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If a student accidentally submits the wrong file, do you give an automatic '0?'

I have a policy on my syllabus that states that if a student uploads a wrong, corrupt, or blank file for an assignment, then they will receive a '0.' I'm going through a grade dispute right now with a student (after I already submitted grades, of course!), and I keep wondering if the policy is too harsh. Do you email the student asking them to send you the correct file?

• Quick Answers
• Online Assessment and Feedback

What should I do if a student has submitted an incorrect file to a Turnitin assignment dropbox?

A student contacts you to say they submitted the wrong assignment or a draft version of their assignment by mistake. When an assignment drop box is configured to allow one submission only, i.e. ‘students cannot resubmit’, or if the Due Date has passed, a student will not be allowed to resubmit. Note: Since Summer 2022 the default Turnitin setting is ‘students cannot resubmit’.

Guidance: 

Module Leaders, at their own discretion, can delete the incorrect submission – then the student will be able to resubmit. 

Before you delete a submission you should follow these steps carefully:

• Find the Paper ID of the incorrect submission. This is easy to do if the drop box is not anonymous because you can search by student name. If the drop box is anonymous then ask the student to provide their ‘ Turnitin Digital Receipt ’ – they will have received it by email when they made their submission. It includes the unique TII Paper ID, the name of the drop box they submitted to and the date and time it was submitted.
• Make a note of the Paper ID (the student will probably have included it in the email exchange between the two of you). Keeping a record of the Paper ID is just a precaution in case you later need it for some reason.
• Once you have the TII Paper ID you can search the list of submissions by the Paper ID to locate the submission.
• Next, download the incorrect submission. Click the ‘ Download Submission ’ button on the right hand side of the student’s submission. Do this as a precaution, just in case you later need it for some reason, for example, the student can’t find the final submission they wish to upload. Tip: Keep downloaded submissions like this within a subfolder in the Downloads folder on your computer. Periodically delete saved submissions which are over six months old.

• Now it is safe to delete the incorrect submission, click the ‘ Delete Submission ’ Bin button on the right hand side of the student’s submission.

• You can now contact the student to let them know they are now able to resubmit.

If a student submits their work to the wrong module, i.e, the wrong Moodle course, then you may want to request that the paper gets removed from Turnitin, because subsequently submitting the same paper to the correct module will show a high match percentage. How do I request removal of a submission from the Turnitin database?

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Blackboard Help for Students

• Getting started
• Assessment Help
• Known Issues
• Raise Support Ticket
• Online Exams 2024

Turnitin: I received an error while submitting my work – what should I do?

What to do if you receive errors when submitting work to Turnitin: Most of the time students get error while submitting an incompatible file to Turnitin. If you are experiencing any issues, please check the compatibility of your file.

Please check:

• Check whether your file meets minimum Turnitin requirement. Check this “ Turnitin File Requirements ” guide for details.
• Ensure file size is not larger than 100MB.
• Remove all the excessive formatting in your document. (avoid using word and PowerPoint templates)
• If you are submitting a scanned PDF or a word document which consists of images, please add at least 20 selectable words in your document. Check this guide for more info: “ Turnitin: Submit Scanned / Handwritten Work “
• If you are resubmitting your work after the deadline has passed, please contact your Programme Admin team. Turnitin does not allow students to resubmit work after the deadline has passed.
• If you don’t see an error, but your file taking long time to upload or not being uploaded, please check your internet connection (try wired internet connection), or try a different internet browser.

Report the issue:

If you are unsure of the likely cause of the issue, please report the issue through the IT Self Service Portal . 

Use this  Blackboard Help Request Form   to ensure that your query is addressed by the appropriate person as promptly as possible.  

Avoid late submissions:  Always leave plenty of time and try to submit your work well in advance. If you are submitting your work just before the deadline and experience any  technical issues (apart from the official system outage), please send your work to your Programme Admin team via email to avoid any late penalty.

For more information, please read following

When submitting to a Turnitin Assignment you may encounter errors.

They are usually descriptive and easy to resolve, but you may encounter some you aren’t sure about.

Styling Issues

Here are some you might see:

The paper you have submitted seems to have an unusual number of excessively long or short words. Please try changing your font and submitting again.

The paper you are trying to submit is incorrectly formatted. There seems to be spaces between each letter in your paper.

This error is common if you are submitting a PowerPoint Presentation with lots of styling. To resolve this, export your sideshow to a PDF. You can export in a way that your notes are visible, if that is part of the work you want your instructor to see.

Convert PowerPoint presentation to PDF if Turnitin does not accept the submission →

Images and Handwritten Work

Another possible error is:

We weren’t able to process your submission. Please try re-submitting your file. If you need further assistance, please contact TurnitinUK support.

You must submit more than 20 words of text.

In this case it’s likely that your paper is either scanned or has insufficient selectable text. To resolve this, please add 20 words of text to your paper.

You can see more about this error here:

Submitting scanned / handwritten work to Turnitin →

If you need help with using Turnitin please log a ticket on the IT Self Service Portal . 

General Errors

If Turnitin shows you an error stating:

Error 9999 – Turnitin Assignment not linked with Grade Centre

If you didn’t receive an error but your work is not uploading, it may be due to a browser issue. Please try a different browser. If you are using Safari, you can see how to resolve possible issues here:

Resolve problems using Turnitin with Safari on macOS →

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• For Students

Tips and Troubleshooting for Turnitin

What is it.

This guide covers troubleshooting tips for common Turnitin errors

What does it do?

There are a few common issues that you may experience when you submit your assessment to a Turnitin submission point. This guide will help you resolve the issues, or direct you to the best place to go for help.

What should I know?

What to do if you can’t submit.

First, read the error message carefully, these will usually tell you what the issue is so you can resolve it.

Word count error

If you see the following error message that says that your submission needs at least 20 words, you’ll need to edit your submission to meet this word count. This message often appears when you are submitting a file that has scanned pages. Even if these appear to have text on them, scans are read by Turnitin as images and therefore they are considered to have no text. You can create a coversheet that meets the word count and attach it to your file to be able to upload your file.

If you’re still having issues, contact Help4U .

Cannot upload submission

If you are unable to upload a submission and see the message  Cannot upload submission . There is something in the settings that is barring your from submitting – most likely, the due date has passed and the assignment has been set up to not allow late submissions. If you see this message, you will need to contact your instructor for any further help.

File size error

If you see the following error about your file being too large, you will need to compress your file .

What to do if you have submitted the wrong file

First, see if your assignment allows resubmissions. If resubmissions are allowed and it is before the due date , you can resubmit the correct file. You won’t need to delete anything and the new submission will automatically replace the earlier submission. If the assignment doesn’t allow resubmissions or it is past the due date, you’ll need to contact your instructor for any further help.

You cannot delete submissions, so if you have uploaded a file to the wrong submission point and need help removing it you will need to contact your instructor for further help.

What to do if something else has gone wrong

If anything else has gone wrong with your submission, please contact Help4U . You should also contact your instructor so they are aware of any issues you may be having. 

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Related articles.

• Submit a document to Turnitin
• General troubleshooting for exam/assignment submissions
• Download a Turnitin submission receipt
• Understand your Similarity Report
• Review your submission
• Resubmit your Turnitin document

please how do I download and test run this Turnitin as this entirely new to me in all ramifications.

The clime I was operating from was 100 in-class and lecturers do manual marking of scripts without any recourse to computing especially as they interact directly with students…

Hi Odaro, If you contact your module leads, they will be able to tell instruct you on where and when to use Turnitin for your modules. You can also review our guide on how to submit a document to Turnitin .

Best, Laura

This is interesting and very helpful

Good information to have and know.

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Where did I go wrong? student self-assessment tool

Worksheet to guide students in post-assignment reflection when work has been flagged as questionable in any way.

This worksheet supports effective student note-taking during the research and writing process.

Worksheet to guide students in mid-work reflection and provide educators with progress update on student work.

This worksheet guides students in self-reflection of their work process and final product after an assignment has been completed and subsequently flagged for issues questioning its integrity and authenticity. In particular, this worksheet allows educators to gain insight into where students may have strayed off course during an assignment, allowing them to then use that information during student-educator conferences on the subject. Download this file to display and/or print the handouts in a .pdf format. If opened in an Adobe product, a pdf-fillable version is available. Students can complete this worksheet digitally, save a copy, and then submit it via email or other messaging system.

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Managing student submissions in Turnitin

• Created: 23rd August 2022

This guide has been created to inform staff of steps that can be taken if a student incorrectly submits a piece of work to Turnitin.

Removing submitted student work from Turnitin creates several, time-consuming and difficult-to-manage challenges and must only be used as an absolute last resort for staff at Teesside University.  Staff must also ensure that they have the permission of all members of the school/department that will be impacted (including the Systems Support team) before modifying/removing student work.

Excluding sources via all sources

This is the best option to use if a student has previously submitted a piece of work in error, such as to the wrong module and therefore a similarity report has been generated.  When the student then submits to the correct module the new similarity report will be returned as 100% plagiarised due to the same piece of work being previously submitted (in error). Don’t worry this doesn’t have to be a problem if correctly managed.

To exclude sources from the similarity report using the “All Sources” side panel use the following steps.

Click the graph icon from the similarity toolbar. ( If the similarity layer was inactive, it will now be activated, highlighting all on-paper matches .)

Click the Exclude Sources button at the bottom of the All Sources side panel.

Use the checkboxes to select the sources that you’d like to exclude from the similarity report.

Click the red Exclude (x) button at the bottom of the All Sources side panel. The button will provide a count of the number of sources you have chosen to exclude. Alternatively, click the Cancel button to clear your selection.

Removal or over-writing of content uploaded incorrectly to Turnitin

In almost all circumstances it is better to not delete an assessment in Turnitin.  If a student has uploaded an incorrect assignment to a Turnitin module the best option is that they reupload the correct assignment and overwrite the previous upload.  There are several options that can be explored to achieve this listed below.

If the overwriting is enabled and the submission deadline has not passed

Some assignments may allow students the ability to overwrite their previous submissions until an assignment’s due date. This option is activated by the instructor on an assignment-by-assignment basis. If re-submissions are not enabled, the instructor must manually delete the previous submission to allow the user to submit your second file.

If resubmissions have been enabled, resubmitting a paper is handled in an identical manner as a first-time submission.  To set the required overwrite option go to the Turnitin Assignment, select the Settings cog and expand the Optional Settings .

Browse to the Similarity Report section of the settings and use the dropdown box on to control how your assignment deals with generating similarity reports and re-submissions.  The Generate reports immediately (students can resubmit until the due date): After 3 resubmissions, the reports generate after 24 hours option offers the best fit to allow students to resubmit and receive the similarity reports immediately.

Manual deletion of previous submissions (If overwriting is not enabled) by the instructor.

If you do not wish to enable the resubmission option for everyone, but a certain student has uploaded an incorrect file or needs to resubmit for any reason, as an instructor, can delete their submission.  If the assignment is still open, this will allow them to upload a new file.

To manually delete a previously submitted Turnitin assignment use the following steps.

Open the assignment inbox for the Turnitin in question

Locate the student whose work is to be deleted, click the More Options and select Remove from Inbox .

Confirm that the assessment submission is to be removed.

This action will only remove the submitted assignment from the student’s Turnitin inbox but will not remove the work from the similarity database.  As the work has now been submitted and a similarity report has been generated, any future submissions of this work will need to have this source omitted from the new similarity report.

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Turnitin Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Students

Q. What is 'Turnitin'?

Q. why does the anu use turnitin, q. how does turnitin work, q. what are the accepted file types for turnitin, q. what is an originality report, q. how do i use turnitin as a student, q. can i update and resubmit my assignment after reviewing my originality report, q. why can't i see a new originality report immediately after my second submission, q. how does word counting function work in turnitin, q. what is grademark, q. when will i be able to see my results and lecturer's feedback in grademark, q. why can i see a reference to 'peermark' in my originality report, q. how do the anu and turnitin protect my privacy, q. what can i do to protect my privacy, q. what am i providing to turnitin when i submit an assignment.

Q. Why do I have to accept Turnitin's 'User Agreement' the first time I use Turnitin?

Q. Do I have to use Turnitin?

Q. How can I 'opt-out' of using Turnitin?

Q. why do i get a m14:11 loading error message when i tried to view the originality report, q. why do i get an error when trying to upload a submission to turnitin, q. why do i get a turnitin login window when trying to view the originality report, q. where can i go for more information.

Turnitin is a 'text-matching' software which is designed to educate students regarding appropriate citation and referencing techniques. Turnitin is also used to provide the ANU with confidence in the academic integrity of students work. Turnitin does this by comparing a student submission against an archive of Internet documents, Internet data, a repository of previously submitted papers, and subscription repository of periodicals, journals, and publications. Turnitin then creates an 'Originality Report' which can be viewed by both lecturers and students, which identifies where the text within a student submission has matched another source.

It is important to note that Turnitin does not detect plagiarism. Turnitin will only match the text within a student's assignment to text located elsewhere (e.g. found on the Internet, within journals or on databases of student papers). Correct interpretation of these results by both lecturers and students is essential for the successful use of Turnitin.  

A large number of leading Universities across the world, including several members of the Group of Eight, are currently using Turnitin to enhance the education experience they provide to their students.

The ANU uses Turnitin both as a tool to educate students regarding appropriate citation and referencing techniques as well as to provide the ANU with confidence in the academic integrity of students work. Turnitin also provides lecturers and tutors with modern online grading capabilities and enhances the way in which students receive their grades and feedback on assessment items.

It is important to understand that Turnitin is not a punitive tool or a mechanism to 'catch students out'. The primary purpose of using Turnitin is to provide students with an interactive means of understanding and applying citation and referencing techniques in their work, and provide online grading to academic staff.

If misconduct is suspected as a result of using Turnitin, information provided through the use of Turnitin would not in itself determine any wrongdoing. This information would be considered within the wider context of the ANU Code of Practice for Student Academic Integrity. 

If a lecturer chooses to use Turnitin for a particular Course or Assignment, the lecturer will create a 'Turnitin Assignment' within Wattle. When a student submits a 'Turnitin Assignment' within Wattle, the assignment will then be submitted to Turnitin for text-matching.

Turnitin matches the text within an assignment by comparing a student's submission against an archive of internet documents, internet data, a repository of previously submitted papers, and subscription repository of periodicals, journals, and publications. Turnitin then creates an 'Originality Report' which can be viewed by both lecturers and students, which identifies where the text within a student submission has matched another source.

Turnitin also stores a record of all submitted assignments on central database. This is done so that future submissions, for example assignments submitted to the ANU in future years, will be checked against previously submitted assignments.

While Turnitin retains a copy of submitted assignments, it does not reproduce these assignments or disclose them to third parties. This means that while a copy of your student's assignment is stored, it is never shown to a third party and the student retains ownership of their assignment. 

For further details regarding these accept and not accepted files, what other attention should the user pay when uploading the accepted files, please refer to:

https://help.turnitin.com/feedback-studio/turnitin-website/student/submitting-a-paper/file-requirements.htm

https://help.turnitin.com/feedback-studio/moodle/direct-v2/student/submitting-a-paper/accepted-file-types-and-sizes.htm

The 'Originality Report' is the report Turnitin creates after it has assessed a student submission against the Internet, repositories of previously submitted papers, and subscription repositories of periodicals, journals, and publications.

The 'Originality Report' identifies where content in a student's submission has been 'text-matched' to other sources. The 'Originality Report' shows the overall 'similarity index' percentage (the total percent of the submission matched against other sources), and provides a detailed breakdown of what text within the submission has been matched against what source (e.g. internet sites, journals or previous submissions).

Please refer to the detailed reference guide 'How to Interpret an Originality Report' for additional information. 

Once a lecturer has created a Turnitin assignment within a Course you are enrolled in, you will be able to access the assignment and submit your assignment via Wattle.

The following Reference Sheets have been developed to assist students in using Turnitin:

• How to submit a Turnitin assignment in Wattle
• How to obtain grades in GradeMark

This will depend on how your Lecturer has created your 'Turnitin Assignment'. The default approach of the ANU will be to allow students to submit their assignments to Turnitin, review their Original Reports, make any necessary modifications to their assignments, and then resubmit. This approach ensures ongoing education and feedback for students regarding the 'text-matches' identified within their submission, and any missing or potentially incorrect citations or referencing can be corrected prior to final submission.

Your Lecturer however may choose to take a different approach for a variety of reasons. If you have any concerns, you should discuss them with your Lecturer in the first instance. 

Turnitin will only provide one Originality Report in any given 24 hour period. This means that when you first submit an assignment to Turnitin, you will receive an Originality Report in a matter of minutes. If you then resubmit that assignment, you will not see the new Originality Report for 24 hours. This is designed to prevent abuse of the Turnitin system. Remember, the aim is not to try and get as low a 'similarity index' as possible, and a moderate to high 'similarity index' may not be an issue depending on the nature of your particular assignment.

If you are unable to view an Originality Report it is likely that you have resubmitted your assignment. Don't worry if this happens close to the assignment due date – even though you will not be able to see a new Originality Report for 24 hours, your most recently submitted assignment will have been submitted to your lecturer. 

For Microsoft Word files, Turnitin uses the a similar word count used by MS Word and does not count the words in text-boxes, footnotes, and endnotes.

For PDF files, a different algorithm is used, as there is no inbuilt word count tool in Adobe PDF. As such, PDF submissions will result in inflated word count as all the text will be counted as regular word count, including footnotes, endnotes and words in text-boxes.

GradeMark is an additional feature within Turnitin which allows Lecturers and Tutors to mark student submissions completely online. Within an Originality Report, Lecturers and Tutors can use GradeMark to provide feedback through inserting digital comments, voice comments and Rubrics as well as provide an overall assignment grade. 

If your Lecturer and/or Tutors have used GradeMark to mark your assignment, you will be able to view your marks and the comments and feedback provided once the 'Post date' has passed for the relevant assignment. The 'Post Date' refers to the date your Lecturer has specified as the date from which grades for a particular assignment will become visible to students.

The following Reference Sheet has been developed to assist students in using GradeMark:

PeerMark is an addition feature available from Turnitin which enables students to view, review, score and evaluate papers submitted by their classmates. This function is not currently available at the ANU, but is being assessed and may become available at a later date.

The use of Turnitin at the ANU will be integrated with our existing learning management system Wattle. In order to protect student's privacy, additional functionality has been incorporated into this integration which will transform each student's email address into a unique identifier (e.g. [email protected]) before the student's submission is sent to Turnitin.

This will effectively remove a student's name or 'U' number from their email address, so there is no information stored on the Turnitin database which can connect a student to their submission.

If you do not want your name to be stored on the Turnitin database, you should remove your name and 'U' number from the content of your assignment (e.g. remove from your cover sheet or from the document header or footer). As described above, your email address will not be stored on the Turnitin database.

From a legal perspective, when a student submits their assignment to Turnitin and the assignment is stored on the Turnitin database, the student provides Turnitin with a perpetual license to store and use their assignment for the purposes of textual similarity review only.

It is important to understand however, that students retain the ownership of the content of their submissions, including their intellectual property. It is also important to understand that Turnitin will not provide or display the content of a student's submission to any third party.  

Q. Why do I have to accept a Turnitin 'User Agreement' the first time I use Turnitin?

ANU staff and students are licensed to use the Turnitin service as part of the agreement between the ANU and Turnitin. However staff and students, as the end-users of the service, are required to confirm that they agree to the terms set out in the 'User Agreement'.

Q.  Am I required to use Turnitin?

If Turnitin is being used in a Course you are enrolled in, the ANU highly recommends that students use Turnitin, however, it is not mandatory for either lecturers or students. If a student does not want to submit an assignment to Turnitin, the student may 'opt-out' of using Turnitin for that assignment.  

If a student does not want to submit an assignment to Turnitin, the student may 'opt-out' by approaching their lecturer and explaining they do not want to use Turnitin. Please contact your lecturer to discuss alternative submission methods within a reasonable time prior to your submission date. Many lecturers require this to take place before the end of Week 3.

Some students may see an error message which states: "Loading Error  This paper is not available  Error M14:11." The error can be caused by multiple reasons, such as internet connectivity issue or server issue, etc.

If you experience this issue, the following are the available options:

1. If it's before the due date, please return to your document, open it and save it in a different format (see below) before re-submitting the assignment. When re-submitting, it may be useful to upload a version of the paper in a different document type. This may improve the chances of the paper being processed correctly. 

In general, the use of PDF submissions may assist in lowering the chance of M14:11 issues.

Note: It is important to note that the original submission date and time will be overwritten when re-submitting. If the due date for the assignment has already passed, the resubmitted paper will appear as 'late' (highlighted in red) in the Submission Inbox. Students are advised to contact the lecturers or tutors before re-submitting if the due date has passed.

2. If it's after the due date and resubmission is not suitable, please contact Wattle Support. We can request Turnitin support to regenerate the originality report.

Some students may see an error message which states: "There was an error trying to create the submission in Turnitin. Please consult your tutor or Moodle administrator for further details." It also lists Fault Code: failure with more details.

This error occurs due to the use of the Safari browser. Please switch to another browser, such as Firefox or Chrome and it should resolve the issue.

You should not need to log into Turnitin when you access the Originality Report through Wattle.

This often happens to people using the Safari browser. Please switch to another browser, such as Firefox or Chrome and it should resolve the issue.

A range of 'reference sheets' and other support information is available on the Turnitin page .

If you require additional information or assistance, please contact IT Service Desk or call 612 54321 and select ' Option 1 ' then ' Option 5 '.

Related links

• Academic Misconduct Rules
• Code of Practice for Student Academic Integrity
• Contact ANU
• Freedom of Information

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How do you respond when students submit the wrong assignment, but you only notice after the deadline has passed?

I occasionally get students who submit their assignments, but I only notice that they've submitted the wrong assignment when I begin grading. I can think of three possibilities to explain this:

• They made an honest mistake
• They are trying to buy some time to submit their assignment by making it seem like an honest mistake
• They didn't do the assignment at all and are trying to get some kind of credit

Sometimes I allow students a few hours or 24 hours to resubmit the correct assignment (is 24 hours too long?). If they don't, then I usually assume they haven't actually completed it. Other times, I'm just tempted to give them a zero.

The student in question submitted an assignment that was submitted previously in the semester.

Is there a better way that you know of to confirm whether they're being honest or not?

By the way, I'm looking for a general answer that can apply across multiple situations. In this specific situation, due to many different factors, I decided to allow the student to resubmit. She resubmitted right away, which seems to demonstrate it was an honest mistake.

• Are the students submitting future assignments on the wrong date, but still showing that they have put in some work (i.e. they did the wrong assignment)? Or are they re-submitting old work, or completely unrelated work from another class (i.e. they submitted the wrong document)? I'd be more forgiving about the former if the student has clearly done some work (but the wrong work), rather than the latter scenario which might be a low-effort way to buy more time. –  Nuclear Hoagie Nov 30, 2020 at 18:49
• 3 Does it happen often? Is it often the same student? –  user111388 Nov 30, 2020 at 19:23
• If this is in person, there's not a good reason to be submitting the wrong assignment. If this is online, does the tech you're using allow students to check their submission? Mine does and my syllabus says it's on the student to check they submitted the correct thing. –  Kathy Nov 30, 2020 at 21:23
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor –  Anonymous Physicist Nov 30, 2020 at 23:17
• 1 When I was teaching we were required to use the Learning Management System even for face to face classes. My syllabus said, "Be careful what you upload. 'I uploaded the wrong thing' will not be accepted as an excuse." –  Bob Brown Dec 2, 2020 at 0:10

4 Answers 4

The fact that you're left guessing at unknowable motivations suggests a deeper problem to me. I always found guessing games like this very frustrating when assignments are due; giving students the benefit of the doubt sounds harmless... unless you're a student who scrambled to meet the deadline, while your peers took advantage of the professor's good will. This is especially true if the class is curved.

The policy I use now leaves my opinions completely out of it:

• Give clear due dates and turn-in proceedures
• Give students a "budget" for late assignments. I like to give three 12-hour tokens they can use at their discretion, no questions asked. If they turn something in late, I automatically use whatever tokens they have left to cover the time.
• Anything beyond that requires an issue serious enough that we're probably involving academic affairs as well. Things like serious illnesses and hospitalizations, for example.
• Anything turned not turned in on time, or within the scope of one of their "late tokens", gets a daily penalty added onto the score.

That way you're never faced with trying to ascribe motivations to what students are doing, and the rules are laid out clearly for them, which I find students like.

• 2 This is a very clever idea (+1). I like the 12-hour tokens --- I think I might steal that idea. –  Ben Nov 30, 2020 at 22:03
• 1 Great answer. I actually use a similar token system, which I call the Life Happens Card (I got the idea from my favourite professor while at school). In this case, the student had already submitted the assignment on time; it was only after that I realized the assignment was wrong. –  Genoah77 Dec 2, 2020 at 0:00
• 1 @Ben I tried "late days" for a few years, using 24-hour tokens. As with Jeff, I gave the students a budget. Mine was more generous; I think it was five late days. However, I required students to notify me if they intended to use late days. That totally didn't work. –  Bob Brown Dec 2, 2020 at 0:08
• 3 My Life Happens Cards work quite well. I allow a 48 hour extension. If students decide not to use theirs, at the end of the semester I cancel their lowest quiz mark. With this double incentive, students are quite happy; it has solved a lot of problems and conflict for me. –  Genoah77 Dec 2, 2020 at 1:32
• 1 I like calling them "Life Happens" cards! I might use that instead of "tokens". Also I should note that my "three 12 hour tokens" are for masters students on a short quarter system, so obviously you should tweak the values. I could see undergrads on a full semester system having a bigger "budet". –  Jeff Dec 2, 2020 at 15:09

I announce a policy at the beginning of the semester that the course staff will only grade the work that is actually submitted, before the deadline, for each assigned homework problem. So if a student submits a solution to the wrong problem, for any reason or no reason, they can expect a grade of zero , exactly as if they submitted nothing at all.

(Behind the scenes, I tell my graders that they are welcome to swap obviously misplaced assignments if it's easy, if they have time, and if they want to, but they are absolutely not required to.)

On the other hand, I also drop the lowest 25% of homework scores before computing final course grades. For example, in a class with 32 homework problems, only the highest 24 scores for each student would count toward their homework grade. (A majority of the grades in my classes are based on exams.) I also announce this policy at the beginning of the semester.

So in practice, if a student submits the wrong homework, they've burned one of their free drops, and they don't get feedback from the graders, but it has no significant impact on their overall course grade.

For similar reasons, I never give homework extensions. The deadline is the deadline is the deadline.

• It's really nice when someone is strict up front but lenient and understanding behind our backs! –  Aaron John Sabu Jun 26, 2021 at 15:15

Personally I always just tell them to make sure it doesn't happen again and let it go at that unless I see a pattern.

I think to get to the right answer here (which I believe mine is) you have to ask yourself what the purpose of grading homework even is in the first place and why does it matter if they turn it in on time. I mean, unlike exams, homework isn't really a good measure of student ability and even if it was it's not like anyone is spending all the time between assignment and submission working on it.

In an ideal world (and in some grad school courses) student grades would purely be based on mastery as shown in exams or projects. Unfortunately, at the UG and lower level we need to assign and grade homework as an incentive to keep students from just leaving everything to the last minute and never learning the material. In other words I'd argue that graded homework is a necessary evil done to keep students from hurting themselves (and why I usually allow students course grade to be just their exam grade if it's better).

As such if a student goes to that kind of length to get more time on hw I figure they are mostly just hurting themselves (but I also give extensions liberally as long as it doesn't become a problem for keeping up).

Besides, from a fairness POV there is really not much harm if some students get some extra time. I mean that's just noise compared to the unfairness inherently present in time to work on homework between students who need to take jobs and who don't and besides that extra time comes out of the time needed for the next assignment.

• In a business English course like mine, exams are of very limited value. Students can't really learn how to write proper sentences on a timed exam, so assignments (not "homework") is essential. They are writing letters, emails, etc., so they need to practice and take the time to edit/revise their grammar, which exams do not afford. I much prefer many short quizzes to anxiety-inducing English exams. I do, however, agree that projects are helpful. Giving extra time might not be a big deal, but it can become a problem if other students find out, because it can be perceived as favouritism. –  Genoah77 Dec 3, 2020 at 4:49
• Even in this case it's not the ability of students to respond in a certain number of days that one is trying to measure (can't since how much time students have in those days varies wildly anyway). So the size of the unfair advantage a student who fake submits gets is already less than the unfairness you are already willing to inflict by making assignments due knowing the huge variation in student time and outside commitments. The goal isn't uniformity for its own sake but minimal distance from the ideal grade assignment. –  Peter Gerdes Dec 3, 2020 at 5:01
• Every student signs up for a course with advance knowledge of their outside commitments, so uniformity with due dates is fair. Uniformity establishes a clear standard for students, which minimizes conflict between students, as well as conflict with the instructor. In other words, uniformity's purpose is to prevent needless conflict. –  Genoah77 Dec 4, 2020 at 0:10

I don't think anything but #1 is a reasonable assumption. They submit something and presumably that took time and effort to prepare.

Is there any reason not to be generous here? Especially since you say it is occasional.

The time you give them would depend on the assignment, of course. But I doubt that a day is too long.

It might be different if the same student does this repeatedly. Then you should explore more deeply into why it is happening. It is even possible in such a case they have something like dyslexia that makes it hard for a person to manage things accurately.

• "It might be different if the same student does this repeatedly..." You cannot treat students differently, not even based on past behavior. That's a ticket to an unpleasant meeting with the dean. –  Bob Brown Dec 2, 2020 at 0:13
• I realized my previous comment was incomplete. Set rules that give you some maneuvering room, put the rules in the syllabus, and apply those rules consistently to all students. –  Bob Brown Dec 2, 2020 at 0:19
• 2 @BobBrown: In all places I know, telling the dean "this student has done it once, so I won't allow it a second time" would be acceptable (and with an online system, you can even prove this). Many places even don't have so explicit rules in a syllabus (or even a syllabus). So your statement is not universally true. –  user111388 Dec 3, 2020 at 19:41

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Resubmitting to an assignment

Some assignments may allow students the ability to overwrite their previous submissions until the due date and time set for the assignment. This option can be set by the instructor on an assignment by assignment basis. If overwriting is not enabled, the instructor must manually delete a previous submission to allow the student user to submit a second file.

The first submission and three resubmissions will generate a similarity report instantly. Any subsequent submissions will incur a 24-hour delay between reports generating. Any resubmissions will overwrite the previously uploaded file.

If resubmission by overwrite has been enabled or an instructor has deleted the student user’s first submission, resubmitting a paper is handled in an identical manner as a first time submission to an assignment. Follow the steps for a first time submission as listed in this manual.

When a student user clicks on the Resubmit button in the class portfolio page for an assignment allowing overwrite resubmission, a warning pop-up will appear. This serves to notify the student user that, if available, Originality Reports for any resubmission that is made in this assignment will require an additional twenty four hour delay to generate. 

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How to Submit a Turnitin Assignment – Student Guide -New

• Log in to Canvas and access your course.
• Navigate to the Turnitin assignment you are submitting to and click on the assignment link.
• Click Upload Submission button .
• You can choose from three different submission options; Upload Submission (upload file), Text Input (submit text) and Cloud Submission (attach from One Drive).
• To upload a file, click Upload Submission tab .
• Enter Submission Title .
• Click Choose File to upload file.
• The uploaded file will show next to the Choose File
• If you have attached the wrong file, click on the Choose File button again to choose a different file.
• Click Upload and Review .
• The next screen will show Uploading, indicating file upload is in progress.
• Once the file has uploaded, click Preview Submission to check your submission.
• If you need to cancel and resubmit, click on Cancel Submission .
• When you are ready to submit, click Submit to Turnitin .
• Submission Complete message will appear.
• The next screen will show your paper title , the date of submission, and the icons for downloading the paper and downloading digital receipt .
• Make sure you save a copy of the digital receipt for your records by clicking on the horizontal bars icon.
• You can also access the receipt by going to your submission under the Paper Title .
• Click the download button .
• Click Digital Receipt .
• The digital receipt is an important document that shows details of your submission, such as, file name, submission date and submission ID.

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Identifying the assignment type (Canvas or Turnitin)

This page features guidance and troubleshooting support for two different types of assignment submissions: Canvas assignments and Turnitun assignments. It's important you know the submission type for the assignment you are handing in.

Depending on the assignment type used, you may see either  Canvas Assignment  (left image) or  Turnitin Assignment (right image), as shown below:

How to submit an assignment

There is Canvas guidance available on  submitting a Canvas Assignment .

There is also a  Canvas Assignment submission troubleshooting guide  that includes guidance on how to identify;

• The number of attempts allowed – once the permitted number of submissions is reached no further submissions can be made.
• Permitted file types – are only certain files being accepted e.g. word documents.
• Availability dates of the assignment – submissions cannot be made once the assignment is no longer available.
• Browsers compatible with Canvas – check that the browser being used is up compatible and up to date.
• How to clear cache and cookies – Canvas suggest this may resolve submission issues.

If you have a different query regarding Canvas Assignments, all Canvas guidance relating to assignments is available on the  Student Canvas guidance webpages .

Also, don’t forget that  Canvas 24/7 support  is always available for support with Canvas queries.

If you are submitting a file from your device there is Turnitin guidance available on  submitting a Turnitin Assignment by file upload .

If you are submitting a file from the Cloud (e.g. from OneDrive) there is guidance on  submitting a Turnitin Assignment by cloud submission . Please note that the option for submitting via Google Drive and Drop Box are not enabled at Newcastle. Please submit your assignment via the Upload Submission option, or OneDrive.

Module teams may set restrictions on the accepted file types, for example restrict to word docs or PDF only.

To identify any accepted file type restrictions for a  Canvas Assignment  see the relevant section of the  Canvas assignment submission trouble shooting guidance

A  Turnitin Assignment  will normally only allow submission of file types that are compatible with the Turnitin similarity checker. See the  Turnitin guidance on accepted file types .

NOTE:  Canvas Assignments  which are subject to a Turnitin similarity check will require a Turnitin compatible file type to be submitted.

There is a file size limit of 100mb for a Turnitin Assignment submission and 5gb for a Canvas Assignment submission. There are some actions that could reduce the size of a file regardless of the assignment type;

• Reduce the size of images – see the Microsoft guide to  reducing image sizes in Microsoft Office.
• For Mac users see the guidance for  reducing file sizes in Pages .
• For PowerPoint submissions, Windows users can  compress media files .
• Saving or converting to PDF may reduce the file size. There are guides for  Microsoft Office  and  Apple Pages .

How to check if a submission has been successful

See the Canvas guidance on confirming if a  Canvas Assignment has been submitted . The submitted file can also be opened from here.

From the Turnitin submission screen you can access the digital receipt for a submission. Receipts are not emailed to students. There is Turnitin guidance on how to  locate a Turnitin digital receipt .

Follow the steps for checking that a submission has been successful to identify whether the correct file has been submitted.

Check that the appropriate guidance for the assignment type has been followed.

Check that the file type is correct and under the maximum allowable size by following the guidance on this page.

If the  wrong file has been submitted for an assignment  check whether there are any attempts remaining i.e. does the assignment allow resubmissions. If there are remaining attempts, submit again. The marker will be able to view and mark the most recent submission. If there are no remaining submission attempts, then the correct file should be emailed to the module team and relevant school contacts. They will contact IT Service desk for assistance if required.

If  a file has been submitted to the wrong assignment  contact the module team and relevant school contacts to inform them. They will advise if any further action is needed and contact IT Service desk for assistance if required.

Student Guides

For more information about accessing and using your assignments feedback, head over to our  Accessing your Assignment Feedback via Canvas page.

• Student guide to completing evaluations
• Student guide to accessing results