Turnitin converts original documents to a PDF version during the submission process. This can sometimes cause small formatting changes e.g. an arrow or circle used for highlighting a section of a diagram or graph has moved. If you anticipate this may be an issue for your assignment, we advise you instruct students to upload their file in PDF format.
This guide provides a step-by-step guidance on how-to set up a Turnitin Assignment in Blackboard.
- To create a Turnitin assignment, navigate to the relevant area within the Course Content area (i.e. Assessment learning module / folder), click the purple plus icon and select Content Market.
- Select Turnitin from the Content Market options.
Assignment Settings
Fill out the Assignment Settings.
- Title
Add your assessment title. Note: Once the assessment starts (Start Date), you will not be able to change the Title or the Instructions. - Instructions
This text field will only include and display 250 characters once the assessment is created. This text field is linked directly to the Description text field in Blackboard. If your assessment instructions exceed the maximum 250-character limit, we recommend that you create a separate content item (e.g. Blackboard Document) for the assessment. - Max Grade
Set a point value for the assignment. - Start Date
The start date is the date and time students can begin submitting to the assignment. - Due Date
The due date is the date and time students’ papers are due for the assignment. - Feedback Release Date
The feedback release date is the date and time students can begin viewing the comments and grades you have left on their papers. Feedback can only be released after the due date. - PeerMark
When enabled, instructors can create and manage PeerMark assignments that allow students to read, review, and evaluate one or many papers submitted by their classmates. With the advanced options in PeerMark instructors can choose whether the reviews are anonymous or attributed. For more details, see the Turnitin help guide on Creating a PeerMark assignment.
Optional Settings
You can add further customisation to the assignment using Optional Settings.
Submission Settings
You can choose to submit papers to
- Standard paper repository
Student papers will be checked against other institutions’ student submissions. - Institution paper repository
Student papers will only be checked against other student papers within your institution. With this setting enabled, if a student from your institution submits a paper matching a paper of a student from another institution, Turnitin will not identify this match. - Do not store the submitted papers
A similarity report will still be generated for paper submissions, but your students’ papers will not be stored in the Turnitin standard paper repository or the institution’s paper repository for future comparison. - Allow submissions of any file type
Select the checkbox to allow all file types – even those that are not supported for generating a Similarity Report. This includes files that include media. - Allow late submissions
Select the checkbox to allow late submissions for the assignment; students will be able to submit papers after the due date. - Enable anonymous marking
Select the checkbox to obscure student names within the assignment inbox, Similarity Report and online grading until the assignment’s feedback release date. Student names may be revealed for an assignment by clicking on the anonymous marking enabled button to reveal the author’s name for the paper. - Enable Translated Matching
If selected, the option allows students to submit content in a non-English language, whilst retaining the ability to match against our vast database of English language content. For more information see the article on Using Translated Matching. - Enable grammar checking using ETS® e-rater® technology
Select to automatically perform checks to an assignment for grammar, usage, mechanics, style and spelling errors; provides in depth feedback with on paper marks. For more information see the Turnitin help article on: Viewing e-rater feedback. - Attach a rubric
Select a rubric from the drop down list or create a new one by clicking Launch Rubric Manager button. See the guidance for details on how to use rubrics in Turnitin.
Similarity Report
Generate Similarity Reports for student submission (drop down menu)
- Generate reports immediately (resubmissions are not allowed)
Originality Reports for all submissions will be generated immediately. Students cannot resubmit papers. If, for any reason, a resubmission is required when this setting is selected, you must manually delete a student’s submission from the assignment inbox to allow the student to submit again. - Generate reports immediately (resubmissions are allowed until due date). After 3 resubmissions reports generate after 24 hours.
This option is typically used when students are self-reviewing and revising their submissions and able to view the Similarity Report. Similarity Reports will be generated immediately for each student’s initial submission to this assignment.- Students may resubmit as often as they wish until the assignment’s due date.
- Similarity Reports for a second or subsequent submission will generate after 24 hours of submission.
- As all previous submissions are removed upon resubmission, only the latest submission is available to both you and the student.
- Similarity Reports will regenerate within an hour of the due date and time to allow student submissions to compare against one another within the assignment.
- This report regeneration may cause a change in a paper’s similarity score. No resubmissions are allowed after the due date and time of the assignment.
- Generate reports on due date (resubmissions are allowed until due date)
Originality Reports will not be generated for any submission until the due date and time of the assignment is reached. Students may resubmit as many times as needed until the due date and time, but will not receive reports during this period. No resubmissions are allowed after the due date and time of the assignment.
- Enable Translated Matching
For non-English language submissions. If enabled, Turnitin will identify the language the paper is written, fully translate the paper to English and text match the resulting English language paper against the databases enabled for the assignment. - Allow students to view Similarity Reports
Select the checkbox to allow your students to view their Similarity Reports for submissions to this assignment. This option gives you more flexibility and control when creating assignments. - Exclude bibliographic materials
Select the checkbox to exclude text appearing in the bibliography, works cited, or references sections of student papers from being checked for matches when generating Originality Reports. You can overwrite this setting in individual Similarity Reports. - Exclude quoted materials
Select the checkbox to exclude quotations from being checked for matches when generating Similarity Reports. You can overwrite this setting in individual Similarity Reports. - Exclude small sources
Select the checkbox to exclude matches that are not of sufficient length (determined by you) from being considered when generating Similarity Reports. A box will appear, where you can exclude matches by word count or by percentage.
Compare against
These search options allow you to select the repositories that students’ submissions will be checked against when processing Similarity Reports for papers. The similarity score may decrease if a repository option is deselected.
Exclude assignment template
If you have provided a template document for your students to follow, these can be excluded from the Similarity Report by uploading the template or copying the text into the Create Custom Template field.
For details see the Turnitin help guide for Exclude Assignment Template.
Additional Settings
Select Save these settings for future use if you wish to reuse the same settings for your future Turnitin Assignments.