Turnitin Assignments in Blackboard

Turnitin can help identify unoriginal or un-paraphrased content in written submissions. The tool generates a "similarity report" indicating the percentage of the submission that matches existing content in Turnitin's repositories.

The Office of Academic Affairs offers policy guidance on using Turnitin and a recommended syllabus statement instructors can use to notify students that they are using Turnitin.

1 Create Turnitin Assignments
- 1.1 Enter Assignment Details
  - 1.1.1 Configure the assignment
  - 1.1.2 Start Date
  - 1.1.3 Due Date
  - 1.1.4 Feedback Release Date
  - 1.1.5 Grading and Feedback
  - 1.1.6 Submission settings
- 1.2 Attach a Rubric
- 1.3 Choose Report Settings
2 Submit on behalf of student
3 Grant Student Extension
4 Turnitin AI Detection No Longer Available
5 Additional Turnitin Resources

Create Turnitin Assignments

Navigate to the location where you want the Turnitin assignment to appear. Click on the purple “+” sign in your course content area and select "Content Market" from the drop down list. If adding the Turnitin Assignment inside of a folder/module, be sure to expand the folder/module by clicking on it. Select the purple “+” icon and “Content Market” from within the respective folder/module.

image of drop down menu with content market outlined in rectangle

Select the "Turnitin tile" from the content market options.

image of turnitin tile in the content market of blackboard

Enter Assignment Details

A Turnitin page will open and default to the Assignment Details tab.

turnitin tabs - assignment details - rubric - report settings.png

Configure the assignment

Enter a Title (required) and Instructions. Select the upload template button if you would like to upload an assignment template that students can download and use. Any text included in the template is automatically excluded from similarity reports.

Turnitin Assignment Details Tab - add title and instructions.png

Start Date

This creates a release condition that defines when students will be able to open the assignment. In your content area, the Turnitin assignment will appear with the due date displayed. The start date you set in Turnitin automatically creates a release condition that controls when students can access the assignment. If the start date is in the future, students will see a link but won’t be able to view details or launch the assignment.

Hover over the "Date/Time" link to view student access settings
Click the "Date/Time" link to edit the release conditions and/or restrict access to specific students/groups.
- Click Save to make your changes stick.

Arrow pointing to Date and time to the right of release conditions

Release conditions window with options to select all members and change date-time

Due Date

This defines the deadline for student submissions.

To edit any of the assignment settings, e.g., due date, max grade, or category, click the "three dot" menu and select “Edit”
To delete the assignment, select delete from the menu. Be sure to click Save to make sure your changes stick.
Select Student Progress (if you have enabled this Progress Tracking in your course) to see if and when a student has accessed this item.

Turnitin Assignment three dot menu expanded to show menu options Edit - Student Progress - Delete.png

assignment settings fields that can be edited.png

Turnitin assignment Student Progress window showing progress status.png

Feedback Release Date

This is the date and time when the grade will post automatically in Blackboard and when the student will be able to see feedback and their grade for their Turnitin assignment. Before this date, students will not be able to see any feedback that you have entered.

Grading and Feedback

Add a max points for the assignment. Choose to select hide student details for anonymous grading to support anonymous grading workflows. Student names will be anonymized in the submission list and in the report view. Turnitin’s Attach a rubric tool will allow you to add/create a rubric to provide clear expectations, structured feedback and consistent evaluation for the assignment.

Submission settings

Allow late submissions: this allows students to submit once after the due date has passed if they have not yet submitted before the due date
Allow resubmissions until due date: Students are limited to three submissions every 24 hours
Allow unsupported file types: Students may submit any file type, including files that are not supported in generating similarity reports

After the first student submission to the assignment, most Turnitin configuration settings (e.g., rubric, start date) cannot be edited. You may need to recreate the assignment and have students resubmit if major changes are needed.

turnitin submissions settings options.png

Create Assignment

Select the “Create Assignment” button to complete the creation of the assignment. The Turnitin assignment will appear in your content area with the due date displayed.

Attach a Rubric

When setting up rubrics, you’ll see two options:

Rubric tab page options - create rubric and launch rubric manager buttons.png

Create Rubric: allows you to quickly build a rubric using a setup wizard where you will be guided through a sequence of steps to complete the creation of the rubric.

Launch Rubric Manager: will open the full Rubric/Form manager that allows you to import rubrics, search for rubrics that you have already created, edit rubrics and create a new rubric. By default, the rubric manager will display all of the rubrics that you own.

In the rubric manager you can select the kebab menu (three dots) of an individual rubric to access more options. You can view a breakdown of the different menu options on their Managing rubrics and grading forms page.

rubric manager - three dot menu options.png

For a more detailed overview of Rubrics in Turnitin, please refer to their official guide on Types of Rubrics and grading forms.

Choose Report Settings

Turnitin Report Settings tab selected.png

The report settings control how similarity reports are generated and what content they compare against. Turnitin provides an overview of each of the submission settings in their report settings guide.

Submit on behalf of student

Access the assignment
Locate the student’s row and select the kabob (three dot) menu at the end of the row
Select Submit File

Turnitin Submission list - three dot menu select submit file from menu.png

Select Browse to find the file OR drag and drop the file for submission
Enter a submission title
Select Upload and Preview
Select Submit

Grant Student Extension

You may allow additional time for a student to submit to a turnitin assignment. To grant an extention:

Access the assignment
Locate the student’s row and select the kabob (three dot) menu at the end of the row
Select Grant Extention

Turnitin sbumission page - grant individual student extention.png

In the window, designate a number of days or hours to extend the due date.
Select Confirm.

For instructors, the granted extension is visible next to the student’s name.

Turnitin student row shows extention time granted.png

Turnitin AI Detection No Longer Available

The free preview of the Turnitin AI Detection Tool has expired as of Jan. 1, 2024. Due to concerns about the reliability of this tool and the significant cost, ITS has decided not to license this tool at this time. The standard plagiarism detections tools will continue to be available via Turnitin.

For more information read Online Learning Services' statement on AI writing detection.

If you have any further questions about AI writing tools and technology, please contact the Online Learning Services team at help@syr.edu.

Policy questions about academic integrity should be directed to the Center for Learning and Student Success (CLASS)

Additional Turnitin Resources

Types of Rubrics and grading forms

Managing rubrics and grading forms

Detailed overview of a Turnitin assignment report settings

Submit on behalf of the student

Download a PDF of the grading and feedback report

Navigating the grading and feedback studio

Turnitin Known Issues