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Integrity & trust

How to disclose AI assistance

Concept4 min read

Transparency builds trust. If your institution asks about AI usage, or if you want to be proactive, here is how to disclose clearly and honestly.

Why disclosure matters

Academic integrity is about honesty. If you used a tool to help you write, saying so shows what role the tool played and what work you still did yourself. Disclosure protects you and makes the workflow easier to defend.

Three common institutional approaches

  • AI tools prohibited: do not use the AI features. EssayGenius can still function as an editor and source manager.
  • Allowed with disclosure: explain which features you used and what they did.
  • No policy yet: disclose anyway if the workflow went beyond spelling and formatting help.

What to describe

Be specific about what the AI did and what you did. Vague statements like "I used AI" do not help. Instead, describe the role EssayGenius played in your process:

  • Source discovery: "I used EssayGenius to search academic source records on [topic], then verified which sources were appropriate."
  • Thesis feedback: "I used the assistant to critique my thesis and argument structure."
  • Writing suggestions: "I used ghost text and revision suggestions for sentence-level phrasing."
  • Citation formatting: "I used EssayGenius to format my citations in [APA/MLA/Chicago] style."
  • Draft support, if applicable: "I used EssayGenius to generate an initial draft of one section, which I then revised."

Example: editing and research support only

"I used EssayGenius to search for sources, get feedback on structure and clarity, and format citations in APA 7. The final claims, analysis, and submitted prose are my own."

Example: drafting-assisted workflow

"I used EssayGenius to find sources, test my thesis, and generate an initial draft of one body section. I revised that draft, verified all citations, and take responsibility for the final submitted version."

Adapt the statement to match what you actually used. Remove anything that does not apply, and do not claim the AI "did not generate text" if it did.

Check your syllabus first. Your professor may have specific disclosure requirements or a preferred format. Follow those if they exist.