¶¡ÏãÔ°AV

Step 1: Create an Account

Instructors:
Contact ceehelp@sfu.ca if you need a turnitin account. Note the course you are teaching in your message. If your TAs are marking papers you will also have to request that they be set up as instructors.

If you were previously a student in a Turnitin course, please notify the help desk as your account will have to be set up in a special way.

Students:
See the ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV Canvas student guide for instructions. 



Step 2: Choose Your Class Type (Class or Master Class)

If you are the only instructor, you will need to create a 'class'. However, if you have TAs who will be marking papers you should create a 'master class'. Note: you will need to give your students the class id and enrollment key generated during this step so that they can access your class.

To create a class:

• Turnitin Getting Started Guide:
• Video: 

To create a master class:

• Turnitin Getting Started Guide: 
• Video: 
   

Step 3: Create an Assignment

Create an assignment to which students can submit their paper  

• Video: 
   

Step 4: Access the Similarity Report

Once students submit their papers, you can check for plagiarism and AI usage using the Similarity Report.

• Video: 
• Video: 

To comply with ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV policy, informed by protection of privacy rules, instructors who use Turnitin are required to:

• State the intent to use Turnitin in their course outline, thereby making it a course requirement, and explain that the consequence of declining to use Turnitin could be an inability to complete the course.
  
  
• Inform students of ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV’s policies with respect to academic integrity, in general, and Turnitin, in particular. See the ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV Calendar Turnitin listing for details.
  
  
• Use Turnitin only for a course and not personal use (e.g., submitting an article that you are peer reviewing). The latter use contravenes ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV’s agreement with Turnitin.Refrain from uploading student data directly to the Turnitin system. This applies equally to class rosters and to student work. Instructors may only submit student work directly to Turnitin that is first anonymized by removing all personal information that would serve to identify the student (i.e., name, student ID number, etc.). B.C. privacy law prohibits instructors from directly entering student information on a system that stores and provides access to personal information outside Canada.
  
  
• Limit dissemination of the code and password used by a student to join a course on the Turnitin site. Only students enrolled in the course are permitted access to the code and password (e.g., it is acceptable to share this information via a login-restricted site like Canvas but not on a public website.)
  
  
• Instructors are further advised that if a student has a serious, principled objection to using Turnitin, the instructor has the discretion to offer an alternative process to the student. Students must, however, give adequate notice and reason for their objection. Students may choose to use an anonymous identity to register with Turnitin, provided they inform the instructor of their decision and provide sufficient information for the instructor to reconnect the anonymous, pseudo identity with the student’s actual identity, outside Turnitin. Details for doing this are given in the instructions to students for using Turnitin. See Turnitin: Overview for Students.

The written work submitted via Turnitin is collected by ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV under the authority of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (RSBC 1996, c.165), the University Act (RSBC 1996, c.468), and the University’s Academic Honesty and Student Conduct Policies . It is related directly to and needed by the University to determine originality, possible use of AI, and detect plagiarism in submitted written work.

Students will be required to create an account with Turnitin, and to submit their work via that account, on the terms stipulated in the agreement between the student and Turnitin. This agreement includes the retention of your submitted work as part of the Turnitin database. Any student with a concern about using the Turnitin service may opt to use an anonymous identity in their interactions with Turnitin. Students who do not intend to use Turnitin in the standard manner must notify the instructor at least two weeks in advance of any submission deadline. In particular, it is the responsibility of any student using the anonymous option (i.e., false name and temporary email address created for the purpose) to inform the instructor such that the instructor can match up the anonymous identity with the student.

For more information, see the Protection of Privacy section of the ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV calendar.

Does the ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV Turnitin license also cover use by ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV staff and ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV prospective students?

• No, only persons registered in an ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV course can use the Turnitin site license.

Can I submit a paper to Turnitin myself?

• No, our license with Turnitin only covers instructional use, not instructors submitting papers. You can also not submit student papers yourself to Turnitin as this contravenes the Turnitin privacy policy.

Is there an email acknowledgment after submitting a paper so that a student can use the email as proof of submission?

• Yes, once a paper is submitted, a paper ID number is generated on screen. The student can write down this number or print the screen. An email is also sent to the student (see the Turnitin training video: ).

Can the cover page be excluded from originality checking? Or can a certain page be excluded?

• No, the entire paper is scanned. However there are options in the report to exclude specific matches or quoted material.

Is there a Web form to ensure the same format is used for all submitted papers? If not, how can I make sure that the submitted papers have the desired format?

• There is no Web form, however Turnitin accepts multiple formats including MS Word, WordPerfect, RTF, PDF (text), PostScript, HTML and plain text (.txt). It also allows for a copy and paste window for any other format.

Can you use Turnitin for thesis or academic dissertations?

• Unfortunately use with academic theses and dissertations is not covered by ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV's Turnitin license. Paid alternatives include:  or

Please note the following considerations when adding students to your class:

• Student rosters should not be directly uploaded to the Turnitin system. While technically possible, compliance with B.C. privacy law prohibits instructors from directly entering student information on a system that stores and provides access to personal information outside Canada. Instead, direct your students to register with Turnitin on their own.
• The class id and enrollment key should not be provided publicly (e.g., it is okay to put this information in a Canvas course or other restricted site requiring CAS login, but not on the open internet). Public exposure of the class id and enrollment key contravenes ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV’s agreement with Turnitin. Note - if you have a master class, each section will have its own class id and section enrollment key. 
• Once provided with the class id and enrollment key, students should be advised to go to the Turnitin site to