UMass Boston

What is Turnitin?

Turnitin is a plagiarism prevention tool. Turnitin compares text-based student submissions to the Turnitin database and other online sources. The Turnitin database includes periodicals, journal articles, web content, and previously submitted student papers from many universities.

Turnitin AI Detection Not Available

Please note that Turnitin at UMass Boston does not include AI detection services. You can learn more about AI detection at UMass Boston here. 

How does Turnitin work?

Turnitin produces a detailed similarity report that can be customized and viewed by instructors and students if desired. Additionally, instructors have the ability to record voice comments in Feedback Studio for ease of grading. Students can also use Turnitin to check their own work with the Turnitin Draft Coach add-on in Google Workspace.

Note that Turnitin does not automatically confirm cases of plagiarism. Ultimately, interpretation of similarity reports is up to the discretion of the instructor. The tool is best implemented as one of many efforts to educate students about plagiarism and improve student writing.

Turnitin and Privacy

  • Turnitin does not share any personally identifiable student information (name, email address, score, school) and only archives student papers for textual comparison purposes.
  • Turnitin is a secure service which “maintains extremely high levels of privacy and security through the use of SSL encryption, redundant servers, sophisticated firewalls, multiple data centers, and privacy and security audits.”
  • “Turnitin complies with FERPA, COPPA, the Safe Harbor privacy and security standards.”
  • Read more about Turnitin’s privacy policy.

Instructor Resources

Turnitin is integrated with Canvas. To learn more about how to use Turnitin with Canvas, review the following Knowledge Base resources:

Turnitin Feedback Studio VidBITs

Turnitin’s pedagogy and product experts have partnered to create short videos that feature best practices for educational settings. These quick clips highlight essential features, effective shortcuts, and helpful feedback tools to extend your reach in the classroom.

Student Resources

The following resources can be shared with your students.

Turnitin Resources

Writing Resources

Getting Help with Turnitin

Other Resources