How to use Turnitin Commenting Features

This article explains how an instructor can speed up feedback using Turnitin's Feedback Studio for Turnitin Assignments.

Short Video Walkthrough

Text/Screenshot Walkthrough

To access the submitted papers and the similarity reports, the instructor clicks on the same Turnitin Assignment link created at  Stage 1.

Note: This is the same link students used to directly upload their assignment to your Canvas course.

Once an instructor has accessed the submitted paper to begin marking, moving the cursor to the student's paper will bring up the three options to type custom comments anywhere on the document:

  1. Quickmarks
  2. Custom bubble comment
  3. Text to place directly on document
Feedback Studio - Google Chrome
1. Quickmarks

Choosing quickmarks will open up the quickmarks menu. Here, use the settings wheel to select the set of quickmarks you'd like to use for this assignment. These marks can be dragged and dropped into the student's paper. Once placed, they can be edited for customization if desired. You may create your own set of quickmarks or use those preloaded from Turnitin.

Exploring Quickmarks

Quickmarks are useful tool to speed up providing commentary and feedback during the grading process.

You can also open quickmarks by clicking on the green checkmark in the Turnitin feedback center bar:

Once opened, you can navigate between different sets of quickmarks, drag-and-drop into the student's paper, and see the full text of the comment at the bottom of the feedback studio bar or by hovering over the quickmark itself on the paper.

There is also an option to add an additional comment of your own below the QuickMark on the student's paper.

To organize your quickmarks, click on the settings wheel and open the feature fully, seen below.

Quickmarks from premade sets can be easily added to your own custom set by clicking on the "+ add to set" and choosing a set that you have created for the assignment.

Once you have exited the pop up, find your sets by clicking on the drop arrow next to the name (1) of the quickmarks set that appears in the feedback studio.

Then, select the quickmark set that you have created (2) and wish to use while providing feedback for this set of assignments.

2. Custom Bubble comment

The custom bubble comment will allow you to type a comment and place it anywhere on the page. A speech bubble icon represents that a comment has been left that a student may click on to read the text. Additionally, you may choose to save any comment as a quickmark to build your quickmark library. These can also be aligned with an element on your rubric, if you choose to use one.

3. In-line comment

An in-line comment will allow you to type directly onto the student document. Use this option for short feedback, as Turnitin restricts the color, size, and font, and they can be difficult to place and read without sufficient space.

Note that including comments will not alter the original file. However, a copy of the paper with in-line textual comments can be downloaded.

4. Voice/Text Feedback

Turnitin Feedback Studio also includes a method to leave summary or end-of-paper feedback. To access this, click on the pen and pencil symbol in the feedback bar.

  • This will open "Feedback Summary". Make a voice comment by clicking on the round record button under "Voice Comment".
  • Leave a text comment by clicking on the box below "Text Comment".

Need more help?

See Turnitin's quickmarks help  or check out their online support center if you have encountered any difficulty.