Advice for students

As a student, you can only use Turnitin if it has been made available to you by a member of staff.

The University of Edinburgh uses Turnitin’s Feedback Studio. This comprises two services:

• a similarity checker: which compares work submitted through Turnitin against extensive databases of websites, academic reference materials and previously submitted work, to produce a similarity score and a similarity report;
• a marking and feedback interface: which allows the viewing of feedback comments.

Understanding your similarity report

Staff and students should understand that similarity reports do not say whether plagiarism has taken place; the report simply highlights sections of the submitted text that match other sources. It remains an academic decision as to what the similarity means and what happens as a consequence.

If you are given access to your similarity report, your School should provide guidance on how to interpret it. Alternatively, guidance can be found on the Help and support page:

Help and support

Submitting your work through Turnitin

When submitting your work, please follow the instructions given to you for your course, particularly the format and size of the work. If you have a large file (for instance, one with many high resolution images) you may have to reduce the size; there is a link to guidance on this on the Help and support page:

Help and support

Do not leave submitting work right until the deadline as it may take time for your work to submit completely, especially if the document is large and/or your network connection is slow.

When you have submitted your work, you will have the opportunity to download a digital receipt: this is your proof that your work was submitted successfully. If there are any difficulties later, you will be asked to produce this receipt, so it is vital that you download the receipt as soon as you can and keep it safe. 

Details of how to submit work and download your receipt in the new (LTI) interface can be found on the 'Help and Support' page:

Help and support

If you have difficulty submitting your work, especially if the deadline is approaching, send a copy of your work to your School Office, then seek help (so that your work is not counted as late).

Accessing your marks and feedback

Guidance on how to do this can be found on the 'Help and Support' page; alternatively, we encourage you to seek further clarification from your School Office should you have any questions. 

Help and support

Downloading your work with your feedback

We encourage you to download a copy of your work with the feedback attached as soon as it is available. This is so that you have a backup should you not be able to access your online copy at some time in the future. Guidance on how to do this can be found on the 'Help and Support' page.

Help and support

Academic support

The University offers a comprehensive range of support for you while you are studying at Edinburgh, all of which can help you improve your work and avoid issues with academic integrity. We encourage you to make the most of this support:

Academic support

Further issues

If you have any issues using Turnitin, contact the IS Helpline with as much detail possible (e.g. browser, platform, course):

Contact IS Helpline