Overview
This article provides a general introduction to Turnitin for faculty using Brightspace. It explains what Turnitin is, how it is used in Brightspace, and what instructors can do with Similarity Reports and AI writing detection.
Information
What is Turnitin?
Turnitin is Villanova's academic integrity platform for plagiarism detection and AI writing detection. It is integrated with Brightspace, so instructors can use Turnitin within the assignment workflow without a separate login.
What can faculty do with Turnitin?
- Enable Similarity Reports for assignment submissions.
- Review matched text and source overlap in student papers.
- Access AI writing detection information where available.
How does Turnitin work in Brightspace?
- Create or edit an assignment in Brightspace.
- Open the Evaluation & Feedback section.
- Select Manage Turnitin to enable Turnitin options for the assignment.
- Choose whether to enable Similarity Reports and student visibility of reports.
- Save the assignment so students can submit through the normal Brightspace assignment workflow.
What should instructors know before using Turnitin?
- Students submit through Brightspace. They do not need a separate Turnitin account.
- A Similarity Report shows matching text and sources, but the percentage alone does not determine whether plagiarism occurred.
- AI writing detection is a reporting tool and should be reviewed carefully in context.
Next steps
- Create a Brightspace assignment.
- Enable Turnitin for the Assignment
- Decide whether students should be able to view Similarity Reports.
- Review submissions in Turnitin after students submit their work.
- Use Feedback Studio if you want to provide inline feedback and grading.
Note: Turnitin should be used as one part of an instructor's review process. Similarity and AI writing indicators should always be interpreted in context.
Additional Resources