Info for Students

What is Turnitin?

Turnitin is one of the tools used by the University of Tasmania to help staff and students manage issues related to academic integrity.

Turnitin provides a text matching system, which compares a submitted assignment with text located in its databases of internet pages, published works, and submitted papers. It produces a report, using colour to highlight matched text and giving information about matches. Turnitin does not differentiate between correctly acknowledged text and unacknowledged copying. Therefore, Turnitin cannot identify plagiarism, but only highlight where care may need to be taken to correctly acknowledge the work of others.

It is extremely unusual for Turnitin not to detect some matching text in an assignment. Usually sections of the reference list will match with other documents, as will commonly used phrases. Direct quotes will be identified as matching text by Turnitin, if they are contained within a document in Turnitin's™ databases. Turnitin's databases do not contain all written works, therefore, there is no guarantee that text is original, even if Turnitin does not detect a match with another author's work.

How do I access Turnitin?

Students at UTAS can access the Turnitin comparison software in two ways, via (1) the Academic Honesty Module or by (2) formal submission to a unit for assessment.

1. The Academic Honesty Module in MyLO

2. The Academic Honesty Module was created to assist students develop their skills in appropriately acknowledging the work of others in their written work. This service can be accessed from your list of MyLO units on your MyLO home page, or directly, with authentication, to Academic Honesty.

   The Academic Honesty Module also contains valuable information on how to correctly use Turnitin as well as great hints and tips on how to improve your academic writing skills. There is also a section on what students can expect if they are charged with committing academic misconduct or plagiarism.

   All students can now submit their work to Turnitin, independent of the assessment requirements of their units by submitting through the Academic Honesty Module in MyLO.

   This service compares work submitted to Turnitin's three (3) databases. However, the amount of your work highlighted by this service is likely to be less than when your assignment is compared with all other student submissions in your unit.

   Be aware - Your completed assessment work must always be submitted to your unit's MyLO site.
3. By formal assignment submission
4. This must be done through the UTAS unit that requires the assignment as part of the units assessment process