Turnitin limitations

[taham]

I have noticed on a few student assignments this semester that Turnitin is not flagging plagiarized passages. I usually recognize these because the language is particularly sophisticated or advanced, and a quick Google search will confirm that, indeed, the student has lifted text directly from a website. Does anyone know why Turnitin is missing these and/or whether there is work being done to improve the functioning of this feature?

[kona]

taham​, while there is some great discussion about how Canvas and Turnitin function/work together in the Community - Canvas and Turnitin, questions about the actual functionality (or problems with functionality) of Turnitin should probably be submitted to Turnitin support.  @dhulsey ​, do you have any recommendations/information on this?

[dhulsey · Accepted solution]

Hi, Maisa and Kona! No plagiarism prevention service is perfect. Just as you will get different results in Google than you will in Yahoo or Bing, no search engine of any kind is perfect or gives the same results. If you do find a source that Turnitin is not catching, you can report it to Turnitin by filing a support ticket on their website or by asking your local Turnitin administrator to file a ticket for you. Turnitin and similar services help a lot, but there is no substitute for an instructor who knows the students and how they write.

I hope that helps, and have a good weekend!

[taham]

Thank you, Dallas and Kona -- Your replies have been helpful. I realize that no program will be perfect, and it's always good to learn more about what actual program capabilities are.