Plagiarism detection is the process of checking papers against external sources and identifying sections of papers that may have been copied.

There are two tools for plagiarism detection at the University of Iowa, Turnitin and iThenticate. Turnitin benefits undergraduate students compared to iThenticate, which is targeted towards academic professionals.

Turnitin

The University of Iowa has licensed Turnitin, an online, automatic similarity detection service for use with student submissions, and we encourage all instructors to utilize this tool in their ICON courses.

Students submit their papers via an ICON (Canvas) assignment, and the instructor receives an originality report showing possible matches between the submitted paper and Turnitin's database and internet resources. It is important to note that the final decision about the presence of a plagiarism lies with the instructor.

Turnitin also offers the Feedback Studio, a comprehensive grading and writing tool, which features QuickMarks, and a peer review tool, PeerMark.

Support articles, how-tos, frequently asked questions, and more are available at the Office of Teaching, Learning and Technology's Turnitin webpage.

Turnitin is available for use in ICON (Canvas).

iThenticate

iThenticate is an online recognition detection software used for academic research, theses, dissertations, and other academic work. Students, faculty, and staff will check their submissions against a database of published scholarly work for inaccuracies in citations and similar content that has not been properly summarized or paraphrased.

The iThenticate service is for postdocs, graduate students, research staff, and faculty. There is no cost for this service. There are a limited number of licenses, so accounts will need to be requested and approved ahead of use. Customers can get the service by submitting a workflow form. iThenticate is available for use at ithenticate.its.uiowa.edu after this form has been processed.

Support articles, how-tos, frequently asked questions, and more are available at the Office of Teaching, Learning and Technology's iThenticate webpage. Additionally, users can contact the ITS Help Desk with inquiries about training and OTLT can set up a meeting.