At Trinity College Dublin, the rules for a dissertation come in layers. The Calendar sets general regulations for taught postgraduate programmes, your discipline handbook fills in supervision and submission, and the Library's academic integrity guide shows where help from others turns into collusion. Here is what those documents say, checked 22 October 2026.
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Section III of the Calendar 2026-2027, Part III, holds the General Regulations for Taught Graduate Programmes. It requires a Principal Supervisor for every student who does research as part of a taught master's, and it sends you to your programme handbook for the format of the dissertation or other research output. For undergraduates, Schools publish their own dissertation handbook; the one from the Department of History is used below.
The Graduate Studies guidelines on submitting theses and dissertations (July 2025) add one rule that is easy to miss: "A thesis or dissertation should be written in English or Irish unless prior permission has been granted for the use of another language by the Dean of Graduate Studies."
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Try the free previewThe Handbook for History Dissertations 2026-27 puts it simply: "Your supervisor is the key advisor for your research." It is just as clear about the limits. A supervisor should not normally comment on more than one draft of each chapter, and does not edit or proofread final drafts. The handbook calls the dissertation a capstone project and reminds students that "you must do your own research, construct your own arguments, and write it yourself."
That one round of comments per chapter is worth planning around. Send each chapter when it is ready to be read as a whole, not in pieces, and keep a note of what you changed after the comments came back. The version you finally submit may be one nobody has read from start to finish.
In History the instruction is short: "Dissertations must be submitted electronically via Turnitin (through Blackboard) by the deadline." The dissertation is submitted anonymously under your student number, with a declaration that it is all your own work. Other Schools use their own routes, so check the handbook for your programme.
History asks students working on contemporary history or oral history to talk to their supervisor and apply for ethical approval in advance. In the School of Computer Science and Statistics (SCSS), research with human participants needs independent review by a Research Ethics Committee before it starts, the application goes in through the TCD Online Ethics system, and "Applications must be reviewed and signed by your Supervisor."
Some programmes build an oral examination into every dissertation. The SCSS handbook for the MSc in Computer Science (2025-26 edition) states: "An oral exam will be held for each student submitting a dissertation." Two examiners attend, and the handbook presents it as a way of introducing them to the content of the dissertation before they read it.
Where a programme has no such step, the Calendar gives taught postgraduate students a safeguard: "Where failure of a dissertation is contemplated and an oral examination has not been held as a matter of course, graduate students are entitled to an oral examination." The format is for the programme committee to decide. Trinity uses the term oral examination here, and it is worth preparing for one as you would for a short defence of your choices.
For a taught postgraduate dissertation, students who want an extension "must contact their Programme Co-ordinator/Director prior to the submission date and must provide documentary evidence to support their case." The programme committee decides. Undergraduates in History follow the procedure in the Sophister Handbook and keep their supervisor informed.
If supervision itself is the problem, the Calendar sets out a route: "Complaints about the adequacy of supervision of dissertations on postgraduate taught programmes should normally first be made to the course director." After that come the Director of Teaching and Learning (Postgraduate) and the Dean of Graduate Studies. Raise it early: the Calendar adds that such complaints are not considered once the dissertation has been presented for examination.
The Library's guide to academic misconduct lists, under collusion: "Allowing another (e.g., friend/relative/roommate/classmate/tutor) to write/translate or significantly edit one's assignment without acknowledging that help". It adds: "This can include external third parties." The line is about writing, translating and significant editing done by someone else without saying so.
The Calendar for 2024-25, in its section on research degrees, stated that paid professional copy-editing was not permitted for a Masters or doctoral thesis. That paragraph does not appear in the current Calendar 2026-2027; in its place, the section on research degrees asks candidates to declare that the thesis is their own original work. Do not read that as a green light. Ask your supervisor or programme what outside help is acceptable for your dissertation, and acknowledge any help you had.
For support with your own writing, the Academic Writing Centre of Student Learning Development (SLD) offers individual consultations to undergraduate and postgraduate students. "Students are invited to attend for support with writing strategies in areas such as essay/thesis/dissertation/reflective writing, structuring, critical thinking & writing and referencing/plagiarism." Its Tips Talks webinars include one on proofreading your own work.
Esmond evaluates; it does not write. You upload your own draft and get comments in the margin plus a report that shows where your argument, method or use of sources is weaker, and why. It does not write or rewrite your text: it points to the weak spot and offers guidance on how to revise it. Where a comment includes an example, it illustrates a principle; the sentence you submit is one you write yourself.
Trinity College Dublin has no connection with Esmond and has not endorsed it. Esmond uses language models, so using it counts as AI use. Rules on AI vary by university, programme, module and assignment. Check your module or programme handbook before you upload, and if it is unclear, ask your supervisor or module coordinator and declare the use if your institution asks you to.
You upload your draft as a PDF. Most reviews are ready within minutes; a full dissertation takes a little longer. You get two things back: your own document with comments in the margin, and a separate feedback report that sets out what to tackle first. Every upload starts with a free preview, and the price depends on the length of your document and is shown before you pay. No subscription, no account.
Esmond evaluates your work and writes nothing for you. Each comment points to a passage, explains what a supervisor or examiner might question, and offers guidance on how to revise it. You decide what to change, and every sentence stays yours.
This page summarises published institutional guidance and links to the original sources. It is not legal advice and not a ruling on your assignment: what your programme, module or supervisor sets always comes first.
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The current Calendar 2026-2027 no longer contains the earlier paragraph against paid professional copy-editing of Masters and doctoral theses. The Library guide does count significant editing by someone else, without acknowledgement, as collusion. Ask your supervisor or programme what is acceptable and acknowledge any help.
Some programmes hold one for every dissertation, as SCSS does for its MSc in Computer Science. Elsewhere, the Calendar entitles taught postgraduate students to an oral examination before a dissertation can be failed, if none was held as a matter of course.
No. Trinity College Dublin has no link with Esmond and has not endorsed it. Esmond is an AI tool, so check what your discipline handbook says about AI before you upload, and acknowledge any use the way it asks.
Official regulations, handbooks and guides, checked 22 October 2026. Quotations are word for word; the rest is our summary. Read the full text at the source.
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