Turnitin: Writing Feedback, Plagiarism Checks, and Peer Review
Turnitin is software accessed through Moodle that compares submitted written work with other sources (determined by the instructor) to look for similarities. Turnitin will also run a check to determine how likely it is that AI was used to write all of or sections of written work.
Turnitin can be used as a teaching tool so students can revise written work based on reports detailing where similarities are found between their writing and other sources like journal articles, websites, and so on. If students are given access to the reports by instructors, they can revise work that might be plagiarized or incorrectly cited before submitting final assignments. Students can also use grammar reports to revise their writing.
How to get started
- STEP 1: Determine if you want Turnitin checkers to be part of a graded assignment or an ungraded assignment
- The purpose of an ungraded assignment would be to allow students to access similarity and/or grammar check reports to improve their writing.
- You can also guide students to use the Turnitin Self-Service Plagiarism Report available through a Moodle project space if they want to access a similarity report outside of your course.
- STEP 2: In Moodle, turn editing on and choose a “Turnitin” assignment
- If this will be an ungraded activity for practice, be sure to set “none” in the grading section of the assignment.
- Turnitin similarity reports can also be added to a regular Moodle assignment or a Moodle Forum.
- NOTE! If you want an AI report generated, you must use the Turnitin Assignment. Turnitin will not check Moodle Assignments or Forums for AI use.
Turnitin Assignment: Students will use the Turnitin interface from within Moodle to submit their work, and instructors will grade work from the Turnitin Feedback studio. Instructors can add a rubric to make grading easier.
Moodle Assignment or Forum: Instructors enable the Turnitin settings within the assignment or forum so that submitted work can be analyzed by the Turnitin similarity checker.
- STEP 3: Turnitin Assignment or Moodle Assignment/Forum
- Optional settings — In the Turnitin Assignment carefully review the optional settings (listed as optional, but many are critical to student success) and determine your own grading settings. In particular, pay attention to:
- Submit papers to — You can add the student paper to the NC State Institution Repository so that in the future other submitted papers will be checked against this submission. If students are submitting a rough draft and will later submit a final draft, do not submit the paper to the Institution Repository or the final paper will be marked as completely similar to the rough draft and look like plagiarism.
- Allow submission of any file type — Checking the box means that students can submit work that cannot be scanned by Turnitin i.e. an image of a paper. Unchecking the box means students can only submit file types that can be scanned by Turnitin.
- Attach a rubric — A rubric can help communicate expectations to students and make your grading more consistent and efficient. If you check the box you will then be able to create a rubric, select a rubric from a set of templates, or use a rubric from a previous Turnitin assignment.
- Similarity Report Recommendations (unavailable in Moodle Assignment/Forum)
- Choose “Generate reports immediately (students can resubmit until due date)” is the preferred selection so students can learn from their reports and make edits before you grade the assignment.
- Choose “Allow students to view Similarity Reports” so that students can view the reports and use them to revise written work.
- Exclusion options allow you to decide if some aspects of writing, i.e., the bibliography should not be checked against existing sources to help prevent unnecessary plagiarism notifications.
After saving the assignment, students can then submit work to the Turnitin Assignment or the Moodle Assignment/Forum and access their reports.
Instructor and Student Guides
NOTE: Turnitin does not work on a mobile device
Similarity Report, AI Report, and General Turnitin Best Practices
- Allow students to view Similarity Reports and resubmit work based on corrections and revisions.
- Review sample Similarity Reports with students discussing what changes you would recommend in order to model for students how they can use Turnitin.
- Use a rubric so students understand your expectations and to make your grading more efficient.
- Turnitin Rubric Templates – these can be added (and edited) to Turnitin assignments or instructors can create their own.
- How to Use Rubrics and Grading Forms in Turnitin
- Rubric Best Practices, Examples, and Templates
- Teach students how to revise well and how to take feedback so they benefit from Turnitin as a teaching tool.
- In addition to Similarity Report feedback and any instructor feedback you provide, students can also use Turnitin Draft Coach to get grammar and writing conventions support.
- Review how the AI Detection Report functions and what the various percentages and breakdowns mean.
- Students do not see the AI Detection Report — only instructors can view this report. Be sure your use of any AI Detection aligns with the AI policy for your course and/or for the specific assignment. Communicate with students how they are or are not allowed to use AI and provide examples.
- Be transparent with students if you plan to use the AI Detection Report and share how you plan to use the report. Will it lead to discussions about how AI might have been used? Will you ask students to re-do assignments? Will the Office of Student Conduct be involved based in the AI Detection Report and other tools/conversations with the student?
Turnitin PeerMark
NOTE: It is likely we will not have access to PeerMark for the 2026-2027 academic year. Find out about our other peer review technology tools in the Peer Review with Digital Tools article.
PeerMark is a peer review assignment tool for essays, papers, and other writing assignments. Instructors can create and manage PeerMark assignments that allow students to read, review, and evaluate one or many papers submitted by their classmates. Reviews can be anonymous.
Instructors will create a Turnitin Assignment within Moodle and then add a PeerMark assignment to the original assignment. After students have submitted writing assignments, they will be given one or more peer submissions to provide feedback. An instructor can determine pairings/groups for peer review or allow them to be assigned by the Turnitin system. An instructor can provide questions to guide the review – these questions can be open-ended or associated with points. Inline and pop-up comments can also be added by peers. Note: if instructors want to assign grades to students based on their work doing peer reviews, those grades will have to be added to Moodle manually.
Workshop Information
Currently no workshops are available and no recordings are accurate, please request an instructional consultation if you’d like to discuss use cases, teaching practices, etc. for Turnitin or Turnitin PeerMark.