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This refers to Moodle 3.4  from July 2018 onwards

How to use Turnitin through Moodle

Turnitin is an online service to which the University subscribes. It enables the text matching of submitted texts against an extensive library of visible internet pages, journals, periodicals etc. and student essays previously submitted. It is a tool for use in preventing plagiarism. Staff and students can access an Originality Report which indicates the percentage of text matched, i.e. the percentage that is thought to have been copied as well as the suspected sources.

Check your Module or Course Handbook for information on how to submit assignments through Moodle. This may be through a link on the Moodle page for your module or it may be in a separate Moodle site set up by your School. The TEST YOUR TEXT space in Moodle (access it by clicking on the link at the very top of your Moodle page) allows students to test their assignments by uploading them to receive an originality report for their own use before they submit the assignment for real.

To test a text BEFORE you submit it to your assignment dropbox

  1. Click on the Hamburger icon on the top right corner to bring up the drop menu.
  2. Scroll down and click TEST YOUR TEXT
  3. Click "Participate in this module" (you will be enrolled for 1 week, long enough to test your text: you can re-enrol if you need to)
  4. Click on the Turnitin assignment labelled for your campus, and with the highest number
  5. Check back to see the Originality report. Note: You can get only 1 originality report per 24 hours.

Turnitin document formats accepted

Please follow your module convenor's instructions for how to upload a file to Turnitin, as requirements vary depending on your School. The following file types are accepted:

  • Microsoft Word™ (DOC and DOCX)
  • Corel WordPerfect®
  • HTML
  • Adobe PostScript®
  • Plain text (TXT)
  • Rich Text Format (RTF)
  • Portable Document Format (PDF)  Recommended format
  • Hangul (HWP)

NOTE: Other formats may be accepted by Turnitin BUT WILL NOT GENERATE A REPORT (e.g. Apple .pages documents)

Your document must be:

  • less than 20 MB
  • less than 400 pages
  • More than 25 words
  • PDFs must not be scans (images)

For full guidance please check the Turnitin (& Moodle) assignment submission checklist

To upload a document into Turnitin via Moodle

NOTE: If you have been asked to submit an assignment through Moodle then you should find a Turnitin dropbox in your module or other Moodle space.

You MUST have popups enabled in your browser order to submit.  (See Moodle System Requirements)

1. Login to Moodle using your University username and password.

2. Enter the module that you would like to submit an assignment in, either your module or the TurnitinUK, test your text module

3. Alternatively, in the Dashboard click the burger icon on the top right corner of your screen to bring up the drop menu, click on Site home, type a keyword (e.g., module name or “TurnitinUK”) in the search box and click Go

4. Go to the relevant link for the assignment – it will have the Turnitin icon .

5. Within the Turnitin dashboard towards the bottom right of the page click on Submit Paper

6. A pop up window will appear where you can add your file. Enter details in the Submission Title window. If you are using Chrome, Firefox or IE10 (and above) you will be able to drag your document into the File to Submit section. Alternatively you can press the icon on the top left of this section to upload the file the traditional way.

If you select this way then another pop up window will generate. Press the ‘Choose File’ button in the centre top of the screen. Select your file from your device and then press Upload this file. The document should appear in the File to Submit section.

7. There is an own work and copyright infringement declaration checkbox in the next section which will need to be ticked. Once that has been ticked, click the Add Submission button below.

The screen will change momentarily and will say ‘uploading to Turnitin’:

8. The screen will then change once more and a digital receipt will generate. The digital receipt contains a Turnitin submission id, which you should make a note of. An extract of your submission will also appear below. Click Close in the top right hand of pop up window.

9. The pop up window will close and you will be returned to the Turnitin dashboard. However, you should now see within the Submitted column the date of when you submitted your assignment. You will also see the Paper ID of your assignment.


I have submitted the wrong coursework to Turnitin for assessment. What can I do?

This depends on how the Turnitin dropbox is set up by your lecturer/module convenor.

If you have submitted your assignment well in advance then you may still be able to resubmit up to the due date. If this is not possible, you should contact your School office, module convenor or lecturer to let them know as soon as possible.

Note that if you resubmit the same text to a different dropbox (e.g., in a different module) then it may come up as a 100% match because of the first submission.

To resubmit follow the steps above

In the dropbox you will see the existing submission but can still click Submit paper


See also


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