Turnitin at Oxford

For the purpose of anonymous submission of coursework, not only should students exclude their name and other identifying details from the content of the document (such as title page, footer etc.), they should also remove identifying metadata from the file properties.

There are probably various ways of doing this, depending on which word processing package they use (and which version), and how they create their PDF documents (some PDF writers offer the option to strip out metadata…).

This posting describes how to strip out metadata from a MS Word 2010 document, before converting to PDF.

Step 1:  On the File menu, click on Info. One of the options provided is Prepare for Sharing – “Before sharing this file, be aware that it contains document properties, author’s name….” etc.

Step 2: Click on the box Check for issues and select Inspect document. This brings up the Document Inspector:

Step 3: Decide which items you wish to inspect; in this case make sure that the second option is selected: “Document Properties and Personal Information”.

Step 4: Click Inspect.

Step 5: Decide which properties you wish to remove and then click Remove All. Confirmation will be provided that “Document properties and personal information were successfully removed”. Close the Document Inspector window.

Step 6: Create a PDF version of the document using your usual PDF writing software.

When other users access the PDF file and click on Properties, the personal information is not visible:

WebLearn and Turnitin can be used in conjuction with each other, with the intervention of an admistrator, to receive assignment or essay submissions, distribute them to examiners, and put them through the Turnitin text matching system.

*** NOTE: Permission needs to be sought from the Proctors in order to allow the electronic submission of summative (examined) work. ***

Step 1: Give students clear instructions on how to remove identifying data from their document, e.g. use a candidate number instead of their name; remove author name from the metadata of the file.

Step 2: Use either the Assignments tool or the Drop Box tool in a WebLearn site for the students to submit their files. The advantage of the former is that it offers more structure and all assignments can be bulk downloaded in the form of a zip file. The advantage of the latter is that it is simpler to set up and use, although all files need to be downloaded using WebDAV. Both the Assignments tool and Drop Box allow you to set opening and closing dates for student submissions. Although the Assignments tool has automatic integration with Turnitin, this option is not anonymised (student names are shown on each originality report returned from Turnitin). 

Step 3: The administrator downloads all the student files from WebLearn – in the Assignments tool use the ‘Download’ option, or if using Drop Box, create one zip file on your computer after downloading using WebDAV.

Step 4: The administrator requests a Turnitin instructor account from turnitin@it.ox.ac.uk (if they don’t already have one). Then use TurnitinUK direct (http://submit.ac.uk) to set up a class, and an assignment within the class. When setting up the assignment, under ‘Optional Settings’ tick the box to enable anonymous marking. 

Step 5: The administrator uses the ‘Submit Paper’ option for that assignment to submit all the student papers: the choices are single file upload, multiple file upload, or zip file upload.

Step 6: Turnitin automatically unzips the zip file, and uses each file’s file name as the ‘title’ of the submission. It offers you the option to enter student names or candidate numbers, which are then hidden under the ‘Anonymous Marking Enabled’ button:

Optional: If it becomes necessary to identify a student later, you can click on the ‘Anonymous Marking Enabled’ button to reveal what you entered in the ‘first name’ and ‘last name’ fields. This is a permanent step, which cannot be reversed:

When you click on the coloured icons to access the originality reports, the anonymous ones do not reveal the candidate’s name at the top, as they would otherwise have done:

More information:

• Contact IT Services, or request a Turnitin instructor account: turnitin@it.ox.ac.uk
• WebLearn support site about Plagiarism and the use of Turnitin
• Join the Oxford University Turnitin User Group site

The demitting proctors usually report on plagiarism cases they have dealt with, and in the past, they have mentioned the use of ‘screening software’ to investigate cases of possible plagiarism.

You might like to read Melissa Highton’s blog posting: “A pope, two proctors, and an assessor” about the recent demitting Proctors’ address, which reports on cases of “Academic misconduct (including plagiarism)”. Here is the link to the full Oration by the demitting Proctors and Assessor.

There are several different Turnitin products and licences. The University of Oxford has a licence for Turnitin (Academic), which allows the screening of work of registered Oxford students, submitted in terms of curriculum requirements. There is a separate product, Turnitin (Admissions), which allows screening of work submitted by applicants to the University (prospective students).

Graduate Admissions is currently running a small pilot project using Turnitin for Admissions. The Blavatnik School of Government, the Saiid Business School and the Department of Education are currently using Turnitin for this purpose. Read the case study about it, or contact Richard Turner for more information.

IT Services supports the use of Turnitin, the plagiarism awareness software, and provides training and help materials for academic and administrative staff. Turnitin User Group meetings take place each term, with the next on Tuesday 12 March, 2:00 – 4:00. Places can be booked using the IT Services website.

Information about the use of Turnitin:

• Internal document: Use of Turnitin at Oxford University (Draft: comments are invited by emailing turnitin@it.ox.ac.uk)
• Information about how to use Turnitin
• Service Level Description for Turnitin

Turnitin support sites in WebLearn:

• The Plagiarism support site provides helpful information, including a link to the Turnitin Oxford blog.
• The Turnitin User Group site hosts a mailing list (tii-community@weblearn.ox.ac.uk) and provides links to audio recordings of previous talks at User Group meetings. The User Group is open for any staff member to join by clicking on the link provided on the home page. This will automatically subscribe you to the mailing list.

Courses at IT Services: Training courses on the avoidance of plagiarism and the use of Turnitin are provided each term including three hour sessions and short sessions at lunch time. The courses are listed on the IT Services website – click on ‘P’ for ‘plagiarism’. Most of the courses are designed for staff members. There is one course for students, which is offered once per term in the regular course schedule, but can also be offered on request in departments or colleges (minimum 10 students): Plagiarism – How to avoid it (for students). Students have been informed about this course in the Student Newsletter.

Please contact the IT Services Help desk if you wish to request a Turnitin instructor account, or have any other questions.

From Plagiarismadvice.org:
Plagiarismadvice.org provides resources, training, advice and guidance to the education sector to help address growing concerns about plagiarism.
Our revamped website contains:

• Resources for addressing plagiarism
• Research Papers from our international conferences
• Academic Network – experts across the world

Fed up of 100% matches of cover sheets and essay titles in Turnitin Originality reports? If so, read on.

In showing users at the University how to use Turnitin for Admissions, I’m constantly surprised at the number of new features that appear.

The latest is one which was alluded to at 5th International Plagiarism Conference in Gateshead in July, namely Phrase exclusion. This feature has recently appeared in Turnitin for Admissions and allows an Instructor to paste in phrases which will be ignored when the Originality report is generated. Ideal for pasting in the cover sheet of a submission or the essay title.

It works excellently. I hope it appears in the academic version of Turnitin soon.

Melissa Highton, Head of the Learning Technologies Group at IT Services, has posted a thought-provoking piece on her blog highlighting the case of plagiarism at Harvard and parallels at Oxford.

You can read it at: http://blogs.it.ox.ac.uk/melissa/2012/10/06/scandal/

Earlier this year, in a pioneering move in the UK, the Blavatnik School of Government piloted the use of Turnitin for Admissions for their first intake of students who have started at the University this week.

The pilot is being extended this year, with almost 1000 postgraduate applications expected to be put through Turnitin for Admissions with three major Schools and Departments participating at the time of writing.

Richard Turner, Operations Manager of Graduate Admissions and Funding will be giving an update about the University’s extended use of Turnitin for Admissions at the Turnitin user group meeting at IT Services (formerly OUCS), Banbury Road on Friday 28^th September.

Booking can be made to attend the Turnitin User Group 

Come along to learn more about Turnitin and avoiding plagiarism – attend our free half-day courses or lunch-time sessions. Booking is required, using the links provided. Booking opens 30 days in advance – if booking is not yet open for a particular course, you can express an interest and you will receive an email when booking opens.

We can also provide bespoke sessions for Departments and individual staff members. Contact us for more details.

Half-day courses:
Plagiarism: How to avoid it (for students), Friday 9 November 9.15 – 12.15
Plagiarism: Turnitin Fundamentals, Friday 16 November 9.15-12.15

Lunch time sessions (all 12:30-13.30):
Plagiarism: WebLearn and Turnitin, Week 4, Mon 29 October
Plagiarism: Interpreting Originality Reports using Turnitin, Week 7, Mon 19 November