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Tips on submitting assessed work online - Student Guide

Tips on submitting assessed work online.

If you have been asked to submit assessed work online/take part in an online test, here are some tips to help you successfully submit your work. We've also included some trouble-shooting steps for you to try if you're having difficulty.

In this guide

• General tips

Additional tips/troubleshooting for online time limited assessments

Additional tips/troubleshooting for blackboard tests/assignments.

• Additional tips/troubleshooting for Turnitin assignments

Additional tips/troubleshooting for Gradescope assignments

Apart from the General tips, if you are not sure which additional tips/troubleshooting section to read, check the assessment information you have been given by your tutor. The assessment system/tool you will use is dependant on your course, and method of assessment chosen by your tutor, details of this should be included in the assessment information.

General Tips

Leave yourself enough time - Tempting as it is, don’t leave submissions until the last minute—you don’t want to miss the deadline and you’ll need to complete your upload/work before the deadline.

During assessment submission week it is likely that multiple modules taught across the University will have the same submission deadline. During busy times it may take longer than usual to load the necessary web pages and upload your documents. Please ensure that you give yourself enough time to navigate the correct submission area, upload, check and submit your work.

If your internet connection is slow it could take longer than you think to navigate to the relevant page online and to upload any work, especially on your home internet connection.

We strongly advise that you submit as early as possible - if you have an issue, you'll have time to get technical help.

Make sure the clock and time zone on your device is correct - Check your computer/laptop time before you start – it should show the accurate time, date and time zone (for whatever country you are in at the time).

In some cases, a student's computer clock can get out of sync with its time zone by a few minutes or hours. This phenomenon is known as "clock drift" and is most likely to occur when a student travels between time zones with their computer. Not having the correct time on your device may trigger warnings or lock you out of an assessment. Make sure you check and correct the clock and time zone if it is incorrect. If you are not sure on how to do this, see, set time, time zone and date for further guidance.

Stop Clicking! - Double clicking or repeated clicking doesn’t help. Click once and wait for the page to load. Clicking twice won’t speed things up and may cause problems.

Use a wired connection - Try to use a wired connection—it’s faster and there’s no competition for a wireless connection. If you must use wireless, ensure your submission is complete before walking away.

If you are accessing your assessment through Minerva use a browser - We do not recommend accessing Minerva via the UniLeeds App as you may have technical issues. Use a browser and go to minerva.leeds.ac.uk to access Minerva. Examples of when you would login to Minerva to complete an assessment include: to access a Test, Assignment, Gradescope or Turnitin submission.

Which browser should I use? - If you are using on campus PCs you can use any of the available browsers. If you are using your own computer see, recommended browsers for Minerva . We do not recommend accessing Minerva via the UniLeeds App as you may have technical issues.

If you are accessing your assessment through Minerva, ( y ou might do this to access a Test, Assignment, Gradescope or Tunitin submission) we do not recommend accessing Minerva via the UniLeeds App as you may have technical issues. Use a browser and go to minerva.leeds.ac.uk to access Minerva.

Where can I get guidance about copyright? - In using the resources made available to you in Minerva you must adhere to the University’s policies and guidance. Specifically you should ensure that you use any copyright material only in accordance with the terms and conditions of use of the item concerned.

This usually means that you can print out one copy of any text based material made available for your module for your own educational purposes but you cannot download, store, publish, sell or transmit copies to other individuals in any format. Images, audio files, films etc are also protected by copyright: you can view or listen to such files in Minerva but you will need to check the terms and conditions of use of each item to establish the extent to which you may make copies or transmit the item. For further information on copyright and copyright exemptions, please see Copyright explained on the Library website.

If you are asked to participate in online time limited assessments (OTLA), here are some additional tips. The most common tools used by tutors for OTLA's are currently Top Hat or Blackboard Test:

Use a PC or laptop - we do not recommend using a mobile or tablet device for online time limited assessments.

Check your device time - we've mentioned this in the general tips, but this is critical for online time limited assessments, so we're mentioning it again. Check your computer/laptop time before you start – it should show the accurate time, date and time zone (for whatever country you are in at the time).

In some cases, a student's computer clock can get out of sync with its time zone by a few minutes or hours. This phenomenon is known as "clock drift" and is most likely to occur when a student travels between time zones with their computer. Not having the correct time on your device may trigger warnings or lock you out of the assessment.

Make sure you check and correct the clock and time zone if it is incorrect. If you are not sure on how to do this, see, set time, time zone and date for further guidance.

Check your device settings - ensure your PC or laptop is not set to go to sleep during the test.

Timers continue to count down once you start - If your tutor has set up a Blackboard Test/Assignment or Top Hat test so that you have a defined period of time in which to complete the test, (for example, 60 minutes in a 24 hour time frame), the timer will continue to count down, even if you leave the Test/Assignment or Top Hat test mid-way.

Go back to the top of this page

If you want to leave a Blackboard Test/Assignment mid-way and resume later, make sure you click Save and Close , not Submit.

If your tutor has set up a Blackboard Test/Assignment so that you have a defined period of time in which to complete the test, (for example, 60 minutes in a 24 hour time frame), the timer will continue to count down, even if you leave the Test/Assignment mid-way.

Additional tips/troubleshooting for Turnitin assessments

Check the size of your file - The file size limit per assignment is 100MB (2MB for plain text files), and no greater than 800 pages in length. If your file is larger than this, it is usually because you have large image files embedded which need to be compressed. see the guide on reducing file size/compressing .

Check the file type -  In general, PDF is recommended.

Turnitin will not accept PDF files that do not contain highlightable text (e.g. a scanned file – usually an image) or documents containing multiple files. PDFs created using Adobe Acrobat® are officially supported. Web-based PDF creators should be avoided.

Turnitin will also accept the following file types (though if you have not been told to submit any particular format the best choice is PDF):

If you are using an unsupported word processor, you may need to save your plain text as a .txt or .rtf in order to upload to Turnitin

When converting to a new file format, you should use a different name to rename your file than that of the original to prevent your original formatting being overwritten

Check the file name - you cannot use < > characters in the file name. Please also see the filename guidelines for characters which should not be included in the name of files.

Check the number of files - You can only submit one file per assignment. You need to make sure all your work is saved under the one file name before submission.

Coursework Coversheet - Use a coversheet as directed by your teaching school. Your teaching school is the school offering the module. For example, if you are a Business School student studying an English module, for the English module, if you were asked to submit to Turnitin, you would use the coversheet directed by the School of English. For your LUBS module, you would use the coversheet directed by the Business School and so on.

Check your choice of internet browser - In a small number of cases, corrupt caching settings within the Safari browser has caused the session to hang and submissions to fail. If this occurs then users should take the following steps:

• Go to the Safari Preferences > Privacy tab > Manage Website Data.
• Look for and remove the three cached websites below: (All three may not be present) – googlesyndication.com – googleservices.com – turnitinuk.com or turnitin.com
• Close and reopen Safari.
• Try submitting again.

Alternatively,  you can submit using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.

Check your files - Turnitin needs at least 20 words. Files must be smaller than 100MB. If your file is larger than 100MB, see the guide on reducing file size/compressing .

Be methodical on submission day

Don't attempt to submit multiple assessments at the same time by opening more than one tab in your browser. You can end up submitting to the wrong assignment! Wait until your first assessment has uploaded … then navigate to the other submission area and upload the next paper. Turnitin does not support opening multiple assignments in browser tabs.

Double-check that the correct file has been uploaded by checking the preview that is shown on screen before confirming.

You may find the video guide explaining how to submit a Turnitin assignment (will open in Mediasite) helpful.

Troubleshooting - see the Gradescope troubleshooting guide for 6 common tips.

Next in this series of guides

• We recommend you check you have submitted your work correctly, see How to check you have submitted your work online.
• If things haven't gone as you expected and you need help, see Having trouble submitting my work - what should I do, how do I get help?

Related Guides

• Submission guides for online assessment.
• To understand assessments process at the University, from finding out the times and locations of your assessments, through to accessing your results, see the For Students Assessment pages on the SES website.

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Change of module

Students can submit a request to change modules after the module enrolment system closes by using an online form.  

Change of programme

Students do not have an automatic entitlement to change programme, but if places are available and the student meets entry criteria they may be permitted to move to a new programme.

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The appropriate examiners' joint report form should be completed by the examiners at the end of the viva.

Examiners' preliminary report forms (Research)

Each examiner needs to complete a preliminary report form before the postgraduate research degree viva. There are separate forms depending on whether it is a first submission or a resubmission. 

Extension request form (taught postgraduate)

An MS Form is available for Schools to request standard extensions to study period for taught postgraduate students – the Taught Postgraduate Extension to Study Request form. Please read more guidance on the SES page Extensions to Study Period (taught postgraduate).

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Module leaders are usually responsible for assessment of students on their modules. Occasionally, additional internal examiners need to be appointed using the form provided.

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Different leavers' forms are available for taught and research students.

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Mitigating circumstances are normally exceptional, short term, unforeseen and unpreventable events that have a significantly disruptive effect on the student’s ability to take assessments.  These events are over and above the course of everyday life and normally outside of their control.  The events may affect the student’s ability to complete coursework or other assessments and revise for and attend on-campus assessments.  

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If a school wishes to reinstate a student who has been withdrawn (due to failure to complete online registration or complete their identity check), the school should use this Microsoft Form.

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There are a number of forms to be completed when a school wants to create a new Study Abroad exchange. 

Thesis deposit form

Postgraduate research students need to submit this form with their final hard-bound theses.

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Online coursework

All forms of written coursework should be submitted for assessment via  Turnitin  (in Minerva) or, if the file type required is unsupported by Turnitin, using the  Minerva Assignment Submission area . Work submitted to Turnitin can be marked using Turnitin Feedback Studio. You can provide students with their marks and feedback via Minerva, using the My Grades tool.

Planning written coursework

Planning activities for students to engage with in their assessments throughout their learning journey will support them in producing quality material and allow you to provide formative feedback to guide their development. These kinds of activities could be:

• structural plans, literature reviews, drafts, reflections
• supportive exercises that prompt students to investigate and enhance their reading
• analyses of formal structures of different styles of article or report

Provide clear guidance to students on how to complete the assessment task. If the written submission is the result of a collaborative activity, be clear about whether you are asking students to submit a shared response or an individual response to a collaborative task. Similarly, you may want to ask students who have been maintaining a log or portfolio to submit a reflective summary or final report.

Tools students can use for written coursework

You should provide your students with clear guidance on the expected format for their submission, and make sure that they are aware of any relevant rules within your School Code of Practice on Assessment.

There are two key tools provided by the University which students can use to prepare written coursework for submission:

Students can use  Microsoft Office 365  tools including Word to prepare their submissions in most cases. All students have free access to Office 365, both online and as downloadable apps.

Students should be advised to store their files in  OneDrive  before uploading for submission.

Office 365 tools can be used by individual students to produce their written submissions. Equally, they can be used for group tasks since they allow groups of students to share and collaborate on their work prior to submitting their assignment.

Minerva Journals

For some forms of written assessment, such as reflective logs, it may be more appropriate for students to use Minerva tools such as journals  to prepare their submissions. These can be set up to be marked directly, or students can be required to collate a submission to be uploaded via  Turnitin .

Blogs are best suited for group work since they cannot be made private, whilst Journals are private by default but can be shared with other students.  PebblePad , the University’s e-portfolio system, can be used for creating reflective logs or for producing blogs which can be shared both privately and publicly.

The default system for the submission of text-based assignments is Turnitin in Minerva. Where students need to submit a file type not supported by Turnitin, the Minerva Assignment tool can be used instead.

Turnitin is a powerful plagiarism detection and marking system which is integrated with Minerva. You can find step-by-step guides for the set-up and administration of Turnitin submission inboxes on the  Minerva support website .

The following videos provide walkthrough guidance for the administration of Turnitin submission inboxes:

• Creating Turnitin submission areas YouTube video
• Creating Turnitin submission areas that allow late submissions YouTube video
• How to modify or delete an inbox and adjust marking settings YouTube video

Minerva Assignments

The  Minerva Assignment Tool  can be used for all file formats.

Please note that the Assignments Tool does not include an Academic Integrity Declaration as standard, so an additional coversheet is required.

Grading and feedback

Written coursework submitted via Turnitin can be marked using Turnitin Feedback Studio. Marks and feedback can be returned to students via the My Grades tool in Minerva.

Turnitin Feedback Studio

Turnitin’s Feedback Studio is a tool for marking electronically. With Feedback Studio, you can annotate directly onto the document using text, add Bubble and QuickMark comments, leave typed or audio general feedback, and grade using a Rubric or Grading Form.

You can find detailed guidance on the use of Feedback Studio for marking and return of feedback to students on our  Feedback Studio page.  The  Minerva staff guides  also contains lots of helpful information.  You can also  access a demo paper  to try out marking online. If you have an iPad, you can also  mark using the Turnitin App .

Minerva Gradebook

Gradebook is the place where you can manage assessments and student grades/feedback. Assessments created in Minerva will automatically create an item in the Gradebook for the return of grades and feedback. You can find detailed guidance on using Gradebook in the Minerva staff guides .

Case studies

The following case studies describe examples of online assessments of written coursework which can be used as a model for your assessment:

• Case study written report – Engineering
• Case study – summative written assignment – Business 
• Case study personal reflective statement -  Engineering Management 
• Turnitin staff guides
• Video tutorials from Minerva Support

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• How to access  Microsoft Office 365  at Leeds
• Getting started with  OneDrive
• Minerva Assignment Guidance
• Guidance on journals
• Guidance on  how to set up and use Gradebook

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