Exploring Turnitin Clarity: Rethinking Academic Writing in the Age of AI

Earlier this year, at a Turnitin Round Table, Turnitin Clarity was presented as one possible response to this evolving landscape. Rather than positioning itself solely as a similarity-checking tool, Clarity represents a broader shift toward understanding how students produce their work, not just what they submit.

In doing so, it aims to provide greater transparency into the writing process while encouraging the responsible use of AI as a learning aid rather than a shortcut.

A Focus on the Writing Process

One of the core ideas behind Clarity is that assessing only the final submission may no longer provide enough insight, particularly in an AI-influenced environment. The platform is designed to capture aspects of the writing process, such as drafting, editing, revision activity, and time spent writing, allowing educators to build a more complete picture of student work.

When an assignment is submitted, educators can access information about the student's writing journey, helping them understand how a piece of work evolved rather than viewing only the finished product.

This reflects a wider move in higher education towards process-oriented assessment, where the development of ideas and evidence of learning are considered alongside the final submission.

Encouraging Responsible Use of AI

A key principle behind Clarity is the recognition that AI tools are already becoming part of many students' workflows. Rather than attempting to prohibit their use entirely, the platform seeks to provide a structured environment in which AI can be used responsibly and transparently.

Clarity includes an embedded AI assistant that is designed to support learning rather than generate completed assignments. The assistant can:

• Help students brainstorm ideas and develop outlines
• Support the organisation and structure of their work
• Provide guidance on interpreting assignment requirements
• Reference assignment instructions and marking rubrics
• Offer feedback and suggestions for improving writing

Importantly, the assistant is designed to refuse requests that would result in the AI completing the assignment for the student. Instead of generating entire essays or assessment responses, it aims to guide students through the writing process while encouraging them to produce their own work.

This approach positions AI as a learning companion rather than a replacement for critical thinking, creativity, or academic effort.

Assignment-Aware Support

One feature that distinguishes Clarity from general-purpose AI tools is its ability to work within the context of a specific assessment.

By referencing assignment instructions and assessment criteria, the AI assistant can provide guidance that is aligned with the learning outcomes and expectations of the task. This means students receive support that is directly relevant to their assessment rather than generic writing advice.

For educators, this offers the potential to reinforce good academic practice while helping students engage more effectively with the requirements of an assignment.

Increasing Visibility and Transparency

Perhaps the most significant aspect of Clarity is the visibility it provides into how work is produced.

The platform surfaces information such as:

• Writing and revision activity
• Time spent developing the submission
• Significant pasted-text events
• Drafting patterns and editing behaviour
• Interactions with the embedded AI assistant

Importantly, educators are able to review the full history of a student's interactions with the Clarity AI assistant when work is submitted. This provides valuable context about how AI was used during the writing process and helps make AI-supported work more transparent than when students rely on external tools that offer no visibility to educators.

The intention is not necessarily to draw definitive conclusions from individual indicators, but to provide additional context that can support informed academic judgement and meaningful conversations with students.

For example, extensive revision activity may demonstrate sustained engagement with the task, while large amounts of pasted content or minimal drafting activity may prompt further discussion about how the work was produced.

Supporting Dialogue and Feedback

By making the writing process more visible, Clarity has the potential to influence the way feedback is delivered.

Instead of focusing exclusively on the final submission, educators may be able to identify where students struggled, revised their thinking, or sought support. This can create opportunities for more targeted interventions around areas such as:

• Structuring academic arguments
• Developing critical thinking skills
• Interpreting assessment briefs
• Academic writing and communication
• Citation and referencing practices

In addition, built-in features such as grammar and citation support demonstrate an intention to assist students during the writing process itself, rather than only after work has been submitted.

Addressing Emerging Challenges

The round table discussions highlighted several ongoing challenges in higher education that Clarity appears to be responding to:

• Uncertainty around AI use: Educators may find it difficult to understand how AI has been used when evidence is limited.
• Balancing integrity with innovation: Institutions are still defining what responsible and ethical AI use looks like in practice.
• Limited insight into student effort: Final submissions alone may not reflect the full learning process.
• Supporting skill development: Students need guidance on how to use AI tools constructively without becoming overly dependent on them.
• Equity considerations: Access to AI technologies and levels of AI literacy can vary significantly between students.

Clarity can be viewed as an attempt to address these issues by combining process visibility, structured AI support, and increased transparency around the use of AI during academic work.

In an environment where AI tools are increasingly accessible, there are some important questions for educators to consider:

• How can institutions recognise and support authentic learning?
• What role should AI play in student work?
• How can students be taught to use AI responsibly and ethically?
• How much visibility into the writing process is appropriate or useful?
• What evidence best demonstrates genuine student engagement and learning?

While no single technology can resolve all the challenges associated with generative AI in education, Turnitin Clarity represents an interesting shift in focus from analysing outputs to understanding processes.

Interested in Getting Involved?

Interested in the students perspective? Watch this video about Drafting and Submitting an Assignment

As we continue to explore the potential of Turnitin Clarity, we are looking for colleagues who would like to help evaluate the platform and contribute to our understanding of how it could support teaching, learning, and assessment practices across the University.

Whether you're simply curious about the platform or are interested in using it with students, there are a few ways to get involved:

Explore Clarity in the Staging Environment

Gain hands-on experience with Turnitin Clarity in a safe, non-production environment. This is an opportunity to familiarise yourself with the student and educator experience, explore the AI-assisted writing support, and review the writing process insights available to instructors.

Participate in the Production Pilot

Use Turnitin Clarity with live assessments and help us evaluate its impact in an authentic teaching and learning context. Feedback from pilot participants will help inform future decisions about the platform's use within the institution.

Take Part in Both

Interested in a deeper dive? You can choose to explore Clarity in the staging environment first and then participate in the production pilot, allowing you to build familiarity and confidence before using it with students.

Register Your Interest

We're keen to hear from colleagues across a range of disciplines and levels of experience with AI and digital assessment.

If you'd like to take part in the staging environment, the production pilot, or both, please complete our short Microsoft Forms expression of interest survey:

Turnitin Clarity - Expression of Interest

Your involvement will help us evaluate how Turnitin Clarity can support responsible AI use, strengthen academic integrity, and enhance the assessment experience for both educators and students.