Using Turnitin to improve academic writing: an action research inquiry

As a tutor of academic writing in a university committed to widening student participation, I frequently assist students in making sense of the feedback they have received on their essays. Students simultaneously have to learn how to improve their knowledge of their subject whilst also understanding the general conventions of academic writing in their area. It is an emotional as much as intellectual process (van der Hulst et al. 2014). Combining qualitative data from staff and student focus groups with quantitative data from the Turnitin system, this action research report provides a series of practical resources rooted in practice reflections and current debates, as a possible way to tackle this pedagogical problem