How to use TurnItIn

Your midterm and final must be submitted to TurnItIn before you hand in a hard copy in class. I will not accept papers that have not already been submitted to TurnItIn. This is for your benefit.

Turnitin will provide an “originality report” comparing your paper to on-line sources as well as papers from the past that it has stored in its databases. In the case that you forget to cite a passage, it should alert you to the passage that you should make sure you quote and reference. Most papers should consist of 5-15% quoted and/or referenced material and 85-95% original material.

TurnItIn does NOT catch plagiarism. Only I do that.

To use TurnItIn, you must register with our course folder. If you do not already have a TurnItIn password, go to TurnItIn.com and click the ’New Users’ link in the upper right corner.

Select ‘Student’ as a user type, and enter the following information to register for Phil 101D:

Class ID: 2142969
Password: ThinkHard

This information is also listed in the course syllabus.

It will then ask for your email address, and to create a password. Use your @uiuc.edu email address, but DO NOT use the same password that you use for the course website. Remember this password. It will also ask for a secret question in case you forget your password, and for your name. Be sure to use your name as it appears on the class roster.

You are now registered with TurnItIn. Once you have logged in, you will see Phil101E listed among your courses.

Select Phil 101E, and you will see the Midterm is ready to take your submissions. If you click on ‘Midterm’, the exact due date and time are listed.

Notice the paper is due at the beginning of class on March 13, as stated in the syllabus. Papers turned in at 10:31am will be marked late.

To submit a paper, select the ‘Submit’ icon.

You can submit your paper as many times as you want prior to the due date. After your first submission, you will immediately receive an ‘Originality report’. To access the report, click on the ‘Portfolio’ icon after you have submitted your paper.

Then, click on the report indicator in your portfolio. (Note: it may take a few minutes for TurnItIn to generate a report)

This will tell you how your paper compares to other papers on the internet and in TurnItIn\’s database. If you find that you have forgotten to cite a source or quotation, you can correct your mistake and resubmit your paper to TurnItIn. However, after your first submission, you must wait 24 hours before receiving a new Originality Report. This means that you should be prepared to make these corrections well in advance of the due date.

I should again stress that TurnItIn is not the last word on plagiarism. It makes many false positives, and it may fail to catch certain instances of cheating. It is merely a resource to help both the student and the instructor in preparing their materials. If you have any questions, please talk to me.