Creating and Using Turnitin Rubrics

This article explains how an instructor can create a rubric, attach it and use it to mark Turnitin assignments

When creating a Turnitin assignment on Canvas, a rubric may be attached under the optional settings (1).

Tick the Attach a rubric box (2) and either select from preloaded rubrics or click the Launch Rubric Manager button (3).

Choosing to launch the rubric manager will open a pop up with a preloaded rubric. These cannot be edited, and it is recommended to go to the menu and select Create new rubric.

Choosing to create a new rubric will launch a blank template with vertical scales and horizontal criteria. Additional scales and/or criteria can be added by using the white plus signs.

Note that criteria and scales can also be removed by hovering in the box you would like to remove and clicking the bin icon.

Turnitin offers the choice between three types of rubric:

1)   Standard rubric: enter scale values for each column and weight your criteria rose using percentages

2)   Custom rubric: enter any value directly into each rubric cell

3)   Qualitative rubric: a rubric that provides standard feedback but has no numeric scoring

Note: when creating scales in a standard rubric, be aware that the mark will generate according to the numerical value placed there.

When the rubric is complete, remember to click SAVE. You can export the rubric if desired to share with others.

Change Rubrics Types

Change a rubric from one type (standard, custom, qualitative) to another by editing or duplicating the rubric.

Once the new rubric is saved, return to the assignment you are creating on Blackboard. Select your newly created rubric from the drop-down menu to attach to the assignment.

When reviewing a student’s assignment, the rubric values will be available for you to choose from while scoring. The text feedback entered on the full rubric will be hidden.

To reference the rubric text while scoring, use the expand button (highlighted in image above).

When students receive notification that they are assignment has been scored and released, they will be able to access the full rubric, including categories, percentages and score.

For more details on the use of Turnitin and Feedback Studio, for staff and students, visit Turnitin documentation available at: