How to Submit Papers through SafeAssign DirectSubmit

DirectSubmit generates SafeAssign reports on papers submitted outside of a SafeAssignment and it may also be used to add papers to the institutional database. Because DirectSubmit is not integrated with the Grade Center, Instructors should use SafeAssignments to collect submissions whenever possible.

DirectSubmit allows Instructors to submit papers one at a time or several at once by including them in a .ZIP file. Note that .ZIP packages should contain no more than 100 papers and submitting more than 300 papers in a session is not recommended.

As well, papers with over 5,000 phrases or that are more than 10 MB in size cannot be submitted.

Step 1

From a Blackboard course's Control Panel, under Course Tools, select SafeAssign.

Step 2

Select DirectSubmit. A list of folders and papers will appear. This list includes papers already uploaded through DirectSubmit. Blackboard recommends that files not be deleted from DirectSubmit as this will delete them from the institutional database of existing materials.

Step 3

Navigate to a folder where the paper or papers will be uploaded.

Step 4

Select Submit Papers.

Step 5

Select Upload File and browse for the file. Individual papers as well as papers that are grouped in a .ZIP package are accepted. Alternatively, select Copy/Paste Document and add the document text in the field.

Step 6

Select the upload options:

  • Submit as Draft:
    A SafeAssign report will be generated however the paper will not be added to the institutional database and will not be used to check other papers.
  • Skip Plagiarism Checking:
    Adds the papers to the institutional database without checking for content copied from other sources. This is useful if an Instructor wants to upload papers from an earlier course to ensure that current students are not reusing work.

Step 7

Select Submit

The report is generally available within a few minutes; however the processing time can increase during peak usage times of the semester. You will not be notified when the report is ready; revisit the DirectSubmit page to view the report.

Shared Folders and Private Folders

Direct Submit Shared Folders are viewable by anyone with access to the Direct Submit tool through the course. Multiple Instructors and Teaching Assistants can view submissions related to a course in Shared Folders Private folders can be used to manage papers for an individual instructors. These folders follow the instructor and are available in any course where that user has Instructor level privileges.

Supported File Types

Direct Submit supports the following file types:

  • HTML (HTM, HTML)
  • Microsoft Word document (DOC, DOCX)
  • Open document format (ODT)
  • Portable document format (PDF)
  • Rich Text Format (RTF)
  • Text (TXT, TEXT)
  • Zip-compressed multiple files (ZIP)

Direct Submit Shared Folders are viewable by anyone with access to the Direct Submit tool through the course. Multiple Instructors and Teaching Assistants can view submissions related to a course in Shared Folders Private folders can be used to manage papers for individual instructors. These folders follow the instructor and are available in any course where that user has Instructor level privileges.

 

Last modified: November 23, 2020