Turnitin Recommended Practice - myUCA

Using Turnitin as a formative learning tool to improve
student academic writing
Levels of Practice for FE, UG, PG and Research students
FE Process:
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Students are introduced to Turnitin by CTX staff and shown a copy of the
Originality Report during this introduction.
2 x Turnitin Assignments areas are set up in the unit on myUCA in the first
instance. The first Turnitin Assignment is the ‘Practice Essay Submission’
where students are able to submit a draft to Turnitin in the course on myUCA and
obtain an originality report. No limit is set for how many drafts they submit. Each
new submission overwrites the previous.
The second Assignment is the ‘Final Essay Submission’ where students submit
the final draft to Turnitin in the course on myUCA and obtain the originality
report. Students are asked to print out the first page of the originality report and
submit this with the hard copy version.
UG Process:
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Stage 1 and 2:
Students are introduced to Turnitin by course teams and either set a task around
using Turnitin or shown a copy of an Originality Report.
For each written assignment, a Turnitin area is set up in the unit on myUCA
(N.B It may be necessary to set up draft Turnitin assignment areas, so that
students can test their understanding of plagiarism and improve on current
practice)
Students are asked to pass their written work through Turnitin before handing in their
final paper submission. Once these have been marked, formative feedback is then given
by the relevant tutor. The Originality Report can be used as one of the methods to help
with this feedback.
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Stage 3:
2 x Turnitin Assignment areas are set up on myUCA in the first instance:
The first is the ‘Draft Dissertation Submission’ where students submit a draft of
their dissertation. They obtain one originality report on this draft which is then
discussed formatively at a draft feedback tutorial.
The second is the ‘Final Dissertation Submission’ where students pass their final
draft through Turnitin before giving in their final paper submission. Only the
course tutor has access to these originality reports.
PG Process:
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Students are introduced to Turnitin (and the originality report) by academic and
academic support staff.
Turnitin Assignment areas to be setup for all final written submissions (i.e Essay,
Research Paper, Critical Paper / Dissertation) on myUCA.
At least 1 of these assignment areas should be for a draft submission (i.e Draft
Research Submission or Draft Critical Paper submission). They obtain one

originality report on this draft which is then discussed formatively at the draft
feedback tutorial.
Research:
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At the applicant stage, all PhD proposals to go through Turnitin (this will be a
diagnostic stage to test the academic integrity of the work submitted)
All research students to have a short introduction to Turnitin as part of the
Research Induction Programme (with a more in depth session as part of the
ARM).
3 Turnitin assignments should be set up to test the different milestones on the
PhD journey :
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Research Plan Approval stage
Transfer to PhD stage
First draft of the thesis
It is recommended that each Turnitin Assignment area set up on myUCA links to the
Academic Integrity web pages www.ucreative.ac.uk/academicintegrity . This area
contains useful information for students on using Turnitin, referencing correctly and
avoiding Plagiarism.
Note: Turnitin is a formative tool to enhance assessment and feedback practice. If
there are any doubts as to the academic integrity of the written work, staff can view the
Originality Report in Turnitin.