Using Turnitin FAQ

Q. Is the Canvas Assignments tool integrated with Turnitin for similarity checking?

A. Yes, Canvas has a so-called 'Plagiarism Framework', which enables seamless ‘deep integration’ with Turnitin. Oxford University policy allows Canvas to be used for formative assessment only – the separate system Inspera is used for summative coursework submissions and exams.

Please refer to the Oxford staff guide: Using Turnitin within Canvas

You may also wish to access the Canvas Plagiarism Framework guides:
For teachers: Assignment setup Links to an external site.:
For students: Accessing the similarity report Links to an external site.

  • Create an assignment in Canvas in the usual way, and select the options Submission type: Online, and tick the box for File Uploads. That will open the Plagiarism Review panel.
  • Select Turnitin and more options for formative assessment: Do not save student submissions; Allow students to see the report 'Immediately'.
  • When the student submits their assignment, it will go automatically (behind the scenes) to be screened by Turnitin and the originality report will be delivered into the Canvas interface, for both the student and teacher to access.
  • Teachers should invoke the Canvas Speedgrader to access the colour-coded Turnitin report icon.
  • Although Turnitin has its own built-in grading and feedback tool (Feedback Studio), we recommend using the Canvas Speedgrader tool, which allows annotation of the student submission, as well as options to provide overall feedback via text, audio, video and speech-to-text..

Note: A student may make use of parts of their own formative work (that has already been submitted via Canvas) when submitting summative work later (via the online exams system Inspera). If their original work had been saved in the common Turnitin repository, it would be flagged up as a match (and possibly considered as 'self-plagiarism'). Such a match may be excluded by the person viewing the Turnitin report Links to an external site., but examiners may not be aware of that option.

Therefore Oxford University Proctors advise that to avoid such a situation, the "Do not store submissions" option should be selected when creating a formative Canvas assignment.

Q. What happens to a Turnitin-enabled assignment in Canvas when the Turnitin system is down for maintenance?

A. Turnitin notifies the University of expected downtimes for system maintenance. Any assignment submissions received during the maintenance should be processed by Turnitin automatically after the maintenance period is over. If these are not processed automatically, then the teachers or administrators will need to click the Resubmit option which would appear under the submissions in the Speedgrader. This would force the files to be processed by Turnitin when it is available again.

Refer to the Canvas guide: How to use Speedgrader Links to an external site.