Reviewed: 31/07/2023

The following instructions cover submission of: Dissertation, EDM report, Literature Review, Final Year Project, First year essay and several other pieces of work. For this reason, these instructions will use the word “Essay” to indicate any type of submission.

Note

Uploading “Essays” into the TurnItIn system can take several minutes and, occasionally, issues can occur. You should be well-prepared and submit in PLENTY of time before the deadline. Leaving everything to the last minute means you risk missing the deadline and losing marks.

2 Minute Video Guide:

See below for step-by-step instructions on submitting your essay into Blackboard using the plagiarism detection software: TurnItIn.

Stage 1 : Access the Assignment Submission Link

  • Log into your Blackboard course. The assignment submission link will usually be located in the ‘Assessments’ area in the left hand menu.
  • Click the link to upload your assignment. It is important that you read and follow any instructions given by your course leader.
Turnitin submission link
  • To submit your assignment, click the ‘Upload Submission’ button.
  • Clicking the  ?  icon will display any extra information provided by your tutor, including the feedback release date and assessment criteria (if an assignment rubric has been attached).
Turnitin submission inbox

Stage 2: Upload your document

Next, you need to enter a ‘Submission Title’. It is important that you check any instructions given by your tutor. In many schools in the University it is ESSENTIAL that you enter your 7 digit ID number in the submission title box and that you remove any references to your name in the submission document itself. This is to comply with anonymous marking regulations. DO NOT use quotation marks in the submission title as this can cause errors.

Select ‘Choose file’ and select the file you wish to upload. You may have the option to upload a cloud submission e.g. Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox document.

Turnitin upload title and file

Stage 3: Review your document

This stage allows you to check you have uploaded the correct document. You can ‘Preview’, ‘Cancel Submission’ or continue to ‘Submit to Turnitin‘.

Turnitin preview and submit

Stage 4: Complete the submission

Upon submission you will see this screen:

Turnitin digital receipt
  • You will see a confirmation that your submission was successful. (If this is not the case please try and submit again).
  • You have the option to download a digital receipt for the paper you have submitted. It is very important that you retain your digital receipt as a record of your submission.
  • If allowed by your tutor, you may have the option to resubmit your paper. Note that it can take up to 24 hours for re-uploaded files to be processed but the submission time will be marked as the time that the re-upload occurred. If the resubmit button is NOT available, then please contact your tutor to discuss this.
  • You have the option to download a copy of the paper you have submitted.

Important Note for Users of Mac Systems (Mac Book, iMac, etc..)

If your assignment document is created on a Mac computer and you intend to include images copied and pasted from a PDF source document, it is essential that you use one of the following methods to bring the images into your assignment document: For any Mac software, including the ‘Preview’ application, do the following:

  1. Use ‘Cmd + Shift + 4‘ to open the Screenshot tool. (Alternatively, use ‘File > Take Screen Shot > From Selection’)
  2. Select the area of the page you wish to save as an image (the image will automatically be saved to the desktop).
  3. In Word, use ‘Insert > Image’ to import the image.
  4. **DO NOT** use the Select Tool in Preview to copy and paste images from the PDF into your assignment document.

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Uploading Your Essay (via Blackboard and TurnItIn)