Paper deletions FAQ

Can other integrations use Paper Deletions?

Due to how most LMS make integration paths available, we can only support this workflow via Turnitin.com/Turnitinuk.com and LTI at this time.

Why can't students request for a paper to be deleted?

The institution decides how to handle paper deletion requests based on their institutional policy. Rights of a paper may lie with the student or with the institution. The institution can determine how they would like to handle paper deletion requests made by students.

What happens to the paper once a request has been sent?

The paper will still be accessible in the LTI Inbox. An icon will be shown to indicate the paper is pending deletion.

Nothing will happen to the paper itself until the administrator has approved the request. If Turnitin finds any matches to the paper before you have approved the request, the paper will still show in Similarity Reports.

We recommend instructors do not add any further grading to a paper that has been requested for deletion. Any associated grading will also be deleted along with the paper.

The Turnitin admin has approved the request. What happens now?

  • The paper will no longer appear in any new Similarity Reports.

  • The paper is removed from the LTI Inbox.

  • Any associated grading is deleted.

  • If you regenerate a Similarity Report for a submission where this paper matched, it will no longer appear within that report.

Can the deleted paper be retrieved?

No, the paper is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered by your administrator or by our Technical Support team.

When is the paper permanently deleted from Turnitin?

The paper is deleted from the Turnitin database and the assignment inbox immediately.

Can administrators disable the paper deletion functionality?

You can disable the functionality at any time.

Can we manually request deletions by contacting Turnitin support?

Paper deletion requests is controlled by the institution. You do not have to contact Turnitin Support for paper deletion requests anymore.

Can instructors request more than one paper deletion at a time?

Paper deletions can only be requested on a paper-by-paper basis. The feature was intentionally designed this way to reduce user concerns about people misusing the system, to encourage extra care to be taken with each deletion request to prevent mistakes, and prompt instructors to review their assignment settings.

An instructor removed a paper from the Inbox when they actually wanted it to be deleted. Can it be recovered?

Contact Turnitin support and they will be happy to help. Please provide class name, student's name and email, assignment title, instructor name and email, paper ID, etc. Once recovered to the inbox, the instructor can then make a permanent deletion request.

Are administrators/instructors notified about any changes to their request?

Administrators receive an in-product notification via the ‘Messages’ inbox in turnitin.com/turnitinuk.com for every request. Once a week, a wrap-up email will be sent to you detailing any pending requests that you may still need to action.

Instructors receive an in-product notification in their LTI Inbox to confirm their request has been sent to the administrator, and another to inform them if it has been approved or rejected.

What happens if the Turnitin admin rejects a request?

If a request is rejected, instructors will receive an in-product message informing them. You can also send a reason to explain why you rejected the request as a part of this message. After a rejection, instructors are unable to make any further paper deletion requests for that specific paper.

Rejected requests are visible in the Paper Deletions tab by selecting Rejected from the 'NOW VIEWING' dropdown. This opens the Rejected Deletion Requests view.

If a request was rejected by mistake, administrators no longer need to contact support to rectify this. Find the paper request that was accidentally rejected in the Rejected Deletion Requests view, select it using the checkbox, and then select Delete Paper.

Can this be used for GDPR requests?

Because a user's personally identifiable information may be spread across multiple assignments, classes, and even accounts, proper precautions need to be taken for these types of requests. Please contact legal@turnitin.com with any questions.