least 300 words of prose text in a long-form writing format
• File must not exceed 15,000 words
• File must be written in English
• Accepted file types: .docx, .pdf, .txt, .rtf

Turnitin External Tool Integration

The Turnitin External Tool integration should be used when you would like to not only generate orginality reports, but would also like to use the full suite of Turnitin Feedback and grading tools such as QuickMarks, Rubrics, and PeerMark. To create a Turnitin assignment:

• Navigate to your course.
• From the Course Navigation Bar, click  Assignments .
• Click on the   +Assignment   button at the top right of the Assignments page.
• Enter your basic assignment details.
• In the  Submission Type , select "External Tool" from the drop-down menu.
• Click the gray  Find  button.
• Scroll until you find "Turnitin LTI" and select it.
• Click the green  Select  button.
• Click   Save & Publish  at the bottom of the screen.

Turnitin Plagiarism Review

The Plagiarism Framework should be used when you would like to generate originality reports but would also like to use Canvas assignment features such as group assignments, multiple due dates, and the Speedgrader. To create a Canvas assignment with the Plagiarism Review enabled:

• Change the submission type to   Online   using the drop-down menu.
• Select the   File Uploads   checkbox under   Online entry options .
• Choose   Turnitin   from the   Plagiarism Review   drop-down menu.
• Enter the assignment dates (these dates will transfer into the Turnitin assignment).
• Click   Save & Publish .

Turnitin and the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

FERPA regulations prohibit institutions from releasing personally identifiable information from a student’s educational records to third parties without the written consent of the student. Such personally identifiable information includes the student's name and identification number or any other information that alone or in combination is linkable to the student's identity by that third party. Because it is possible that student assignments may contain such personally identifiable information, it is important that faculty members understand when a student's written consent is necessary and how to obtain such consent to ensure compliance with the law.

Students Submit Papers

Instructors are not required to get consent from students to have them submit their own papers to Turnitin if they post a notice in the course syllabus informing students that they are required to submit written assignments to Turnitin prior to submission. Please review   TurnItIn's privacy policy   on their site. *Sample notice:   Students are required to submit written assignments for this class to Turnitin, a web-based plagiarism detection service. Before submitting your paper to Turnitin, please remove your title page and other personal information.   (OPTIONAL: Any paper that is not submitted to Turnitin will not be accepted by the instructor and will not be graded.)

Accessibility

Turnitin's accessibility program aims to incorporate accessibility into the entire product development lifecycle to ensure that its website and applications are accessible and usable.   Turnitin Accessibility

Get Help with Turnitin in Canvas

If you are a faculty member at UNT, and you are using Turnitin through Canvas, contact the Faculty Helpdesk for assistance with this tool: Submit a support ticket Phone: 940-369-7394

Get Help with the Turnitin Website

Additional guides for using the External Tool and the Plagiarism Review can be found on the   Turnitin website .

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Free plagiarism checker by EasyBib

Check for plagiarism, grammar errors, and more.

• Expert Check

Check for accidental plagiarism

Avoid unintentional plagiarism. Check your work against billions of sources to ensure complete originality.

Find and fix grammar errors

Turn in your best work. Our smart proofreader catches even the smallest writing mistakes so you don't have to.

Get expert writing help

Improve the quality of your paper. Receive feedback on your main idea, writing mechanics, structure, conclusion, and more.

What students are saying about us

"Caught comma errors that I actually struggle with even after proofreading myself."

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"I find the suggestions to be extremely helpful especially as they can instantly take you to that section in your paper for you to fix any and all issues related to the grammar or spelling error(s)."

- Catherine R.

Check for unintentional plagiarism

Easily check your paper for missing citations and accidental plagiarism with the EasyBib plagiarism checker. The EasyBib plagiarism checker:

• Scans your paper against billions of sources.
• Identifies text that may be flagged for plagiarism.
• Provides you with a plagiarism score.

You can submit your paper at any hour of the day and quickly receive a plagiarism report.

What is the EasyBib plagiarism checker? 

Most basic plagiarism checkers review your work and calculate a percentage, meaning how much of your writing is indicative of original work. But, the EasyBib plagiarism checker goes way beyond a simple percentage. Any text that could be categorized as potential plagiarism is highlighted, allowing you time to review each warning and determine how to adjust it or how to cite it correctly.

You’ll even see the sources against which your writing is compared and the actual word for word breakdown. If you determine that a warning is unnecessary, you can waive the plagiarism check suggestion.

Plagiarism is unethical because it doesn’t credit those who created the original work; it violates intellectual property and serves to benefit the perpetrator. It is a severe enough academic offense, that many faculty members use their own plagiarism checking tool for their students’ work. With the EasyBib Plagiarism checker, you can stay one step ahead of your professors and catch citation mistakes and accidental plagiarism before you submit your work for grading.

Why use a plagiarism checker? 

Imagine – it’s finals week and the final research paper of the semester is due in two days. You, being quite familiar with this high-stakes situation, hit the books, and pull together a ten-page, last-minute masterpiece using articles and materials from dozens of different sources.

However, in those late, coffee-fueled hours, are you fully confident that you correctly cited all the different sources you used? Are you sure you didn’t accidentally forget any? Are you confident that your teacher’s plagiarism tool will give your paper a 0% plagiarism score?

That’s where the EasyBib plagiarism checker comes in to save the day. One quick check can help you address all the above questions and put your mind at ease.

What exactly is plagiarism? 

Plagiarism has a number of possible definitions; it involves more than just copying someone else’s work. Improper citing, patchworking, and paraphrasing could all lead to plagiarism in one of your college assignments. Below are some common examples of accidental plagiarism that commonly occur.

Quoting or paraphrasing without citations

Not including in-text citations is another common type of accidental plagiarism. Quoting is taking verbatim text from a source. Paraphrasing is when you’re using another source to take the same idea but put it in your own words. In both cases, it’s important to always cite where those ideas are coming from. The EasyBib plagiarism checker can help alert you to when you need to accurately cite the sources you used.

Patchwork plagiarism

When writing a paper, you’re often sifting through multiple sources and tabs from different search engines. It’s easy to accidentally string together pieces of sentences and phrases into your own paragraphs. You may change a few words here and there, but it’s similar to the original text. Even though it’s accidental, it is still considered plagiarism. It’s important to clearly state when you’re using someone else’s words and work.

Improper citations

Depending on the class, professor, subject, or teacher, there are multiple correct citation styles and preferences. Some examples of common style guides that are followed for citations include MLA, APA, and Chicago style. When citing resources, it’s important to cite them accurately. Incorrect citations could make it impossible for a reader to track down a source and it’s considered plagiarism. There are EasyBib citation tools to help you do this.

Don’t fall victim to plagiarism pitfalls. Most of the time, you don’t even mean to commit plagiarism; rather, you’ve read so many sources from different search engines that it gets difficult to determine an original thought or well-stated fact versus someone else’s work. Or worse, you assume a statement is common knowledge, when in fact, it should be attributed to another author.

When in doubt, cite your source!

Time for a quick plagiarism quiz! 

Which of the following requires a citation?

• A chart or graph from another source
• A paraphrase of an original source
• Several sources’ ideas summarized into your own paragraph
• A direct quote
• All of the above

If you guessed option E than you’d be correct. Correct punctuation and citation of another individual’s ideas, quotes, and graphics are a pillar of good academic writing.

What if you copy your own previous writing?

Resubmitting your own original work for another class’s assignment is a form of self-plagiarism, so don’t cut corners in your writing. Draft an original piece for each class or ask your professor if you can incorporate your previous research.

What features are available with the EasyBib plagiarism checker? 

Along with providing warnings and sources for possible plagiarism, the EasyBib  plagiarism checker works alongside the other EasyBib tools, including a grammar checker  and a spell checker . You’ll receive personalized feedback on your thesis and writing structure too!

The  plagiarism checker compares your writing sample with billions of available sources online so that it detects plagiarism at every level. You’ll be notified of which phrases are too similar to current research and literature, prompting a possible rewrite or additional citation. You’ll also get feedback on your paper’s inconsistencies, such as changes in text, formatting, or style. These small details could suggest possible plagiarism within your assignment.

And speaking of citations, there are also  EasyBib citation tools  available. They help you quickly build your bibliography and avoid accidental plagiarism. Make sure you know which citation format your professor prefers!

Great! How do I start? 

Simply copy and paste or upload your essay into the checker at the top of this page. You’ll receive the first five grammar suggestions for free! To try the plagiarism checker for free, start your EasyBib Plus three-day free trial.* If you love the product and decide to opt for premium services, you’ll have access to unlimited writing suggestions and personalized feedback.

The EasyBib plagiarism checker is conveniently available 24 hours a day and seven days a week. You can cancel anytime.  Check your paper for free today!.

*See Terms and Conditions

Visit www.easybib.com for more information on helpful EasyBib writing and citing tools.

For informational guides and on writing and citing, visit the EasyBib guides homepage .

Turnitin celebrates one year for AI writing detection

Edtech company shifts focus from detection, to transparency and trust

Discover Turnitin’s new AI writing statistics feature, enabling administrators to view aggregated AI scores across their institution and better understand and measure AI writing use.

Hear from Turnitin's Chief Product Officer, Annie Chechitelli, as she shares her thoughts on the key role that educators and educational institutions play in AI writing.

By completing this form, you agree to Turnitin's Privacy Policy . Turnitin uses the information you provide to contact you with relevant information. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time.

It has been one year since Turnitin launched its AI writing detection feature , a few months after OpenAI's generative AI application release.

Since the launch in April 2023, over 200 million papers have been reviewed. Of the over 200 million papers reviewed,* Turnitin data shows:

• Over 22 million (approximately 11 percent of over 200 million) have at least 20 percent AI writing present*
• Over six million (approximately three percent of over 200 million) have at least 80 percent AI writing present*

Reflecting on one year of AI writing detection

Reflecting on where we've come in just one year, I am often asked, "What has Turnitin learned over the last twelve months?"

My biggest takeaway is that there is a growing need within the educational community to view the use of AI writing tools as a complex, ever-evolving puzzle , rather than just detection. My conversations with customers, industry leaders, and journalists have transitioned from a surface-level discussion about AI writing detection to a more productive one focused on transparency around students’ sources and authorship. Reactionary efforts to “catch” students using AI writing tools are no longer the focal point; instead, the focus has shifted to identifying and understanding how students use generative AI tools in their writing.

With this new trend comes new opportunities for Turnitin to support institutions, educators, and students in creating transparency and developing critical thinking skills.

Keeping students and educators in mind

Educators are looking for data points to help them diagnose the unsanctioned use of generative AI in student writing, and want to help students incorporate the technology responsibly, all without impeding the development of their critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills. Educators also recognize that AI writing isn’t going anywhere, and will likely affect students’ futures. In fact, according to a study ** conducted by Tyton Partners in October 2023, 75 percent of faculty surveyed who use AI writing tools believe graduates will need to know how to use the technology to succeed in a professional setting.

At the same time, students want to learn how to use AI writing to improve their learning and accelerate their work, but are concerned about being accused of cheating. Students are also concerned about fairness in situations where they are being compared to their peers.

What’s ahead for AI writing detection

With both perspectives in mind, Turnitin is building a new solution for student writing to give both educators and students confidence in the authenticity of work by focusing on “proof of process.” This new solution, which will be integrated into existing Turnitin workflows, summarizes granular data for instructors like:

• Copied and pasted text
• Typing patterns
• Total construction time
• Draft history

Coupled with our existing plagiarism and AI checks, our goal with this solution is to give educators confidence and insight without burden, and offer students comfort in knowing their hard work won’t be judged solely by a score.

Over time, this tool will empower students by integrating generative AI prompts directly into their composition space, allowing educators to oversee their students' use of AI writing tools for research and writing. This will help give students the confidence and skills to experiment and incorporate AI responsibly and ethically, while also preparing them for their future careers. This tool will also provide educators with the information and insight they need to maintain academic standards in the classroom.

It's rare to realize you are in the midst of something special, with all of the simultaneous excitement and uncertainty that comes with change. This is where we find ourselves with generative AI. I can't wait to look back on this moment, remembering how the technology changed our lives, and challenged the educational community, all while we were trying to figure out how to apply generative AI ethically.

In the meantime, it is critical that we continue listening and adapting. With over 25 years of experience in edtech, Turnitin's primary objective continues to be supporting educators, ensuring academic integrity, and enabling transformative technologies, like AI writing, to help positively impact education and student learning.

Are you an administrator or educator interested in providing feedback on Turnitin’s new AI writing detection features that will help shape the product before it is widely available? We’d love to hear from you! Register here to trial the student writing tool in your classroom or at your institution this year, August through November 2024.

*As of March 21, 2024.

**Turnitin was a partner in providing compensation to conduct Tyton’s GenAI in Higher Education: Fall 2023 Update Time for Class Study.

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories .

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Amanda Hoover

Students Are Likely Writing Millions of Papers With AI

Students have submitted more than 22 million papers that may have used generative AI in the past year, new data released by plagiarism detection company Turnitin shows.

A year ago, Turnitin rolled out an AI writing detection tool that was trained on its trove of papers written by students as well as other AI-generated texts. Since then, more than 200 million papers have been reviewed by the detector, predominantly written by high school and college students. Turnitin found that 11 percent may contain AI-written language in 20 percent of its content, with 3 percent of the total papers reviewed getting flagged for having 80 percent or more AI writing. (Turnitin is owned by Advance, which also owns Condé Nast, publisher of WIRED.) Turnitin says its detector has a false positive rate of less than 1 percent when analyzing full documents.

ChatGPT’s launch was met with knee-jerk fears that the English class essay would die . The chatbot can synthesize information and distill it near-instantly—but that doesn’t mean it always gets it right. Generative AI has been known to hallucinate , creating its own facts and citing academic references that don’t actually exist. Generative AI chatbots have also been caught spitting out biased text on gender and race . Despite those flaws, students have used chatbots for research, organizing ideas, and as a ghostwriter . Traces of chatbots have even been found in peer-reviewed, published academic writing .

Teachers understandably want to hold students accountable for using generative AI without permission or disclosure. But that requires a reliable way to prove AI was used in a given assignment. Instructors have tried at times to find their own solutions to detecting AI in writing, using messy, untested methods to enforce rules , and distressing students. Further complicating the issue, some teachers are even using generative AI in their grading processes.

Detecting the use of gen AI is tricky. It’s not as easy as flagging plagiarism, because generated text is still original text. Plus, there’s nuance to how students use gen AI; some may ask chatbots to write their papers for them in large chunks or in full, while others may use the tools as an aid or a brainstorm partner.

Students also aren't tempted by only ChatGPT and similar large language models. So-called word spinners are another type of AI software that rewrites text, and may make it less obvious to a teacher that work was plagiarized or generated by AI. Turnitin’s AI detector has also been updated to detect word spinners, says Annie Chechitelli, the company’s chief product officer. It can also flag work that was rewritten by services like spell checker Grammarly, which now has its own generative AI tool . As familiar software increasingly adds generative AI components, what students can and can’t use becomes more muddled.

Detection tools themselves have a risk of bias. English language learners may be more likely to set them off; a 2023 study found a 61.3 percent false positive rate when evaluating Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exams with seven different AI detectors. The study did not examine Turnitin’s version. The company says it has trained its detector on writing from English language learners as well as native English speakers. A study published in October found that Turnitin was among the most accurate of 16 AI language detectors in a test that had the tool examine undergraduate papers and AI-generated papers.

Andy Greenberg

Charlie Wood

Brian Barrett

Schools that use Turnitin had access to the AI detection software for a free pilot period, which ended at the start of this year. Chechitelli says a majority of the service’s clients have opted to purchase the AI detection. But the risks of false positives and bias against English learners have led some universities to ditch the tools for now. Montclair State University in New Jersey announced in November that it would pause use of Turnitin’s AI detector. Vanderbilt University and Northwestern University did the same last summer.

“This is hard. I understand why people want a tool,” says Emily Isaacs, executive director of the Office of Faculty Excellence at Montclair State. But Isaacs says the university is concerned about potentially biased results from AI detectors, as well as the fact that the tools can’t provide confirmation the way they can with plagiarism. Plus, Montclair State doesn’t want to put a blanket ban on AI, which will have some place in academia. With time and more trust in the tools, the policies could change. “It’s not a forever decision, it’s a now decision,” Isaacs says.

Chechitelli says the Turnitin tool shouldn’t be the only consideration in passing or failing a student. Instead, it’s a chance for teachers to start conversations with students that touch on all of the nuance in using generative AI. “People don’t really know where that line should be,” she says.

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The D2L Help pages are moving to a new home!

This site retires on March 12, 2024. Visit the Instructor Help and Student Help pages for our updated support resources. 

You must update  any D2L Help Page links in your syllabi or courses, as they will no longer work after the transition.

Students: Assignments: Turnitin:Check your work

About this course:.

This course is intended for checking student coursework ONLY - this includes dissertations and theses if enrolled in a course.

Please use the following steps to register for the course:

• Log into D2L at https://d2l.arizona.edu/ .

  Type Turnitin in the search box and either press Return (Enter) or select the magnifying glass to start the search.

To view your Turnitin Originality score and sources click here .

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