Turnitin: Use Turnitin with Assignments in Brightspace

Use Turnitin with Assignments in Brightspace

Learn how to create a Brightspace assignment, enable Turnitin Similarity Reports, and provide feedback using QuickMarks and rubrics.

• Create an assignment and set submission requirements.
• Configure similarity checking and student access to reports.
• Review submissions, add feedback, and publish grades.

Review similarity results and feedback status from the assignment submissions page.

Before you begin

Decide whether you will grade in Brightspace or use Turnitin Feedback Studio. You can use Turnitin for similarity checking while keeping your grading and rubric in Brightspace.

Open Evaluation & Feedback and select Manage Turnitin to configure similarity checking and Online Grading.

Step 1: Create or open an assignment

1. Sign in to Okanagan College Brightspace and open your course.
2. Select Assessments → Assignments. You can also open Assignments through Course Admin.
3. Select New Assignment. To update an existing assignment, open the menu beside its name and select Edit Assignment.
4. Enter an assignment Name and add the task, submission requirements, and expectations for using sources in Instructions.
5. For a graded assignment, enter the Grade Out Of value and use the grades menu to link the appropriate grade item.

Enter the assignment name, instructions and grade value, then link the appropriate grade item.

Step 2: Set dates and file submission options

1. Enter the Due Date.
2. Expand Availability Dates & Conditions and set a Start Date and End Date if required. Review the availability behaviour associated with each date.
3. Expand Submission & Completion and choose File submission as the submission type.
4. Under Allowable File Extensions, select Compatible with Turnitin, where available. Tell students which format to submit, such as a Word document or a PDF containing selectable text.
5. Review the options for files per submission and which submissions are kept. If students will revise their work, allow the necessary additional submissions.

Set the assignment dates and review file submission requirements before collecting student work.

Step 3: Enable Turnitin Similarity Reports

1. Expand Evaluation & Feedback and select Manage Turnitin.
2. Select Enable Similarity Report for this folder.
3. To let students review their results, select Allow learners to see similarity scores in their submission folder.
4. Under Submissions Checked, choose Automatic similarity checking on all submissions for routine assignment checking. Choose individual checking only if you intend to select submissions yourself.

Step 4: Review repository and comparison settings

1. Select More Options in the Turnitin settings. Open Optional Settings if prompted.
2. Review whether submitted papers will be stored in a repository. Storage makes a paper available for comparison with future submissions; it is separate from choosing which sources to check against.
3. For a draft or test activity that should not become a future comparison source, select Do not store the submitted papers, where available.
4. Under Compare against, review the available sources: student papers, internet content, and journals and publications. Select the sources appropriate to the assignment.

Step 5: Choose report timing and exclusions

1. In the Similarity Report settings, choose when reports should be generated.
2. For a draft-and-revision activity, choose an immediate-report option that permits resubmissions. For a report released after the deadline, choose the due-date option.
3. Review exclusions for bibliographic material, quotations, and small matches. Apply exclusions consistently and choose them to suit the assignment.
4. If using a small-match exclusion, check whether its threshold is measured in words or a percentage before entering a value.

Choose when Similarity Reports are generated and which types of matching text to exclude.

Step 6: Choose your grading workflow

Option A: Grade in Brightspace

Use Turnitin for similarity checking and leave Online Grading off. Attach a Brightspace rubric under Evaluation & Feedback → Add Rubric, if needed. Evaluate the submission and enter feedback in Brightspace.

Option B: Grade in Turnitin Feedback Studio

1. In Manage Turnitin, select Enable Online Grading for this folder.
2. Choose Automatically sync grades as Draft in Brightspace or the manual sync option. Automatic sync reduces the steps needed to return a score.
3. To use a Turnitin rubric, open More Options and locate the rubric settings. Use Launch Rubric Manager to create a rubric or duplicate one available to your account, then name and save it.
4. Select or attach the saved Turnitin rubric to the assignment. Check its criteria and scoring before grading.

Enable Online Grading to use Feedback Studio and choose how grades will sync to Brightspace.

Step 7: Save and make the assignment available

1. Select Submit to save the Turnitin optional settings, then Save in the Turnitin integration window.
2. Review the assignment instructions, dates, grade item, and submission settings.
3. Change the assignment visibility to Visible when ready, then select Save and Close. Availability dates and release conditions still apply.
4. Tell students where to find the assignment, whether they can see similarity reports, and whether they can revise and resubmit.

Review assignment visibility and save your changes when the assignment is ready.

Step 8: Open and review Similarity Reports

1. Return to Assessments → Assignments and open the assignment to view submissions.
2. Locate a submitted file and wait for its Turnitin processing status to change to a similarity percentage. Refresh the page if needed.
3. Select the similarity percentage or coloured report indicator to open the report.
4. Review the highlighted text and matching sources. Check quotations, references, and any matches to earlier submissions.

Review matching passages and their sources to understand the similarity result.

Step 9: Add QuickMarks and rubric feedback in Turnitin

Follow this step if you enabled Online Grading. Otherwise, evaluate the work in Brightspace.

1. Open the submission in Turnitin Feedback Studio using its report link or Turnitin grading icon.
2. Open QuickMarks and choose a feedback set. Drag a QuickMark onto the paper, or highlight text and attach a QuickMark to that passage.
3. Add a comment to explain how the student can improve. Use Feedback Summary for overall feedback.
4. If you attached a Turnitin rubric, open the rubric panel and select the appropriate level or score for each criterion.
5. For a scoring rubric, select Apply to Grade and check the overall score. Repeat for the next submission.

Use QuickMarks and rubric feedback in Feedback Studio to guide students and assess their work.

Step 10: Check and publish grades in Brightspace

1. Return to the assignment submissions in Brightspace and refresh the page.
2. If you graded in Turnitin, confirm that the score has synced to the Brightspace evaluation as a draft. If you selected manual sync, use the available sync control first.
3. Review the score, feedback, and grade item association before release.
4. Select Publish in the individual evaluation, or select the relevant students and use Publish Feedback from the submissions page.
5. Confirm the published score appears in the linked grade item. Review any gradebook visibility restrictions and Turnitin feedback availability settings so students can access results when intended.

Review the transferred score in Brightspace and publish the evaluation when it is ready for students.

Final check

• The assignment uses file submissions and suitable file formats.
• Turnitin is enabled, with the intended repository, report timing, and student visibility settings.
• Your rubric is attached in the system where you will grade.
• Scores have been reviewed and published, and the linked grade item is correct.

Need Help?

For help with assignment settings or Turnitin access, contact the Educational Technology team.

edtech@okanagan.bc.ca

Brightspace support and training resources

Additional resources

• D2L: Assignments and Turnitin
• Turnitin: Understanding the similarity score