Topic Overview

This document describes how to create a Turnitin assignment in Blackboard

Steps

1. Enter a content area within your Blackboard course
   
   
2. Under the Build Content tab, click on Turnitin
   
   
   
   

3. Turnitin will open within Blackboard frame. Give the assignment a title and grade value. Instructions are optional.

   Instruction Character Limit

   There is a 750 character limit for creating instructions in Turnitin. The system will allow you to enter more than 750 characters, but it will truncate your text to 750 characters when you hit submit. Editing the item in Blackboard Original courses will allow you to expand the description, but the full description will never populate in the Turnitin interface. It is also possible to attach a file to the Turnitin item in Blackboard Original View, but those attachments are stripped if the item is copied to an Ultra Course.
4. Complete the fields: In Blackboard, the post date relates to the availability of GradeMark papers only and has no bearing on when grades are posted to the Blackboard Gradebook
   
   1. Select start date (when the assignment will be available to the students)
   2. Select due date (when students must have the assignment submitted)
   3. Enter post date (when you will have feedback/grades posted for the students)
5. Before posting the assignment, click on the Optional Settings to select additional instructions
   
   Special Instructions
   Originality Reports: the paper is compared to Turnitin's primary databases. Turnitin then generates an originality report, which indicates whether the student properly cited all sources and if additional measures or help may be warranted

   1. Choose originality reports options: Select one of the following options from the Generate Originality Reports for student submissions pull-down menu to determine when Originality Reports will be generated
      Immediately (first report is final) — This option generates reports immediately after the student has submitted a file. Students may only submit one file for review, and are not allowed to resubmit work for the assignment until the instructor deletes the student's previous submission
      Immediately (can overwrite reports until due date) —This option allows students to resubmit files as many times as they like up to the due date, replacing the previous submission each time. Originality Reports are generated immediately for the first file each student submits, but will require a 24-hour processing time thereafter
      On due date —This option delays the processing of Originality Reports until the due date

   2. How to interpret the Originality Report?
      The color of the report icon indicates the overall similarity index of the paper, based on the amount of matching or similar text that was uncovered. The percentage range is 0% to 100%
      The possible similarity indices are:
      blue - no matching text
      green - one word to 24% matching text
      yellow - 25-49% matching text
      orange - 50-74% matching text
      red -75-100% matching text

   3. Exclude bibliographic materials and Exclude quoted materials: select whether to include or exclude the bibliography and quoted material from the Similarity Index for all papers submitted (assignment level). The default for this assignment setting is to include the bibliography and quoted material.  Instructors still retain the ability to exclude or include the bibliography and quoted material within an Originality Report

   4. Exclude small matches: ie. there are two options, either by word count or by percentage. Have greater control on sifting out smaller matches, allowing focus to be on more problematic and suspect matches within the Originality Report

   5. Allow students to see Originality Reports

   6. Allow Submissions after due date: allows late submissions, but resubmissions are not allowed after the due date has passed
      
      

   7. Reveal grades to students only on post date

   8. Submit paper to: standard, institution, student choice, no repository

   9. Search options: student paper repository, institution paper repository, current and archived internet, periodicals, journals, & publications
      student paper repository - works previously submitted in classes and assignments on Turnitin by all Turnitin users
      institution paper repository - works previously submitted to the Syracuse University repository
      current and archived internet - a repository of archived and live publicly available internet pages containing billions of pages of existing content and tens of thousands of new pages added daily
      periodicals, journals, & publications - third party periodical, journal, and publication content including many major professional journals, periodicals, and business publications

6. Click Submit. The Turnitin assignment has been created. You can now access the assignment inbox by clicking on the assignment name
   
   
7. For each Turnitin assignment created, a column will automatically generate in the Gradebook

Sources and Relevant Links

Turnitin - Creating a Turnitin Assignment — Click on the "original view" tab to see information relevant to the Syracuse University Blackboard configuration.