Turnitin is an originality checker and plagiarism detection tool that evaluates students' written assignments and identifies citation mistakes or inappropriate copying. At ALU, Turnitin has been integrated into Canvas LMS to allow faculty set Turnitin assignments and assess students' progress in writing using Turnitin reports.

Creating an assignment with Turnitin

Step 1: Create a new assignment.

Step 2: Under Submission Type, select 'External Tool,' then click on the 'Find' button.

Step 3: Choose 'Turnitin LTI' and click on the 'Select' button

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Step 4: Finalize your assignment's details and save the changes.

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Turnitin assignment settings

Because Canvas houses the Turnitin LTI, assignment settings like Instructions, Max Grade, Start Date, and Due Date do not typically require you to edit them in the Turnitin LTI window. "Feedback Release Date" is an important setting to determine when

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Important Optional settings

'Optional Settings' allow you to further customize the assignment. For instance, you can determine whether students are able to view the similarity report after they have submitted their work or allow them to submit work after the due date. For more information about 'Optional Settings' on Turnitin, visit this link.

After making the changes, scroll to the bottom of the settings page and click the Submit button to save your settings.

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Additional considerations

Rubrics

Canvas is currently unable to display an assignment rubric when an external tool like Turnitin LTI is set as the submission type. While Canvas is unable to display the rubric, it is possible to attach one to the assignment and grade submissions in the Speedgrader using the rubric. To create Turnitin assignments with Canvas rubrics, follow the steps below

Create an assignment with the submission type "No submission",
Attach a Canvas rubric and save the assignment. The rubric should be visible on the assignment page.
Take a screenshot of the rubric. You will later add the screenshot to the assignment description to make the rubric visible to students.
Click "Edit" on the assignment page.
Change the submission type to "Turnitin LTI".
Add the screenshot of the rubric to the end of the assignment description.
Save your changes.

Upon saving the change in submission type, you will find that the rubric is no longer visible. It is still attached to the assignment. However, the screenshot you attached should be visible to students. You will also be able to grade assignments with the rubric in Speedgrader.

Group work

Canvas does not currently support group work with Turnitin assignments.

The video below demonstrates setting up a Turnitin assignment.