Is Turnitin Free For Students

Are you a student wondering if Turnitin is free for you?

Turnitin is a widely trusted and popular educational software tool used by educational and academic institutions worldwide.

Using this tool, teachers and professors can check the originality of their students’ work by simply uploading it onto Turnitin and running a similarity check.

There has been contentious debate regarding the tool, and whether similarity is the same as plagiarism.

However, Turnitin has explicitly stated that their similarity reports do not imply plagiarism and that it is completely up to the teacher to make the final call.

They maintain that their tool provides the teacher with all the information they need regarding the student’s work and any similarities it may have to other works, and it is up to the teacher to then decide whether it is plagiarism or not by determining the context of the similarity.

As such, Turnitin does not detect plagiarism.

Instead, it is a great tool to assist teachers and professors to determine the student’s originality of their work.

Is Turnitin Free For Students?

The short answer is: yes, Turnitin is free for students.

Turnitin is purchased by the educational or academic institution for its students and teachers or professors.

This tool helps teachers and professors determine the academic integrity, originality, and authenticity of their students’ works, such as papers, responses, articles, assignments, etc.

Once bought by the institution, it is available free of cost to everyone in the institution.

As a student, you will not need to pay for the service to be able to take advantage of it.

However, if your institution has not bought the service, then it will not be available to you, as Turnitin does not offer individual licences that will allow you to use the service on your own.

If your institution has bought Turnitin, all you have to do to start is create an account!

1. How To Create a Student Account on Turnitin?

Before you begin using Turnitin’s service, you will have to create an account.

Make sure you have your Class ID and class enrollment key while signing up, as you will be requiring it to authenticate your profile.

To register for an account on Turnitin, follow the directions below:

1. Go to turnitin.com.
2. In the top right corner of the screen, click on Create Account.
3. This will take you to the Sign Up screen.
4. Since you are a student, click on Student to create a user profile accordingly.
5. Enter the required information in the specified fields.
6. Carefully read the User Agreement for using Turnitin.
7. Carry out a CAPTCHA test to confirm you are not a bot.
8. Once done, click on the button that says “I Agree – Create Profile”

You will then have created your student account on Turnitin for free and will be able to use the software’s services to confirm your work’s authenticity and academic integrity.

2. How To Submit Papers on Turnitin?

Students can only submit papers on Turnitin via the assignment allocation on their Learning Management System (LMS for short).

Teachers and professors on the other hand do not always need to submit files on these assignment sections to check for similarity.

They can use Turnitin features such as Quick Submit to check a file without having to submit it under a specific assignment.

However, if you are a student, how you submit to Turnitin will differ according to the LMS that your institution uses.

For Moodle LMS:

1. Open your Moodle Home page.
2. Open the Class page for which you have to submit the paper.
3. Open the Assignment under which you have to submit.
4. Click on Add submission to upload the file you would like to submit.
5. Click on Save changes and submit your assignment.

For Canvas LMS:

1. Open your Canvas Home page.
2. Open the Course page for which you have to submit the paper.
3. Click on the Assignments tab on the right-hand side of the screen.
4. Select the assignment that you need to submit the file to.
5. Click on the Submit assignment button.
6. Select and upload the file which you wish to submit. Alternatively, you can also give a text response if there is an option for it.
7. Once done, click on the Submit assignment button.

For Microsoft Teams:

1. Open the Microsoft Teams Home page.
2. Open the Team corresponding to your course.
3. Click on the Assignments tab.
4. Select the assignment for which you have to make the submission.
5. On the My Work section, click on the Add work option.
6. Upload the files which you would like to submit.
7. Once done, click on Turn in to submit your assignments.

Once you have submitted your work for the assignment, you will be able to review the similarity report.

Make sure that you have selected the correct assignment to submit your work!

Note that students cannot submit their work to Turnitin in any other way since they do not have the same services as teachers and professors do.

3. How To Check Similarity on Turnitin?

Once you have submitted your assignment, Turnitin will run its evaluation and generate a similarity report.

This report will be available to both you and your teacher or professor.

You can open the similarity report to view it and get a better understanding of Turnitin’s evaluation of your work.

The process to check your similarity report is different for each LMS.

However, it is usually on the same page as your actual submission.

For Moodle LMS:

1. Open the assignment that you submitted your file under.
2. You will be shown a summary of your submission for the assignment.
3. Scroll down to the File submissions section.
4. Click on the similarity percentage score.

For Canvas LMS:

1. Open the assignment that you submitted your file under.
2. Click on Submission details next to your assignment.
3. Click on the similarity percentage score.

For Microsoft Teams:

1. Open the assignment that you submitted your file under.
2. Under the submitted file, there will be a message saying “Turnitin report pending…” in case your teacher or professor has not checked your file yet.
3. Click on Refresh to generate your similarity report.
4. Once generated, click on View Turnitin report.

You will then be able to view your Turnitin report and review your similarity evaluation.