Where AI use is allowed, Irish institutions increasingly ask you to say what you used, how and where. The format differs per institution and module. Here is what four published guidelines ask for (checked October 2026), and what that means if you use a feedback tool.
See how Esmond worksEvery guideline below assumes you first know whether AI is allowed for the assessment. A declaration does not make a forbidden use acceptable. Check the brief or handbook, and if it is silent, ask. At Maynooth, the student guidelines put it in capitals: if it is not clearly indicated by teaching staff or department guidelines, no GenAI is permitted.
Trinity's College Statement on GenAI (version 2, issued 4 June 2026) says that where GenAI output is used in your work, it "should be acknowledged and appropriately cited." A citation "should typically include the date of generation, the tool used and the prompts used to create the output, with verbatim quotations enclosed in quotation marks." The exact format is set by your school or programme handbook or the module page, and the Library has a guide to acknowledging and referencing GenAI. The statement also warns that long verbatim quotations, even cited, may be considered poor practice.
Maynooth's student guidelines (March 2025) state that "The student declaration of use will be attached to every assignment submission sheet", and that all use of GenAI should be acknowledged, with citations and referencing where appropriate and according to departmental handbooks. The same guidelines list "Give feedback on draft writing, e.g., does this answer the research question?" among possible uses of GenAI, only where your lecturer permits it. That is Maynooth's own list of examples and says nothing about Esmond.
UL's Academic Integrity Unit describes declarative approaches where you include an acknowledgement or declaration "to indicate the nature and extent of AI use (including declaration that AI was not used in any aspect of the assignment)." It has published sample declaration statements, and faculties may have their own. Some modules instead ask you to show your use through commentary or appendices.
MTU's guidance for postgraduate research theses asks for a clear declaration of permitted use "in the thesis (e.g. in the front matter, alongside the candidate's declaration of originality/authorship)." You do not have to quantify the use, but you must describe its nature and purpose, and keep records such as prompts and outputs in case they are needed during supervision or examination.
Esmond is an AI tool, so if your institution asks you to declare AI use, a review by Esmond belongs in that declaration. Describe it plainly: the date, that you used Esmond to get feedback on a draft of your own text, and what you did with it, for example that you revised your methodology chapter after comments on how you justified your sample. If you wrote every sentence yourself after reading the comments, you can say that too.
Keep your review report and the annotated version of your draft as your record, in the same way MTU suggests keeping prompts and outputs. Esmond deletes them after 90 days, so download them if your programme might ask later.
This page summarises what the institution publishes, with links to the source. It is not legal advice and not a ruling on your assignment: what your programme, module or supervisor sets always comes first.
If your institution or module asks you to declare AI use, a feedback tool that uses AI is AI use. Declare it unless your guidance clearly says otherwise. When in doubt, ask your supervisor.
No. Trinity, Maynooth, UL and MTU each describe their own approach, and departments often add their own forms. Use the one your module gives you.
We cannot say how your work will be assessed. MTU's thesis guidance notes that transparent declaration of permitted use does not disadvantage the student; check what your own institution says.
Official documents, checked October 2026. Read the full text at the source.
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