turnitin assignment submission

Submitting to an assignment

Turnitin uses the same Canvas upload process you'll already familiar with. If you haven't submitted using Canvas before, follow the steps below.

• Navigate to your course.
• From the Assignments tab , open your assignment.

It is possible that your institution is using the Canvas Student Experience view. If the upload submission window does not look like the image above, it may look like this instead:

• If you haven't already, you may need to accept the Turnitin EULA and verify that your submission is your own work.

A similarity report will generate for every file uploaded.

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• How to Submit a Turnitin Assignment – Student Gu…

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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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 '.

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Submit Turnitin Assignment guide

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It can take time for your file to be uploaded to Moodle and for it to be processed by Turnitin. This can be anywhere from a couple of minutes to up to 30 minutes per file, depending on the size and format of your file and your connection speed. Ensure you leave yourself adequate time to successfully submit your assignment, especially if you are submitting multiple large files.

Turnitin is an assessment management system that includes a web-based text-matching software system. Students can submit their coursework to Turnitin and lecturers can use Turnitin's Feedback Studio to grade and provide feedback on the assignments. A Similarity Report is produced by comparing the text of a student's submission against text from a wide range of electronic material including journals, websites, and other students’ work, including work from many UK universities.

It is important to note that Turnitin does not tell academics if a student has plagiarised. Students often ask, what percentage of matched text is acceptable? There is no answer for this. For example an annotated bibliography assignment might have a high instance of matched text, because of the use of quotations and use of common phrases. Identifying plagiarism in a student assignment relies on academic judgement.

Review this guide for the steps involved in submitting coursework to Turnitin.

Make sure you are using a supported browser and have configured your settings to work with Turnitin. Check out Turnitin's system requirements . 

Give yourself enough time to submit your assignment online. You must submit all parts of your assignment prior to the assignment deadline. We recommended putting aside at least 30 minutes to submit your assignment. 

• Microsoft Word™ (DOC and DOCX)
• Corel WordPerfect®
• Adobe PostScript®
• Plain text (TXT)
• Rich Text Format (RTF)
• Portable Document Format (PDF) Only PDF documents created in Adobe Acrobat® or  PDF files created in word and saved with a new file name will be accepted. Turnitin will not accept PDF image files, forms, or portfolios, files that do not contain highlightable text (e.g. a scanned file - usually an image), documents containing multiple files or files created with software other than Adobe Acrobat®. 
• Microsoft PowerPoint (PPT, PPTX, and PPS) Turnitin converts the PowerPoint slide deck into a static PDF, leaving all text and images in their original format but leaving out features such as presenter notes, embedded video, and animations. Text with visual effects is not supported, and it is recommended that any visual effects such as shadows and 3D be removed prior to submitting to Turnitin. Please note that other file formats available in PowerPoint will not be accepted by Turnitin.
• Hangul (HWP)
• Microsoft Excel® (.xls and .xlsx). The version of the file that can be viewed in Turnitin will look the same as it would if the Excel file had been saved as a PDF and submitted to Turnitin. We highly recommend that students pay attention to the image preview provided in the single file submission to verify that the file is presented in an acceptable manner.  Users can adjust the way the file looks by editing the page setup and print area settings for the file prior to saving it and submitting it to Turnitin.  If you have a .xls/.xlsx or .csv file that is 450 pages or more, save the file as a PDF for submission to Turnitin.
• Other file types may be accepted by Turnitin's Feedback Studio but they will not generate a Similarity Report.
• Files not listed on Turnitin's accepted file types .
• Punctuation in file names can generate errors when submitted to Turnitin. When naming your Turnitin assignment files, avoid using any punctuation except underscore '_'.
• File names must be under 40 characters including spaces.
• Remove headers & footers as these might cause an issue with the generation of a Turnitin Similarity Report.
• File must not contain spaces in between every letter (l i k e  t h i s).
• Text only files may not exceed 2 MB.
• A file must contain more than 25 words to be uploaded.
• PDF documents must contain text to be submitted.
• Users whose files are saved in a file type that is not accepted by Turnitin will need to use a word processing program to save the file as one of the accepted types. Rich Text Format and Plain Text file types are nearly universally available in word processing software. Neither file type will support images or non-text data within the file. Plain text format does not support any formatting, and rich text format supports only limited formatting options.
• Turnitin submissions have a maximum size of 100MB though a lower limit may have been set.

Tip:  When converting a file to a new file format, users should rename their file with a name other than that of the original file. This is suggested to prevent permanent loss of the original formatting or image content of a file due to it being overwritten.

When you submit a file to a Moodle assignment with Turnitin enabled, you may receive an error message that prevents your submission from uploading successfully to Turnitin. Some of the errors such as  file exceeds maximum allowed size  and  user has not accepted end user agreement  are clear to understand and easily rectifiable by following the guidelines set in the  Submit Turnitin Assignment Guide .

There are other errors that are not so clear to understand such as:

• problem creating the module in Turnitin (see API logs) 
• problem editing the module settings in Turnitin (see API logs) 
• no accessible content in the file pool 
• XML response could not be parsed 

To rectify these errors, please try the following:

• If the file name of your submission is over 40 characters, change the file name of your submission and resubmit the file.
• If  you converted the assignment file from Word to PDF, we have found changing the file name and resubmitting the assignment works.
• If the file name has any punctuation apart from underscores, remove punctuation from the file name and resubmit.
• If the file name & file name convention is OK, sometimes, simply changing the file name helps push the paper through to Turnitin. 

Note:  If you don't seem to have the ability to resubmit or if the deadline has passed, please contact your Course Officer who can assist.

You may notice a different word count in Turnitin when a file is submitted as a Word document and when the same file is submitted as a PDF. This is because both word counts come from different sources. Indeed, when a Word file is submitted, the word count Turnitin use comes from MS Word. On the other hand, when a PDF is submitted, the word count comes from Turnitin’s analysis code based on the text extracted from the PDF.

Since these are two different sources, it is possible that the word count in Turnitin is different. Generally, the word count from Word is accurate for languages that use Latin alphabet characters like English.

Note: When calculating the word count from an MS Word document, Turnitin do not include footnotes or end notes towards the word count.  

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Last Updated: Sep 27, 2021 Views: 15077

Turnitin is a plagiarism prevention system used at SNHU. Turnitin is accessible through Brightspace however, it is not used in every course. If Turnitin is being used in a course, a student submits a paper and Turnitin checks it for plagiarism against content on the web, other student papers, and selected online library databases.

If Turnitin is being used in your course there may be a number of ways or places where you could be asked to submit a paper within Brightspace. For this reason, please contact your instructor for help submitting a paper through Turnitin.

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What is turnitin.

Is there a plagiarism checker available to students?

Turnitin is the software Strayer University provides to current students to support ethical writing. You may choose to submit an assignment using the Draft section of your Canvas course before you submit your work for grading to the instructor. The Draft feature provides you with an originality report to aid you in revising your work.

Access Turnitin Draft Review from the left-hand menu within your Canvas course, shown in the picture below.

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• Submitting a Draft Using Turnitin Draft Review (2 min)
• Submitting a Draft Using Turnitin Draft Review (1 p)
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• Citation and Plagiarism
• Last Updated May 17, 2024
• Answered By Mary Snyder (she/her)

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Our Library FAQs provide short answers to common questions to save you time. Each frequently asked question (FAQ) has a concise written answer and often an image or brief video. Many FAQs direct you to other pages of our library website, such as the following:

Access and use of materials through the Strayer University Library and this website is restricted to currently registered University students, faculty, and administrative staff to conduct academic research or other activities pertaining directly to University purposes and in accordance with any specific terms, conditions, or stipulations as identified by the individual database providers. Any and all other uses are forbidden. Accuracy of the data and information provided in the databases is the responsibility of each database provider, publisher or content creator; Strayer University makes no representation regarding the contents of the databases.

How can I remove a submission from the assignment inbox?

Aug 31, 2023 • knowledge article, information.

If you would like to remove a submission from an assignment, you can do this from the relevant assignment inbox. Within the assignment, tick the checkbox for the paper you wish to remove; the Delete  drop-down option will then appear. Click on the Delete button and select Remove From Inbox . This will remove the paper from the assignment. Once a paper is removed from an assignment, instructors can then resubmit on behalf of the student, or the student can resubmit to the assignment themselves, if needed. Please be aware that papers deleted from the assignment inbox are not permanently deleted. If a paper is submitted to the global repository, removing it from the assignment will not remove it from our database. If you wish to permanently delete a submission and remove it from our database, you may be able to raise the deletion request with your Turnitin account administrator by selecting  Request permanent deletion  form the  Delete  drop-down menu instead. For instructor guidance on this topic, click here .

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Nurturing integrity: How to support students under academic pressure

By completing this form, you agree to Turnitin's Privacy Policy . Turnitin uses the information you provide to contact you with relevant information. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time.

The impact of academic pressure on students’ mental health needs to be on every institution’s agenda. As May marks Mental Health Month in the US and Mental Health Week in the UK, it seems timely to turn our attention to the interplay between academic pressure, student mental health, and the risk of misconduct.

There’s a growing body of evidence to suggest a correlation between negative emotions and unethical academic conduct. At a time when student mental health is in crisis, educators have an opportunity to support students to better emotional well-being and improve academic integrity. But how?

In this article, you’ll find actionable advice on nurturing academic integrity in students at risk of misconduct due to academic stress. Before we begin, we’re mindful that discussions surrounding academic integrity don't inadvertently stigmatize individuals dealing with mental health challenges.

It's important to recognize that not everyone experiencing mental health concerns engages in academic misconduct – and that attributing unethical behavior solely to mental health struggles oversimplifies a complex issue.

However, fostering a supportive environment that promotes both mental well-being and academic integrity is essential to help students achieve their best work.

What is academic pressure?

Academic pressure is the feeling of stress and anxiety that most students experience during their academic life. For many, it can be a mild and motivating sensation, driving them to work hard and achieve their goals. But, for others, it can be crushing.

Students who experience academic stress may struggle with lower educational attainment, suffer from anxiety and depression, and drop out of education. This has long-term consequences for their mental health and ability to sustain employment, leaving both individuals and the economy counting the cost (Pascoe, Hetrick, and Parker, 2019 ).

What are the sources of academic pressure?

Adolescents, young adults, and even more mature students, are navigating a highly competitive landscape – from school exams and college admissions processes, to graduate schemes and the wider job market. From an early age, young people can feel their achievements define their entire future. Whether we mean it to or not, our society puts them under significant pressure.

Students may also feel pressure from parents, family, peers, and educational institutions to achieve specific academic standards. If they internalize these expectations, they may hold themselves to unrealistic standards, resulting in debilitating perfectionism and fear of failure. Pinch points in the year can include exams and assignment deadlines.

Add in the educational and social disruption caused by COVID-19 for a significant proportion of the current academic cohort and it’s clear why today’s students are so stressed out.

Of course, not all academic pressure on students comes from these sources. Failing to prioritize academic pursuits, overcommitment to extracurricular activities, and struggling with academic work can also cause pressure on students.

How does academic pressure affect student conduct?

When people experience intense academic pressure, they may resort to misconduct to relieve the stress and anxiety they’re feeling.

However, the relief can be short-lived. Misconduct can become a source of guilt and further anxiety – or create an expectation of ongoing high attainment – which exacerbates the cycle of pressure and unethical behavior.

Academic research and literature analysis have shown that academic stress can trigger academic misconduct (Ali and Aboelmaged, 2021 ) and that plagiarism can be linked to pressures and anxieties associated with the student experience (Lodhia, 2018 ).

More recently, researchers asked participants to rate 23 possible reasons for cheating on assignments. Feeling anxious or depressed were among the most strongly endorsed reasons for cheating (Ives, 2020 ).

The impact of academic pressure on students’ mental health

The links between mental health, academic pressure, and misconduct are complex. This article does not intend to imply that all students with mental health concerns will engage in misconduct, nor that misconduct is always a result of poor emotional well-being.

However, there is a proven link between students' stress and the propensity to unethical academic behavior. Understanding and addressing this empathetically will help institutions improve academic integrity and support students to achieve their potential.

High levels of academic stress and pressure can contribute to mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. In some cases, students may resort to academic misconduct, such as cheating or plagiarism, to cope with the pressure to perform well.

However, academic pressure on students can also result from mental health challenges, such as perfectionism and fear of failure.

Low mood can impair a student's judgment and decision-making abilities, putting them at higher risk of impulsive unethical behavior. It can also manifest as apathy or lethargy, causing them to procrastinate and delay their work, leading to misconduct to catch up at a later date.

Low self-esteem can lead students to doubt their abilities to succeed academically without resorting to plagiarism or other forms of misconduct.

Fortunately, there are proactive steps that institutions can take to address academic pressure, integrity, and mental health issues, to nurture academic integrity in students at risk of misconduct.

How to nurture integrity in students experiencing academic pressure

Academic pressure on students can be a positive and motivating force, so the idea isn’t to eliminate it. However, recognizing the long-term negative consequences of excessive academic pressure – and the correlation between mental health issues and academic integrity – it needs to be on institutions’ agenda.

A preventative approach is better than a punitive one when it comes to mental health. We recommend the following steps to support and educate students and resolve misconduct resulting from academic pressure.

1. Support students experiencing academic pressure

Advocate for better mental health support for students

Given the correlations between academic pressure, mental health, and academic integrity, student support services are integral to reducing the risk of misconduct.

In a survey from the Association of School and College Leaders , 98% of UK secondary school headteachers report having students who struggled with exams due to mental health issues – including anxiety (89%), stress (85%) and depression (80%).

A study by the American Psychological Association found 87% of US college students cited education as their primary source of stress – and Student Minds states that one in four students report having a diagnosed mental health issue while at university.

In this wider context, it’s clear that many ‘cheaters’ are actually deeply struggling students. As educators, student mental well-being needs to be a priority.

Encourage students to declare mental health support needs

3.7% of all UK university applicants now declare a mental health condition – up from 0.7% in 2011. However, according to Starting the Conversation, UCAS Report on Student Mental Health , of the estimated 40,000 students with an existing mental health condition who entered HE in 2020, over half chose not to share this information with their university or college.

Declaring a mental health diagnosis during the application process can ensure timely interaction with support services and help prevent students from experiencing worsening symptoms. Institutions should present the process of disclosure ‘as a positive and empowering step giving students independence and agency in managing their own mental health and wellbeing’, says UCAS.

Targeted action is required in subject areas with below-average declaration rates, where applicants may worry it will impact their chances of acceptance, such as medicine and dentistry.

Improve interaction between academics and support services

Given the interplay between academic pressure and academic integrity, student support services and academic departments must work closely together to ensure optimum outcomes for students.

However, research finds the two areas are often siloed or even in dispute. Student Minds research found that most academics understand that Student Services don’t communicate with them for confidentiality reasons. However, they are concerned that Student Service professionals don’t always understand issues of academic integrity and occasionally undermine academic credibility.

Various academic studies address the question of the ethics around student disclosures of misconduct to mental health professionals (Taylor and Wilford, 2013 ) and explore the limits of confidentiality when misconduct is declared alongside mental health crisis (Dickstein, 2011 ).

To help institutions tackle this challenge, Student Minds recommends regular communication and improved understanding between academics and Student Services through structured engagement, regular contact, and a shared sense of purpose.

2. Educate students on academic pressure and integrity

Provide support for managing academic pressure

Academic pressure on students is not always a result of family pressure or internalized societal expectations. It can also result from under-developed study skills, such as poor time management, procrastination, or failure to prioritize effectively. Institutions can help relieve academic pressure by providing training in these areas.

They can also provide students with self-access support tools for managing academic pressure and achieving their personal best – such as organizational skills, goal setting, stress management, resolving interpersonal conflict, study-life balance, the importance of exercise and sleep, and self-care.

Educate students on what constitutes misconduct

Recent research concluded that lack of education on academic integrity can indirectly increase its prevalence (Sbaffi and Zhao, 2022 ). Providing education on academic integrity can help students avoid accidental misconduct or plagiarism by providing clear guidelines to work within.

Institutions should:

• Provide clear guidelines on academic integrity, including definitions of plagiarism, cheating, and other forms of misconduct
• Help students navigate the evolving ethical landscape of AI and plagiarism
• Foster a culture of academic honesty through discussions , case studies, and examples of ethical behavior
• Show why academic integrity is important in learning – for example, building invaluable skills like critical thinking and problem-solving

Equip students with the tools for original work

Of course, students don’t just need guidance on what NOT to do. This needs to be balanced with training on conducting original research, proper citation methods, research ethics, information literacy, problem-solving, and creative thinking.

For example, research has found creative thinking has a positive impact on academic integrity, and education in creative thinking can reduce the occurrence of academic misconduct (Eshet and Margaliot, 2022 ).

Whereas, graduate students who lack innovative behavior may be unable to complete their academic tasks, leading to academic pressure, which then becomes a motivation for engaging in academic misconduct (Peng Su and Mu He, 2023 ).

3. Resolve academic misconduct fairly

Identify the root cause of misconduct

The causes of academic misconduct are wide-ranging and it’s important to ascertain whether students have engaged in unethical behavior due to mental and emotional health issues – or for other reasons. This will determine how you manage the allegation and reach a resolution.

For example, for students in a mental health crisis, it may be appropriate to implement an enhanced support package for students to minimize negative emotions and embrace academia with new enthusiasm. But for students engaging in misconduct for other reasons, it may be more appropriate to pair support and education with accountability measures and discipline.

Provide empathetic support for students suspected of misconduct

Some academics admit maintaining a ‘healthy skepticism’ about students’ self-diagnosis of mental health issues in the face of academic pressure ( Student Minds ). However, institutions must approach such matters with empathy.

Mental health statistics show that students are struggling more today than in the past – and it isn’t because they’re so-called snowflakes. Under the shadow cast by COVID-19, they’re navigating education and independence in a time of intense competition, economic uncertainty, and grade scrutiny.

Institutions need to understand the intense pressures students face to build trust with students and deal with misconduct in a way that improves student mental health rather than undermines it further.

Reinforce processes for misconduct linked to mental health

Balancing student/counselor confidentiality with the need for academic integrity is challenging. Research into misconduct disclosures from students experiencing mental health crises recommends four actions for improving how these situations are resolved.

• For institutions to have a comprehensive set of processes and procedures that can withstand a legal challenge, plus multiple options for addressing student misbehavior
• For administrators to be keenly aware of legal renderings such as student privacy issues and under what circumstances it is appropriate to release information to others
• A well-trained, trusting, and collaborative multidisciplinary crisis response team
• Committing time and resources to develop a systemic approach to resolving incidents of mental health crisis and misconduct

Key takeaways: How to support students under academic pressure

Academic pressure and student mental health are linked – and both leave vulnerable students at higher risk of academic misconduct.

Approaching this issue with sensitivity and empathy is essential so that educators can support at-risk individuals to achieve better well-being and higher academic integrity.

Timely mental health support can help students reduce their academic stress levels and risk of misconduct – which can lead to further improvements in self-esteem and emotional well-being.