Turnitin

Turnitin.com is the leading plagiarism checker and online grading/collaborating tool for schools.  It is used by thousands of colleges, universities, and high schools across the country.  It requires you to create an account (which is free) that you may keep forever--using it at Columbine and beyond when you get to college.  Once you have an account, you will access your individual classes via a course ID and password given to you by each teacher for each class to which you will submit papers.  Then, when you are given a writing assignment, you will login to turnitin and submit that paper electronically where it will be checked against the World Wide Web, for-pay essay sites, and any other paper that has previously been submitted to turnitin.  The site will then produce an originality report for your teacher telling him/her what percentage of your paper is authentic/original and how much is borrowed or not originally yours.  

In addition to checking for plagiarism, turnitin allows instructors to score your papers and present feedback online if they choose.  More, teachers can set-up peer review sessions where you submit your paper online and give access to one or more other students for peer revisions and editing.  Turnitin also effectively aids students in the research process, allowing them to see just how much of their research papers are actually their writing and how much is cited research.  Teachers can use this information to better teach appropriate use of sources and researched information.

For guidance with setting up a turnitin account, go here.  Before you begin, you will need a class ID and password for one of your courses.  When signing up, remember to use a valid email address that you will check frequently.  Turnitin, your instructor, or possibly your classmates may need to contact you via this email.  

Students should always keep their receipts after submitting their papers to turnitin.