Using AI in your assignments

Before you start

Who this is for: anyone doing coursework, reports, presentations, portfolios or projects who wants to use GenAI to help, and keep it within the rules.

Important: your module brief / VLE is the authoritative source. If it says “no GenAI”, use AI only to understand the task, not to write the task.

Check what is allowed

👉 Allowed – you can use AI for planning/drafting → follow the steps below
👉 Allowed, but acknowledge – you can use AI, but you must tell us → follow steps + add an acknowledgement
👉 Not sure / says “no AI” – only use AI to explain the brief → do Workflow 1 only

If your tutor is using a process-driven assessment, they will probably ask you to submit your AI prompts, any AI outputs, your edited version and a reflection. Keep everything while you work, you will thank yourself at the end

Workflow 1 - Unpack the brief

Copy the assignment brief from the VLE.
Ask AI:

“Explain this assignment task for a 2nd-year UK university student. List what I must submit and what I will be marked on.”

Compare AI’s list with the real brief...remove anything it invented.
If AI is not allowed, you can probably still do this stage...just ensure you don’t paste any AI text into your submission.

Workflow 2 - Generate ideas and structure

Tell AI your topic, level and word count.
Ask:

“Give me 3 possible structures for this assignment that match these learning outcomes: [paste LOs].”

Pick the structure you like.
Add your ideas/readings/examples.

Why: AI is good at suggesting shapes; you choose the best one.

Workflow 3 - Draft and improve

Write your own paragraph/section first.
Paste it into AI and say:

“Improve the clarity and academic tone of this paragraph. Keep my ideas, keep my references, UK spelling.”

Look at what AI suggests.
Take the good bits, discard the rest.
Save the AI version as evidence (for process-driven tasks).

Why: this makes your writing better, but it’s still your work.

Workflow 4 - Check against the marking criteria

Copy the marking criteria/rubric from the VLE.
Ask AI:

“Based on this rubric, which parts of the task have I not shown yet?”

AI will often spot missing analysis, weak reflection, or missing sources.
You add/fix these in your draft — don’t ask AI to make up sources.

Why: rubrics are human; AI helps you read them.

Workflow 5 - Acknowledge your AI use

If your task allows/requires AI acknowledgement, then include any specific text that your institution requires in the format it requests. That supercedes any advice here. If include one of these:

Short version (essays):

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

Appendix version (reports/projects):

Tool/capability: chat-based AI
Purpose: unpack brief, improve clarity
Prompts used: [list your main prompts]
Checks: compared with module brief and sources
Authorship: final text and arguments are mine

More examples: → How to acknowledge GenAI