This year, some students have been experiencing difficulties with submitting their first essay using TurnItIn.

The first time you use TurnItIn you will be asked to agree to their standard Terms and Conditions (T&C). This is perfectly harmless, but it needs to be done before you can submit anything. Unfortunately, some computers - particularly Macs - don't display the T&C agreement properly, with the result that you can't see the "I agree" button at the bottom of the box, which you have to press.

No press = no submission = panic!

The workaround for this problem is to submit your first essay using a computer lab PC. This should display the T&C agreement properly, and once you have agreed to it, subsequent uploads can use a Mac.

If you still can't see the T&C window, check to see if your browser is blocking pop-up adverts. It may think the Turnitin message is an advert, and prevent it from being displayed. Temporarily turn off the pop-up blocker, click the agreement and then reset your browser's pop-up blocker.

You will also find it best if:

• The filename of the file containing your essay is less than 40 characters long
• The title you give the essay should be less than 40 characters long - not the complete wording of the question!

Turnitin checks the following formats: Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx, .rtf); WordPerfect; web pages  (.htm, .html); Adobe Acrobat (.pdf); plain text (.txt); Excel spreadsheet (.xls, .xlsx); PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx).  Files which originated on a Mac will need to be in one of these formats.

(Edited by Bryan Dawson - original submission Monday, 24 November 2014, 1:11 PM)