What is a rubric?
Turnitin rubrics are created from assessment criteria for specific assignments. When linked to an assignment, rubrics can help to improve the consistency of marking and can also make it easier for students to understand how their mark was arrived at.
How is a rubric accessed and used?
When a rubric has been created and linked to a Turnitin assignment, tutors marking papers submitted to that assignment will all have access to the rubric. Papers are marked in the usual way with the tutor adding comments to the paper and a general comment. The main differences are that:
- Bubble and QuickMark comments added to a paper need to be associated to criteria categories (as set out in the rubric).
- Tutors select scale values from the rubric scorecard when grading a paper
- A rubric percentage is then calculated and needs to be applied to the grade
This guide will show you how to use a rubric when marking.
Adding comments to a paper
When adding comments to a paper there is an option to associate each comment with rubric assessment criteria:
Bubble comment
Once you have added a bubble comment to the paper, add your comment then click ‘Assign Criterion’ and select the criteria that the comment relates to (this will be saved automatically)
QuickMark comment
Drag the QuickMark onto the paper. Click the QuickMark to open it, click ‘Assign criterion’ and select the criteria that the comment relates to
Feedback Summary
Click the Feedback Summary button and add a text comment for the paper in the usual way 
Rubric scorecard
Click the ‘Rubric/Form’ icon (located in the menu on the right) 
The rubric scorecard displays criteria, criteria scale values, criteria weighting (if applied) and the number of comments you have associated with the criteria
Viewing comments that you associated with the criteria
- Click on the number in the speech bubble to view comments added to the paper that relate to the criteria
Grading – Selecting a criteria scale value
- Move the slider for each criterion to select scale values
- A description for each is displayed at the bottom of the window
Rubric percentage and grade
- The rubric percentage is calculated automatically as you select scale values for each criteria
- When you have selected scale values for each criteria, click the ‘Apply to grade’ button. This will add the percentage into the grade box for the paper
Watch the video to see this in action
