The Turnitin Plagiarism Checker can be integrated within the existing Moodle Forum module. When creating one of these activities, additional settings appear for the plagiarism checker, which can be customized to provide an accurate similarity score. 


To get started:

1. Login to Moodle at moodle.lsua.edu


2. Select the relevant course from your Moodle homepage


3. Turn editing on in your course using the grey cogwheel in the upper-right corner. 




4. Once editing is turned on, click "Add an Activity or Resource"



5. Select Assignment from the Add an Activity box. 


6. Enter your Discussion forum's general information like the title, description, and availability. 



7. Select the remaining section titles to customize your forum further. 



8. Select the Turnitin Plagiarism Plugin Settings, to enable the plagiarism settings. Select Yes next to Enable Turnitin. 



Customizing the Turnitin Plagiarism Plugin

  1. Display Originality Reports to Students provides instructors with the ability to control whether students are allowed to view Originality Reports within each created assignment.
    • Select Yes to allow students to see the Originality Report for the assignment. The default setting is No
  2. Allow submission of any file type
    • By selecting Yes, submissions will need to be submitted as a PDF or Word document. 
  3. Store Student Papers
    • Option to store student papers in the standard repository or no repository.
    • By storing papers in the standard repository, this will allow these papers to be checked against in this future.
    • By selecting No repository, submitted papers will not be saved in the Turnitin repository. However this means that if two students submit the same paper to the same assignment, Turnitin will not find any match.
  4. Check against store student papers, Check against internet, Check against journals, periodical and publications
    • There are three repository source options available for you to select. Turnitin can check against stored student papers, the Internet, and journals, periodicals, and publications. Select Yes or No for each source you would or would not like us to check against. For any source that you do not wish to check against, the similarity score may decrease.
    • Note: If you do not select 'Yes' for at least one of the 'Check against...' options, then an Originality Report will not be generated.
  5. Report Generation Speed
    • Generate reports immediately (resubmissions are not allowed) - Originality Reports for all submissions will be generated immediately. Students cannot resubmit papers. Submissions must be deleted by the instructor to enable resubmission.
    • Generate reports immediately (resubmissions are allowed until due date) - Originality Reports for the initial submission by each student user to this assignment will be generated immediately. Students may resubmit as often as the student wishes until the assignment due date. Originality Reports for the second or subsequent submission will require a 24-hour delay before the Originality Report begins processing. Only the latest submission is available to the instructor or student. Previous versions are removed. Student submissions will compare against one another within the assignment on the due date and time, which may result in a change in the Originality Report similarity index and results at the due date and time. This option is typically used when students are self-reviewing and revising their submissions and able to view the Originality Report. No resubmissions after the due date and time of the assignment.
    • Generate reports on due date (resubmissions are allowed until due date) - Originality Reports will not be generated for any submission until the due date and time of the assignment. Students may resubmit as many times as needed until the due date and time without receiving reports. Resubmissions may not be made after the due date and time of the assignment.
    • Note: Originality Report generation for resubmissions is subject to a 24-hour delay.
  6. Exclude Bibliography, Exclude Quoted Material, Exclude Small Matches
    • Turnitin can exclude certain elements of a paper from an Originality Report to provide a more accurate similarity score. You can opt to exclude the following from an Originality Report:
      • Bibliography - Text appearing in the bibliography, works cited, and references sections can be excluded.
      • Quoted Material - Text appearing in the quotes of student papers can be excluded.
      • Small Matches - Matches that are not of sufficient length can be excluded. The number of words or paper percentage to be excluded is determined by yourself, and entered into the text box.
  7. Attach a rubric to his assignment
    • You can attach a rubric to the assignment by selecting a rubric from the drop-down list.



Reviewing Student Submissions

When a student submits a new discussion topic, click on the discussion topic name to view the similarity report.



Click the similarity score to open the posting in Turnitin's Feedback Studio. Feedback Studio provides more information on the similarity score and allows for instructor comments and grading.