Effective Autumn 2019, Turnitin will replace Vericite as the university-wide plagiarism checking software.

Turnitin is a third-party plagiarism detection software that is embedded in Canvas: it compares student submission text to a vast database of material including published material, material on the web, and submissions by students at our institution and others.

All of the student papers in our current institutional repository for Vericite will be migrated over to the Turnitin servers.

Why are we moving to Turnitin?

You may remember that the university had used Turnitin before moving to Vericite. In 2018, Turnitin acquired Vericite, which resulted in a search for a new plagiarism checking software. After researching other options and critically reviewing the features available, Turnitin was chosen as the most optimal solution. The setup will be very similar to the way Vericite currently functions in Canvas.

When will we be able to use Turnitin?

Changes in Canvas will go into effect during the week of August 19, 2019. The transition is scheduled to take place in between summer and autumn quarters to minimize disruptions as much as possible.

Instructors will need to enable Turnitin for Canvas assignments that previously used Vericite.

How do I enable Turnitin for a Canvas assignment?

Training and instructional materials can be found at https://otl.du.edu/knowledgebase/canvas/turnitin/.

Recommended Turnitin Syllabus Statement

Including information about Turnitin in your syllabus is a great idea. The following statement is recommended:

Students agree that by taking this course all required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted papers will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers.

Thank you,

Office of Teaching and Learning