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Turnitin Similarity Reports in Blackboard Assignments

It is possible to enable Turnitin similarity reports when using a Blackboard Assignment submission point.

This can be done in the assignment settings when you are creating or editing your assignment. For full instructions of see our guide Create an Assignment.

Enable Turnitin

In the Assignment Settings panel scroll down to Originality Report “Enable Turnitin”.

Please note: The turnitin similarity report integration is currently not available for Group Assignments.

screenshot of Bb Assignment panel with  the Originality Report option highlighted.

Step One

Once you have clicked enable Turnitin in the settings panel the Originality Report panel will open on the right-hand side of the screen. When the Originality Report set up panel opens:

  • (a) Toggle the Enable Turnitin switch to on, the toggle button with turn green.
  • (b) Check the “Allow student to view Turnitin originality report for their attempts” (not related to number of submission attempts allowed)
Screenshot of the originality report set up panel. (a) switch on turnitin (b) allow students to view report

Please Note: If the “Allow students to view the Turnitin originality report for their attempts” check box does not appear under the Enable Turnitin toggle you will have to re-open the Turnitin settings after step 3 to turn it on.

Enabling Turnitin will initiate the Turnitin LTI to load.

Step Two

When the Turnitin LTI has loaded and the similarity report options appear complete the options to your preference.

Screenshot of Turnitin settings including what to compare against, and what to exclude i.e. bibliographic materials.

When you are happy with with preferences click Save.

Step 3

Once you have saved the preferences a success message will appear and you can “return to settings”.

Screenshot of success message.

Save the rest of your assignment settings and exit.

To make any changes to the Turnitin settings click on “turnitin enabled” to re-enter the settings panel. Enable Turnitin button

Markers’ view of similarity report

When marking you will see the similarity match button in the top right-hand corner of the submitted paper.

Click on the button to view the report. Turnitin will open in a new window to show the report.

Screenshot of marking page with Match button highlighted.
Screenshot of turnitin similarity report open in new window.

The integration with Blackboard Assignment and Turnitin uses the new similarity report experience. Please see the Turnitin support pages on the New Similarity Report Experience for more details.

Students’ view of similarity report

If you have set the assignment settings to allow students to view the similarity report they will be able to see it via their submitted work.

Students see the report as a list of sources, they can exclude text related to specific sources to see how the removal of that text will affect their score.

Screenshot of submitted paper page with similarity report button
Screenshot of student similarity report

Guide last updated on October 24, 2024

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