AI and plagiarism
What detectors measure, what a similarity score means, and what to do when one goes against you.
AI detection and similarity checking are the two things students worry about most and understand least. Neither produces proof. A similarity score counts matching text, including text you quoted and cited correctly; an AI detector estimates, and the published research shows it estimates wrongly often enough to matter, particularly for people writing in a second language.
These guides explain how both work, what the evidence says about their accuracy, how to read your own report before a marker reads theirs, and what a fair process looks like if you are wrongly accused.
28 guides
October 2, 2026 · 13 min read
Are AI detectors accurate? What the studies found
Are AI detectors accurate, according to the published studies?
The published studies of AI detector accuracy in one table: who tested which tools, on what writing, and each paper's own figures for false positives and misses.
Everyone
October 2, 2026 · 12 min read
Can an AI detector prove cheating? Why a score is not evidence
Can an AI detector score prove that a student cheated?
Our view on AI detector scores in misconduct cases: why a score is not evidence, what a fair process includes, step by step, and what to do if accused.
Everyone
October 2, 2026 · 12 min read
Should I use AI to write my essay? Why a tool never should
Should I use AI to write my essay, or is that cheating?
Our view on AI writing your essay: what university policies, QAA and TEQSA say, what studies of learning show, and what a tool may do.
Everyone
September 26, 2026 · 13 min read
A short history of machine writing, from Strachey to ChatGPT
When did computers start writing text, and how did machine writing get from ELIZA to ChatGPT?
How machines learnt to write, from Shannon's hand-made statistics and Strachey's love letters to ELIZA, grammar checkers and GPT, and why none of them could cite.
Everyone
September 26, 2026 · 14 min read
AI and your dissertation: what universities allow and require
Can I use AI in my dissertation or thesis, and what do I have to declare?
What ten universities' dissertation and thesis rules allow of AI, who approves it, the declaration's wording and place, the viva, and research data.
UndergraduatePostgraduate
September 26, 2026 · 13 min read
AI transcription of research interviews: ethics and GDPR
Can I use AI to transcribe research interviews, and what does my ethics committee need to know?
What universities and data regulators say about AI transcription of research interviews: consent wording, approved tools, local Whisper, accuracy and declaring it.
PostgraduateResearcher
September 26, 2026 · 13 min read
How often does ChatGPT make up references? What studies found
How often do ChatGPT and other AI chatbots make up references, according to published studies?
A living table of the published studies that counted invented references from ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and others: model, test date and each paper's own figures.
UndergraduateResearcher
September 26, 2026 · 13 min read
Should you disclose AI use? What journals and universities say
Should I disclose that I used AI in my paper, and how do I do it?
Whether to disclose AI use, from eight publishers' and six universities' own policies: what to declare, where it goes, what is exempt, AI authorship and images.
Everyone
September 26, 2026 · 13 min read
Spellcheck, autocorrect and the writing tools before AI
Where did spellcheck, autocorrect, readability scores and the other writing tools before AI come from?
How spell checkers, readability scores, style and grammar checkers, autocorrect, predictive text and reference managers arrived, and the check none of them made.
Everyone
September 26, 2026 · 13 min read
What AI cannot do for a writer, from the evidence
What can't AI tools like ChatGPT do for a writer?
Seven things generative AI cannot do for a writer, from published studies and the makers' own help pages, and what to do instead at each step.
Everyone
September 24, 2026 · 13 min read
How AI changed academic writing: what the evidence shows
How much has AI changed academic writing since ChatGPT, according to the evidence?
What large studies found about AI in papers, peer reviews and grant proposals since 2022, where they disagree, and the retractions and fake references that followed.
Everyone
September 24, 2026 · 13 min read
Words AI overuses, like delve: what the studies found
Which words does AI overuse, and what do the studies of them actually show?
What the studies of delve, intricate and other words AI overuses counted, their figures, methods and limits, and why one word proves nothing about a writer.
Everyone
September 24, 2026 · 13 min read
Writing in your own voice when everyone suspects AI
How can I write in my own voice, and show the work is mine, when people suspect AI?
What voice means in academic writing, how to keep drafts and version history as a record, what detector studies found, and what to do if questioned.
Everyone
September 23, 2026 · 13 min read
AI detectors and non-native English writers: what the tests show
Are AI detectors biased against non-native English writers?
What every published test found on AI detectors and writers of English as an additional language, what a score can and cannot prove, and how to protect your work.
Everyone
September 23, 2026 · 13 min read
How to check your dissertation for plagiarism before submission
How do I check my dissertation for plagiarism before submission?
What universities do with a dissertation's similarity report, why innocent text matches, how to declare reuse, and a chapter-by-chapter check before you submit.
PostgraduateUndergraduate
September 23, 2026 · 13 min read
How to read an AI detection report, passage by passage
How do I read an AI detection report passage by passage, and what can it tell me?
What each label on an AI detection report means, why a whole-paper percentage misleads, which passages detectors misread, and what to do with a flagged one.
Undergraduate
September 23, 2026 · 13 min read
The em dash is not proof of AI, and neither is any other tell
Is an em dash proof that AI wrote a piece of writing?
Why the em dash, the word delve and tidy lists of three prove nothing about who wrote a text, what studies measured, and what to show if questioned.
Everyone
September 23, 2026 · 13 min read
Using plagiarism and AI reports fairly as a marker
How should a marker use a plagiarism or AI detection report fairly?
For markers: what similarity and AI reports can and cannot show, what universities accept as evidence, and a fair method from the first match to the meeting.
Instructor
September 22, 2026 · 13 min read
Can teachers detect ChatGPT? What the evidence shows
Can teachers detect ChatGPT?
Teachers, detectors, vivas, drafts and the reference that does not exist. What the studies and universities' own pages say about spotting ChatGPT.
UndergraduateSecondary school
September 22, 2026 · 13 min read
Do AI humanizers work, and should you use one?
Do AI humanizers work, and should you use one?
What the research says about AI humanizers and detectors, what universities say about disguising AI use, what the rewrite costs, and the honest fix.
Undergraduate
September 22, 2026 · 13 min read
How AI detectors work and how accurate they are
How do AI detectors work, and how accurate are they?
How AI detectors score a text, what watermarking changes, and what independent tests found when they measured the vendors' accuracy claims, figure by figure.
Everyone
September 22, 2026 · 13 min read
How plagiarism checkers work and what a similarity score means
How do plagiarism checkers work, and what does the similarity score mean?
How text-matching works, what the databases hold, what a similarity score counts and misses, and why no percentage is a finding of plagiarism.
Everyone
September 22, 2026 · 12 min read
How to check your paper for AI before submitting
How do I check my paper for AI before submitting?
Four checks before you hand in: keep proof you wrote it, declare permitted AI use, verify every reference, and read a detector preview as a warning light.
Undergraduate
September 22, 2026 · 13 min read
How to check your paper for plagiarism before submitting
How do I check my paper for plagiarism before submitting?
A night-before procedure for quotations, paraphrases, citations and references, then how to read every match a plagiarism checker shows, type by type.
Undergraduate
September 22, 2026 · 13 min read
How to declare AI use in an assignment
How do I declare AI use in an assignment?
What APA, MLA and Chicago say about acknowledging AI use, what universities ask you to declare, a template in plain words, and where the statement goes.
Undergraduate
September 22, 2026 · 13 min read
Is using AI to edit my essay plagiarism? Where the line falls
Is using AI to edit my essay plagiarism?
Where AI editing stops being proofreading and becomes false authorship, what APA, MLA, Chicago and four universities say, and how to declare what you did.
Undergraduate
September 22, 2026 · 13 min read
What is self-plagiarism, and can I reuse my own work?
What is self-plagiarism, and can I reuse my own work?
The APA definition of self-plagiarism, how UK, US and Australian universities word it, what text recycling allows, and how to cite your own earlier work.
UndergraduatePostgraduate
September 22, 2026 · 13 min read
What similarity percentage is acceptable in an essay or thesis?
What similarity percentage is acceptable?
No universal number exists. What Turnitin, India's UGC, Pakistan's HEC and eight university guides actually say, what each band usually means, and what to do.
Undergraduate