How to acknowledge GenAI use

Before you start

Who this is for: students who have used GenAI at any point in their work and now need to tell the marker clearly and honestly.

Always do this first: check your assignment brief/module handbook/VLE. If it gives exact AI wording, use that, if it doesn’t, consider using one of the templates below.

When you should acknowledge GenAI

You should add an acknowledgement when you used AI to:

Unpack / explain the assignment
Generate ideas or structure
Improve clarity / language / tone
Get feedback on a draft
Practise interview or reflection questions that fed into this assignment
Suggest sources (even if you later changed them)

You must add an acknowledgement when:

AI wrote any paragraphs you kept
You are submitting a process pack (prompts + AI output + reflection)
The brief says “disclose any AI use”

When you probably don't need to

Always check local guidance and respect that first and foremost!

spellcheck / grammar checker
“explain this concept to me”
study-only practice questions

But if in doubt, declare it. Markers prefer honesty.

Pick a Template

Adapt and tweak these templates to suit your requirements.

A. Short inline statement (essays, short tasks)

“I used a chat-based AI tool to help me understand the assignment brief and to improve the clarity of parts of this work. I wrote and checked the final version myself.”

B. Methods/appendix statement (reports, projects, dissertations)

Tool/capability used: chat-based AI able to rewrite text
Purpose: to clarify the task and improve academic style
Prompts used: “Explain the assignment for a 2nd-year UK student”, “Rewrite for clarity, keep my references”
Verification: I compared AI suggestions with the module brief and used library sources
Authorship: I chose the final wording and take responsibility for the content

C. Group work statement

“Our group used a chat-based AI tool once at the start to generate ideas for the task. [Name] ran the prompts and shared the output. We all independently rewrote and developed the final work. AI outputs are available if required.”

If AI is not allowed

You can probably still write:

“I used AI only to explain the task to me. I did not use AI to generate content for this submission.”

If the brief says “no AI at all”, follow that. Do not paste AI text into your assignment.

Process driven Assignments

If your tutor is using Process-Driven Assessment, submit:

Your prompts
One AI output before you edited it
Your edited version
Your 150–200 word reflection

…and add this line to your work:

“AI was used in line with the task requirements. See attached process log.”

Protecting Senstive Info

Before putting information into a GenAI tool:

Remove names / locations / organisations before using AI.
Don’t paste placement / clinic / school data into public AI.
If the assignment is about a real person, create a disguised version for AI.
For full advice, see Core guidance → Data, privacy, copyright & accessibility (UK HE).

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