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This guide will walk you through the process of setting up Turnitin for your Canvas assignments to detect potential plagiarism and AI use in student submissions.
1 Create or Edit an Assignment
First, you'll need to either create a new assignment or edit an existing one in Canvas. Navigate to your course and select the "Assignments" tab to begin.
2 Configure Submission Type
In the assignment settings, ensure that Submission Type is set to Online, and that Online Entry Options are set to Text Entry and/or File Uploads.
Both Text Entry and File Uploads submissions will generate Turnitin similarity reports. Ensure at least one of these options is selected.
3 Select Turnitin from Plagiarism Review
From the Plagiarism Review drop-down menu, select Turnitin Similarity.
4 Configure Turnitin Settings
The current Turnitin settings interface has been simplified. By default, the system is configured with the recommended settings:
- Store submissions: Yes (default)
- Index all submissions: Selected by default to compare against other student work and Turnitin's comprehensive database
- Show similarity reports to students: Available immediately by default
The originality/plagiarism report will generate regardless of document size. However, for the AI detection report to be included, the submitted work must be at least 300 words (this is a Turnitin requirement).
For more information about these settings, check out Canvas Turnitin Assignment Settings.
5 Save the Assignment
After configuring all settings, click the "Save" or "Update" button to save the assignment with Turnitin enabled.
i Understanding Similarity & AI Reports
The similarity score is a percentage of a paper's content that matches Turnitin's databases. It is not an assessment of whether the paper includes plagiarized material.
Read more about Understanding the Similarity Report.
You can access the similarity report for students' submissions from within Speedgrader.
AI Detection Report
Turnitin also provides an AI detection report that identifies content potentially generated by AI tools like ChatGPT. To access and interpret this report, refer to Turnitin's Guide to AI Writing Detection.
Remember: The AI detection report is only generated for submissions containing at least 300 words.
For more assistance with grading, check out this guide: Instructors: How do I grade Turnitin assignments in Speedgrader?