Turnitin in SPARK for Faculty

About Turnitin

Turnitin helps instructors evaluate the originality of students’ work by comparing electronic documents to online sources and the Turnitin database. The software returns an “originality report” which rates submitted assignments and highlights text that appears elsewhere. Faculty can have their students submit their assignments to Turnitin or they can use it to assess select, suspect assignments (e.g., assignments without works cited pages, assignments without drafts, etc.).

Note: UMass Amherst protects our students' intellectual property by storing all papers submitted by our students in a dedicated database. This database is not searchable by other schools that subscribe to Turnitin. Only UMass Amherst faculty can search our student papers and exclusively for the purpose of grading course assignments.

Turnitin in SPARK Vs. the Turnitin Web Site

UMass Amherst instructors can use Turnitin within SPARK or they can use the Turnitin Web site to assess students' assignments. Both are provided courtesy of the UMass Amherst libraries, but the two methods do not work in conjunction with one another. Student assignments submitted through SPARK cannot be seen by the instructor on the Turnitin Web site and vice versa.

	SPARK	Turnitin Web site
Access	To access Turnitin in SPARK, instructors must have a SPARK course. Request a SPARK course in SPIRE.	To request an account on the Turnitin Web site, contact turnitin@library.umass.edu.
Support	Faculty can get help from Academic Computing's Instructional Media Lab at (413) 545-2823 or instruct@oit.umass.edu. Students can get help from the OIT Help Deskat (413) 545-9400 or submit an online help request.	Faculty and students can contact turnitin@library.umass.edu or download handouts from the Library's Web site: http://www.library.umass.edu/services/plagiarism-prevention/
Grading	Columns are placed in the SPARK Grade Book automatically when you create a Turnitin assignment.	Cannot grade assignments.

Note: Turnitin is also available in Moodle, see

Why Use Turnitin in SPARK?

Turnitin within SPARK is ideal for instructors who already have a SPARK course and/or for large courses. We recommend that instructors use the Turnitin Web site when they would like to submit just a few suspect papers for review and do not wish to open a SPARK course account.

Getting Started with Turnitin in SPARK

To use Turnitin in SPARK, instructors need to request a SPARK course in SPIRE.
To learn how to create a Turnitin Assignment in SPARK and read Originality Reports, download our workshop handout: Getting Started with Turnitin Assignments in SPARK.
Students can download our handout Getting Started with Turnitin for Students (pdf, 568K) (This document is also available on the Turnitin in SPARK for Students page).

Informing Your Students About Turnitin

We recommend that instructors include text in their syllabi informing students that they are using Turnitin and discuss it during their first class meeting. More generally, we also recommend that you discuss the policies covering academic honesty included in the University's Academic Regulations (pdf, 268 K).

The following are sample paragraphs for inclusion in syllabi:

If you plan to use the Turnitin plagiarism detection services for ALL assignments in your course...

As a condition of continued enrollment in this course, you agree to submit all assignments to the Turnitin service for textual comparison or originality review for the detection of possible plagiarism. All submitted assignments will be included in the UMass Amherst dedicated databases of assignments at Turnitin. These databases of assignments will be used solely for the purpose of detecting possible plagiarism during the grading process and during this term and in the future. Students who do not submit their papers electronically to Turnitin will be required to submit copies of the cover page and first cited page of each source listed in the bibliography with the final paper in order to receive a grade on the assignment.

If you plan to use the Turnitin plagiarism detection services for selected, suspect assignments...

Students should be aware that suspect assignments (e.g., those without drafts, without works cited pages, or with large departures in style) will be submitted to Turnitin by the instructor for the purpose of detecting possible plagiarism. Submitted assignments will be included in the UMass Amherst dedicated database of assignments at Turnitin. This database of assignments will be used solely for the purpose of detecting possible plagiarism during the grading process during this term and in the future. If plagiarism is suspected, the instructor will request that the student provide an electronic copy of their assignment for submission to Turnitin, in order to receive a grade on the assignment and to avoid possible sanctions

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