Turnitin - Supporting your students
There are a number of ways that you can support your students with Turnitin, whether it is on how to submit a report, how to interpret it, how to improve academic writing or even on the consequences of breaching academic integrity. Below are a few different resources for yourself to review as well as resources that you can share with your students.
How to support your students
Turnitin can also function as a teaching tool to help students with their writing skills and encourage academic integrity in their work. Students may not have experienced Turnitin before, and may not understand the processes involved, the purpose of using Turnitin, or how to resolve a high similarity score. They may also only see it as an integrity checking tool and miss out on its academic benefits.
Ideally, students will see Turnitin as a means to improve and polish their writing to a high academic standard, not just a tool to catch them plagiarising. To help students use Turnitin to its fullest potential, it is important to clearly communicate to students the following:
- The current academic integrity policies and procedures
- What Turnitin is and why you are using it
- How to do a draft submission with Turnitin and interpret the similarity report
- How to improve their writing using Turnitin as a revision tool
- How to avoid common mistakes that create a high Turnitin similarity score
Also, you can complete the MEA module on Mental Health Basics for Educators at Monash outlining other ways you can support student wellbeing and mental health at Monash. This is helpful to better understand the stresses of assessment students may be going through.
What resources and services are available to students
Learn HQ: Turnitin
This resource explains how to use Turnitin when uploading assessments to Moodle and how to understand the Similarity Report. Students will also find answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Turnitin.
Compulsory Unit Modules - Academic Integrity and Respect at Monash
Both Australian and Malasian new students need to complete the compulsory unit on academic integrity. If you are teaching a first year unit or have new students in your unit, you can share the link to these modules for them to complete.
Learn HQ: maintain academic integrity
Suite of resources to help students apply and maintain principles of academic integrity at Monash. Students will learn what academic integrity is and why it is important, what to do and avoid in order to maintain it, and how to avoid unintentional breaches.
Student Academic Success: Learning and Language Support
Encourage students to seek advice from learning and language support about understanding the assessment task. Students can make appointments or attend a drop-in session with a Learning Adviser who can assist them with interpreting and analysing the requirements of assessments. They can also learn about time management, including managing multiple assessment tasks across the semester.
English Connect
English Connect offers a suite of programs to assist students in their social and professional English language development. These include: Let’s Chat and Global Professional Communication (GPC).
Health and wellbeing: Counselling service
Share this link for counselling services so that students can obtain additional support around a number of issues from managing motivation, coping with stress and/or anxiety, prioritisation and managing perfectionism. This is a free service for Monash students.
Assessment and results: Special consideration processes
Share this link to let students know how to apply for special consideration that may allow them to obtain an extension, create another assessment, or sit a deferred exam. Monash provides Special Consideration for students who are experiencing exceptional circumstances beyond their control that affect their ability to successfully complete assessment tasks.
