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What is Turnitin?
Turnitin is a tool designed to promote academic honesty and help students develop strong research and writing skills. By understanding how it works, you can use it effectively to ensure the integrity of your work and enhance your learning experience.
What does Turnitin do?
- • Checks for plagiarism: When you submit an assignment through Turnitin, it compares your work against a massive database of other student papers, websites, and publications. This helps identify any instances where your text might be too similar to existing sources.
- • Generates an Originality Report: This report highlights any sections in your paper that match other sources and provides a similarity score. This score indicates the percentage of your paper that Turnitin flags as potentially unoriginal.
- • Helps you learn: Turnitin isn't just about catching plagiarism. It can be a valuable learning tool. By seeing which parts of your paper might need better citation or paraphrasing, you can improve your academic writing skills and understanding of proper source use.
How it works for you?
- • Submission: Your instructor will set up an assignment in Turnitin, and you'll submit your paper electronically through the platform.
- • Originality Report: After processing your paper, Turnitin generates the Originality Report. You may or may not be able to see this report, depending on your instructor's settings.
- • Feedback: Your instructor can use Turnitin's feedback tools to provide comments and grades on your work, often alongside the Originality Report.
Important points to remember:
- Similarity doesn't always mean plagiarism: Turnitin might flag text that is properly quoted and cited. It's essential to understand the report and ensure you've correctly attributed all sources.
- Focus on learning: Use Turnitin as an opportunity to improve your understanding of academic integrity and proper citation practices.
- Ask your instructor: If you have any questions about Turnitin or the Originality Report, don't hesitate to ask your instructor for clarification.
Additional Resources:
Support:
For additional support, please contact the COLTT Help Desk at 956-665-5327 or 882-6792.