This guide for instructors explains what you need to know about grading Turnitin assignments in Canvas.
In this guide
- Choosing a grading strategy
- Grading within Turnitin
- Grading within Canvas Speedgrader
- Returning graded submissions to students
Choosing a grading strategy
There are two ways to grade a Turnitin assignment in Canvas Speedgrader:
- Enter grades within Turnitin (Recommended) if you want to use Turnitin rubrics or grading forms and to benefit from the full Feedback Studio experience.
- Enter grades directly within Canvas Speedgrader if you need to grade using a Canvas rubric.
We recommend grading directly from Turnitin’s submission list for the full Feedback Studio experience, where you can see a comprehensive Integrity view of all submissions and access Turnitin’s rich rubrics and feedback summary functionality.
It is important to choose one grading strategy and use it consistently. Avoid grading some submissions in Turnitin and others in Speedgrader for the same assignment, as this can make it harder to track where grades were entered.
Whichever strategy you choose, students can access their feedback via the Turnitin report and receive a grade in Speedgrader.
How grades sync between Turnitin and Canvas Speedgrader
- Grades entered in Turnitin are automatically sent to Canvas Speedgrader and appear in the Canvas Graderbook.
- Grades entered directly in Canvas Speedgrader are not sent back to Turnitin. Those grades will appear in the Canvas Gradebook but will never appear in the Turnitin submission list.
Grading within Turnitin
Use this workflow if you want to enter grades in Turnitin or use Turnitin rubrics.
Before grading, make sure any Turnitin rubric you want to use is attached to the Turnitin assignment.
- From the Assignments area in Canvas, locate and select the Turnitin assignment you would like to grade.
- Select the assignment to launch Turnitin’s submission list for the assignment.
- Select the grade icon for the student submission you would like to review. This will launch the report.
- Add feedback in the Turnitin report view.
- Enter the grade in the header of the Turnitin report.
- If you are using a rubric, use the rubric in Turnitin to score the submission. This will automatically populate a grade that will appear in the Turnitin grade field.
When you enter a grade in Turnitin, the grade is sent to the Canvas Gradebook.
If you are using a rubric to grade the assignment, view our Grading with rubrics and grading forms guidance for more information.
Grading within Canvas Speedgrader
This feature is supported for new Standard assignments and Clarity assignments. It is not available for classic Standard assignments.
Only submissions made following the release of this new workflow enhancement will be displayed in Speedgrader. All submissions made to Turnitin Feedback Studio prior to July 16, 2026 will not display within Speedgrader.
Use this workflow if you want to enter grades directly in Canvas Speedgrader or use Canvas rubrics for grading.
Before grading, make sure any Canvas rubric you want to use is attached to the Canvas assignment.
- Choose a preferred route to access Speedgrader for a selected assignment. This could be directly from the Gradebook, ToDo’s list, or any other workflow that launches into Speedgrader.
- The Turnitin report will automatically open in the Speedgrader view for any students that have submitted.
- Review the Similarity Report and leave feedback using Turnitin feedback tools as needed.
- Enter the grade in the Canvas Speedgrader Assessment grade field on the right, or if you are using a Canvas rubric, use the rubric in Canvas to score the submission.
When the Turnitin report is opened from the Speedgrader workflow, the report is shown in an embedded view. In this view, grading and summary feedback is completed in Canvas Speedgrader, so the Turnitin grade field, rubric tab and summary feedback tab are not shown.
Grades entered directly in Canvas Speedgrader are only available in the Canvas gradebook and will not pass back to Turnitin. Therefore Turnitin’s submission list, report and student workflow will show an empty value for the grade.
Returning graded submissions to students
When an assignment is graded in Turnitin, the Feedback Release Date in the Turnitin assignment setting controls student visibility. Students will be unable to view their Turnitin grades and feedback within the Turnitin report view until after this date has passed. The visibility of the grade in the Canvas Gradebook is still controlled based on the Canvas Grade Posting Policy.
If the assignment is instead graded in Canvas Speedgrader, the return of grades and summative feedback will follow the standard Canvas Grade Posting Policy. In the Turnitin viewer, only the feedback comments are controlled by the Turnitin Feedback Release date. Grades will not appear in Turnitin, if an assignment is graded in Speedgrader.