External App: Turnitin

Yale conducted a pilot evaluation of the software system Turnitin for use in courses across the university during the 2018-2019 academic year. Each school selected their level of integration for the pilot. Please refer to the Turnitin Technology Pilot and Frequently Asked Question: Canvas Pilot of Turnitin articles for more information.

Turnitin is a tool to help faculty and students develop and evaluate written scholarship. It estimates the originality of written work so students can properly reference source material. The tool generates a “similarity report” by comparing an uploaded paper to a database of web pages, articles, books, and other uploaded files. When similarities exist, the tool highlights sections of the uploaded paper and displays the original source. The report provides an opportunity for constructive conversations about properly referencing sources. 

For instructions on how to use Turnitin, please refer to the help guides linked below:

Instructor Guides

Frequently Asked Questions about the Canvas Plagiarism Framework

Canvas Plagiarism Framework Release Notes

Student Guides:

Known Issues and Bugs we are aware of


Resolved Issues:

  • Similarity Reports are regenerated automatically on due date to check submissions against each other, however this updated score may not be sent to Canvas.
  • Student resubmissions showing the first submission instead of the most recent submission in the Grades view.
  • Canvas Rubrics & Turnitin LTI (Canvas Community)
    • Note that this was resolved, as Turnitin's submission type is no longer as an external tool
    • All other assignments with an "external tool" submission type will not be able to add rubrics
  • Known issues with the Canvas Turnitin Framework (Turnitin Article - October 2018)
    • Intermittent issues with submissions and resubmissions
    • Intermittent issues with copied courses and duplicate users