Turnitin for students
On this page:
- What is Turnitin?
- How is Turnitin used?
- Where do you submit your assignment through Turnitin?
- Submit an assignment using Turnitin if your subject is in UTSOnline (Blackboard)
- Submit an assignment using Turnitin if your subject is in Canvas
What is Turnitin?
Turnitin is software that compares your written work with existing written work from web pages, previously submitted assessments, library databases and publications.
Turnitin detects similarity; it does not detect plagiarism or academic dishonesty. It is up to you, and ultimately the person marking your work, to judge whether it demonstrates an appropriate level of originality and academic honesty.
How is Turnitin used?
While Turnitin is used to analyse similarity between new text-based document submissions and existing documents, it can also be used to provide feedback and marks for assessment tasks.
Subject coordinators will let you know how they use Turnitin in each subject, on which assignments, as well as outline their expectations of you in relation to the use of Turnitin.
Turnitin identifies matching text and calculates this as a percentage, referred to as the ‘similarity percentage’ and indicates this by colour representing ranges of similarity.
- Blue: No matching text
- Green: One word to 24% matching text
- Yellow: 25-49% matching text
- Orange: 50-74% matching text
- Red: 75-100% matching text
Depending on how your subject coordinator has configured Turnitin, you will be able to:
- see where matches occur in your document and the source of any matches that have been identified.
- resubmit a modified version of your task before the due date.
If you are allowed to resubmit your task, you can use the information provided by Turnitin to make sure you have sufficient original material in your task and that you have cited and referenced your sources correctly.
Depending on the way the subject coordinator is using Turnitin, you may also be able to view your assignment feedback in the form of:
- a mark for the task
- comments throughout and/or at the end of the document
- a voice comment
- levels of achievement on a rubric or grading form
- a combination of the above
Where do you submit your assignment through Turnitin?
To submit an assignment through Turnitin you need to go into your subject in either Canvas or UTSOnline (Blackboard). How you submit a Turnitin assignment depends on which of these your subject is running on.
Submit an assignment using Turnitin if your subject is in UTSOnline (Blackboard)
STEP 1 – Go to your subject in UTSOnline and locate your Turnitin assignment. Select ‘View/Complete’, which will take you to your Assignment Inbox.

STEP 2 – On the ‘Assignment Inbox’ panel, select the ‘Submit’ button on the far right to begin the assignment submission process.

STEP 3 – To upload your file:
- check that your first and last name are correctly shown
- add an appropriate submission title
- choose your file for submission
- select ‘Upload’

STEP 4 – You will then be taken to a preview screen where you can check that you are making the correct submission. Review the details of your submission and if correct, select ‘Confirm’.

STEP 5 – Once you have confirmed your submission:
- a ‘Digital Receipt’ will appear (as proof of your submission). The Digital Receipt will be emailed to your UTS email address. You can also print a copy from this window
- select ‘Return to assignment list’ button to go back to the ‘Assignment Inbox’

STEP 6 – From the ‘Assignment Inbox’ listing you can:
- see the similarity match as a percentage once Turnitin has processed your document (this could take a few minutes to process)
- select the coloured ‘similarity percentage’ indicator to launch Turnitin ‘Feedback Studio’ where you can see detailed originality information (if permitted), see feedback from your teacher (if provided) and download your digital receipt (proof of submission)
- resubmit a revised version of your task (if permitted)
- view the file you submitted
- download the file you submitted to Turnitin

Submit an assignment using Turnitin if your subject is in Canvas
Go to your subject in CANVAS and select ‘Assignments’. There are different ways assignments can be created by your subject coordinator in Canvas. Your assignments will look the same in the listing apart from the way they are named and the word “Turnitin” might not appear anywhere at this stage. Your subject outline and your subject coordinator will have made clear which written assignment(s) use Turnitin for similarity checking.

Once you select an assignment in Canvas that uses Turnitin, the submission process that follows depends on which of two approaches your subject coordinator has taken to set up the assignment – A or B described below.
Approach A: assignment submission process
STEP 1 – After selecting a Canvas assignment, if the page in Canvas looks like this, select ‘Submit Assignment’.

STEP 2 – You will be taken to the ‘File Upload’ page where you:
- choose your file(s) for submission
- select ‘Submit Assignment’ to upload your file

STEP 3 – After you select ’Submit Assignment’, you will be returned to the assignment page where you will have confirmation that your assignment has been submitted. From here you can:
- ‘Re-submit’ your assignment (if permitted)
- view your ‘Submission Details’ to see detailed originality information, feedback from your teacher (when provided) and launch the Turnitin ‘Feedback Studio’
- ‘Download’ your submission file

STEP 4 – If you chose to view your ‘Submission Details’ (in the previous step), you will be able to:
- see your Grade (if marked’) and ‘Show Rubric’ used for marking (if available)
- ‘Re-submit’ your Assignment (if permitted)
- download your submission file
- launch the Turnitin Feedback Studio by selecting the coloured ‘similarity indicator’ (the similarity analysis could take a few minutes to process)
- ‘View Feedback’ from your teacher (when provided)
- ‘Save’ a written Comment, recorded Media Comment and attached file

STEP 5 – If you chose to launch the Turnitin Feedback Studio by selecting the coloured ‘similarity indicator’ (in the previous step 4.4) you will be able to:
- view your submission in the ‘Document Viewer’
- see feedback from your teacher (if provided)
- inspect detailed originality information and adjust similarity views, filters and settings
- download your ‘Originally Submitted File’, your ‘Digital Receipt’ (proof of submission) and view submission information
- view a ‘Text-only Report’

Approach B: Turnitin assignment submission process
STEP 1 – After selecting a Canvas assignment, if the next page in Canvas looks like this, select ‘Upload Submission’.

STEP 2 – After you have selected ‘Upload Submission’, a pop-up window will prompt you to:
- add a submission title
- choose your file for submission
- select the ‘Upload and Review’ button

STEP 3 – After a few moments, you will be presented with a preview of your assignment submission. Inspect the details to ensure that your are making the correct submission. If correct, select ‘Submit to Turnitin’.

STEP 4 – Your submission upload will take a few moments. You will be returned to your ‘Assignment Dashboard’ with a message “Submission uploaded successfully”.

On the ‘Assignment Dashboard’ you can:
- view the file you submitted
- see your grade (if marked)
- see the similarity match indicated as a colour and percentage (the similarity analysis could take a few minutes to process). Selecting these launches the Turnitin ‘Feedback Studio’ where you can view your submission and see detailed originality information (if permitted), see feedback from your teacher (if provided) and download your digital receipt (proof of submission)
- resubmit to upload a revised version of your task (if permitted)
- download the original file you submitted
- download the digital receipt (proof of submission) for the file you submitted