The Communication Arts Department would like to use Aquinas Teaching Grant funds to renew its subscription to the TurnItIn program. TurnItIn is a text-matching software program designed to help teachers improve student writing. Due to the recent pandemic, the school was able to use a COVID grant to fund a two-year subscription to the program; therefore, it was not included in the school's working budget. The subscription is up for renewal at the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year. The cost of the program is less than $5 per student.

The TurnItIn program is accessible through the TurnItIn Draft Coach extension on each student's Chromebook. The program is designed for both students and teachers, and can be used for all classes where writing occurs. The program has three basic features: Grammar, Citations, and Similarity Reports. The Grammar feature allows students to have unlimited grammar checks as they compose. Advanced functions include flagging areas of grammatical concern, providing feedback specifying the type of errors flagged, and showing examples of solutions to fix errors. The Citations feature operates in a similar manner, and includes both the MLA and APA citation styles most commonly used across the curriculum. The Originality Report helps students improve their citation and referencing techniques by comparing their papers with both professional and student submissions from its database.

Turnitin also helps teachers streamline and enhance classroom instruction by using a single platform to assign work, provide feedback, and grade finished essays through enhanced features such as printed comments, recorded verbal feedback, peer editing exercises, and customizable grade rubrics. The TurnItIn Program helps students gain confidence in writing skills while maintaining the academic integrity of written work.

The entire student body would benefit from this program. The fundraising goal for this initiative is $4,000.