Skip to Main Content

Turnitin - Student

Submit your work

What is it?

For most text-based assignments, you will be required to submit your work via Turnitin. This is a similarity checking software that examines your work against other work. 

Similarity is not necessarily bad; for example, if you have quoted material, we would expect that to be the same as the source. If you are referencing an academic article, it’s likely that others have also referenced the same article, so the entry in your bibliography will be the same as others. 

It is also the tool that staff will use to give you feedback on your work

What should I know?

 

Preparing your work

Turnitin accepts a limited number of file types. You are recommended to use Microsoft Word in most cases. In addition, the work must contain more than twenty words, be less than 100MB and less than eight hundred pages.

  • If the work is set to be marked anonymously, make sure you do not have your name in the file anywhere.
  • To ensure you don’t upload the incorrect file, develop a clear naming convention for example: StudentID_ModuleCode_AssignmentTitle

If you do not have Word installed, you can use your University account to install it on your own device

 

pdf Files

In several instances, you may find a pdf file more useful than Word. For example:

  • If you are using Apple Pages (an incompatible file type with Turnitin) use Export to PDF. Do not use Export to Word.
  • If you have a Word document that has a lot of formatting and/or you have a lot of embedded images, use Word’s “Save as” and select PDF.

(In both cases, if your tutor has explicitly asked for a Word document, speak to them before converting!)

Do not use a scanner and scan a printed document to PDF. This will generate an image pdf, but Turnitin will read it only as an image. If you have work that you need to scan and to submit to Turnitin, talk to your tutor in the first instance and consider creating a coversheet that includes the minimum word count (20 words)

 

Upload your work

Step 1: Navigate to the assessment area in course content.

Step 2: Select the Turnitin assessment link for your module.

Step 3: Click Launch from the side panel that will appear.

Step 4: From the assessment dashboard, click Upload Submission.

screenshotStep 5: Enter your submission title. If you have been given specific instructions (e.g. "Use your student ID", then make sure you do that. While you have the option to add text directly, or to use a cloud submission, you are strongly advised to use the Upload option.

Click choose file, and browse to your chosen file. Click Upload and review.

Submit file offers the choice of a file upload, entering text directly, or a cloud submission.

Step 6: Use the review tab to double check you have uploaded the correct file.

It's a good idea to look at all of the pages of your submission to ensure all of the required elements from your assessment are present (e.g. coversheet, title, bibliography, etc.).

Step 7: Select Confirm when you are ready to submit.

Step 8: We strongly recommend that once you have done this, you download a submission receipt. This will be important later on if there are any issues as it contains proof of your submission and time.