billso.com

Every semester, I get at least one student who asks about the paper submission process in TurnItIn.com. Paper 2 drafts are due on Wednesday in IS 6100 and Friday in IS 7010.

I discussed this issue in this 29 January article.

The short version: When users press the “submit” button to send an assignment to TurnItIn.com, the web site retrieves the document from the user’s computer. This process is similar to uploading an attachment to a web-based email system like Gmail or Yahoo Mail!

TurnItIn.com refreshes the web page and displays an unformatted, text-only version of the uploaded paper, along with a second submit button.

This confirmation step should help users determine if they uploaded the correct file. TurnItIn.com does let instructors limit students to a single upload on an assignment. But some users get confused because their paper is displayed without any formatting at all!

I’ve always believed this was a usability issue that TurnItIn.com’s software and user interface designers should fix. The only reason I can think of is that TurnItIn.com management wants to reduce the response time during the submission upload cycle. Generating an image or PDF would increase the time needed to submit a paper.

I usually allow students to upload their file as many times as they wish before the assignment deadline.

DWIMNWIS = “do what I meant, not what I said”

TurnItIn.com does send a digital receipt via email to the user after a successful submission. But I’m not sure this confirmation message is enough. TurnItIn.com should always display a PDF or graphical version of the formatted document. Students who use Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, or almost any other Mac or Windows-based word processor usually keep their software in a layout mode that supports WYSIWYG, and displays the actual fonts, margins, spacing, and other document attributes.

So I’m not surprised when some students expect TurnItIn.com to display a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) version of their paper with the formatting and graphics intact. If I hadn’t used TurnItIn.com before, I’d probably ask the same question!