Before you submit: originality, citations and AI use in one checklist

1Originality

• Can you state your thesis in one sentence without looking?
• Is every paragraph's main claim your own, supported by sources rather than borrowed from them?
• Have you reused work from another assignment? Many universities treat self-plagiarism as misconduct unless allowed.

If the argument wobbles, revise it first using essay structure.

2Citations

The University of North Carolina's Writing Center has a simple rule: when in doubt, give a citation. You still need to cite a source even if you put quotes in quotation marks, changed words to synonyms, paraphrased completely, or mentioned the author's name.

• Does every in-text citation have a matching reference, and every reference a citation?
• Is every reference real and correct? Check author, year, title, journal, volume and pages against the source.
• Did any reference come from an AI tool? If so, have you found and read it? Walters and Wilder's 2023 study found many ChatGPT references were fabricated, and many real ones had wrong numbers.

An annotated bibliography makes this check quick.

3Quotes and paraphrases

• Is every exact phrase from a source in quotation marks?
• Does every paraphrase say the idea in your own words and structure, not the source's with synonyms swapped in?
• Have you checked each quote against the original for accuracy?

More in paraphrasing, quoting and AI rewriting.

4AI use and disclosure

• Is AI allowed in this assessment, and for what?
• Does your use stay within that, with you as the author?
• Have you acknowledged it in the form your course asks for? Some universities, such as UCL, ask you to describe how you used it rather than cite it.

For wording and examples of AI disclosure statements, see the guide at 21learn.org. For the rules paper by paper, see is using AI plagiarism?

5Format and the brief

• Have you answered the question as set, not a version of it you preferred?
• Is the word count within the limit, counted the way your course counts it?
• Have you used the referencing style your course requires, consistently?
• Have you included every required part: title page, abstract, appendices, declaration?
• Is the file in the right format and named as instructed?

Read the brief one last time with your finished work open beside it. Most marks lost at the last minute are lost to the brief, not to the writing. Then read your introduction and conclusion together: they should promise and deliver the same argument.

Finally, submit early if you can. Upload systems slow down near deadlines, and a late penalty is the easiest mark to lose.

6Keep your drafts

Keep your notes, outlines, drafts and version history until the work is marked and returned, and longer for big projects. They show how the work developed. If a marker has questions, they are your best evidence; how teachers check work explains why. For long coursework, the week-by-week plan in term papers with AI builds these records as you go.

More on this in Integrity.

7FAQ