As an adult going back to school, it can be difficult to transition back in to “school” mode. The essays and papers that students write in their English and Business Law courses are very different from the memorandums and safety reports they file at work each day.
Academic papers often require students to research information from multiple sources, and then convey that information to the reader. This is done through a combination of direct quotations, paraphrasing, and their own thoughts. This can get complicated and mistakes can be made. Oftentimes, students do not discover they are guilty of plagiarism until they receive a notification from their professor or a low grade on their assignment.
Wouldn’t it be great for students to have a way to check their work for unintentional plagiarism before submitting it for a grade?
CSU has teamed with Turnitin to provide students with a way to do just that. By following the steps below, CSU students will now be able to run their written work through the Turnitin database, and receive a report similar to what their professor would receive after the official submission. The Turnitin database compares submissions to other works submitted at multiple universities, as well as various websites, and educational publications. This report will allow students to see what portion of their work is considered as “unoriginal” content, so they may cite that work appropriately.
Steps to access the Originality Check Tool (O.C.T.)
- After logging in to the myCSU Student Portal, click the “Blackboard Login” link on the left side of the page.
- Click the “Turnitin Originality Check Tool” link on the lower left side of the page.
- Click the “Enroll” button on the lower left corner of the page.
- On the Self Enrollment screen, click the blue “Submit” button on the right side of the page.
- On the next screen, click the light gray “OK” button on the lower right side of the screen.
- For detailed instructions on submitting papers and reviewing the originality reports, click the “Instructions” link in the menu on the left side of the page.
When using the O.C.T., there are three very important things to remember.
- Turnitin does not check for the correctness of citations, grammar, or spelling.
- Running a paper through the O.C.T. does not constitute a submission in a student’s course. Submissions must be made through a student’s course in Blackboard in order to receive credit for grading.
- The O.C.T. is not a tool to be used to circumvent the CSU academic integrity policy. It is provided to students in order to assist them in developing their research and academic writing skills.
I’ve heard from a couple of my friends that are university professors that Turnitin becomes the “owner” of the student’s work once the work is run through the program. Is this true? I’ve also heard that if I run my work through Turnitin, it is remembered and will then be flagged as 100% not original. Is this true? Thank you for your answers.
The paper (or Paper Content) is saved in the Turn-It-In repository once it is submitted to the professor in the course. It becomes part of the Turn-It-In storehouse which is then checked against in the future submissions.
The pre-check submission does not get save into the repository and therefore Turn-It-In does not save the paper.