The questions students
actually ask.

Whether the tools work, and what a flag actually means.

• Does Turnitin detect ChatGPT?
  It tries to — and it's unreliable in both directions. Turnitin's AI writing indicator estimates how much of a document reads as machine-generated. It does not identify ChatGPT specifically, and it produces both false positives and false negatives.
• Can Turnitin be wrong about AI?
  Yes — AI detectors are wrong often enough that a score alone should never decide a misconduct case. A Stanford study found detectors wrongly flagged around 61% of essays by non-native English speakers as AI-generated, and in 2026 the Higher Education Policy Institute stated plainly that a detector score should never be sufficient evidence of misconduct on its own.
• Will my university detect AI in my essay?
  Most UK universities run submissions through detection software — commonly Turnitin — but these tools are unreliable in both directions. A flag isn't proof, and a clean score isn't a guarantee.

Why honest work gets flagged, and who it happens to most.

• Why does my essay say AI-generated when I wrote it myself?
  Because a detector doesn't measure who wrote something — it measures how predictable the writing is. Clean, formal, well-structured academic prose scores as machine-like, because that's the style language models were trained to imitate.
• Do AI detectors flag non-native English speakers more?
  Yes, substantially. A Stanford study found AI detectors wrongly flagged around 61% of essays by non-native English speakers as AI-generated — the majority of them, not a rounding error.
• Can autistic or neurodivergent students be wrongly flagged by AI detectors?
  Yes — and it's documented, not theoretical. In 2026 the Office of the Independent Adjudicator upheld a complaint from an autistic student accused on the strength of a detector score and later cleared.
• Does using Grammarly make your essay look AI-generated?
  Fixing errors doesn't. Accepting rewrites can. Correcting a typo or a tense changes almost nothing about how predictable your prose is. Letting a tool rephrase whole sentences pushes them towards the most conventional way of saying something — which is exactly what a detector scores as machine-like.
• Can quoting sources or formal academic writing trigger an AI detector?
  Yes — and it's one of the clearest failure modes of these tools. Direct quotations, standard disciplinary terminology, methods sections and formal register are all highly predictable text, and predictability is the only thing a detector measures.

What counts, what it's called, and what to do if you're accused.

• Is using AI to write an essay plagiarism?
  Not exactly — and the distinction matters more than it sounds. Plagiarism means presenting someone else's work as your own. AI-generated text has no author to steal from, so most UK universities now treat submitting it as its own category of misconduct: unauthorised assistance, unfair means or contract cheating, depending on the wording.
• What happens if I'm wrongly accused of using AI in my essay?
  Stay calm — a detector flag is an allegation, not a verdict, and you have the right to see the evidence and respond. Ask exactly what you are accused of, request the detector report, and gather proof of how you wrote the essay: drafts, notes, version history, and the reading you did.

Where the line between help and misconduct actually sits.

• Is it cheating to use ChatGPT to plan my essay?
  Usually not — most UK universities allow using AI to brainstorm ideas or plan a structure, as long as you write the essay yourself in your own words. It generally becomes misconduct when AI generates the actual text you submit.
• Is using AI to fix my grammar against the rules?
  In most cases, no — correcting your own grammar and spelling is normally fine, the same way a spellchecker always has been. It usually only crosses a line if the tool rewrites your sentences and changes your meaning, or does the thinking for you.

Getting citations right — including citing AI itself.

• How do I check my Harvard referencing is correct?
  Check against your own department's guide first — Harvard isn't one standard. Unlike APA, there's no governing body; every university publishes its own variant, and yours is the only one your marker applies.
• What's the difference between Harvard and APA referencing?
  Both are author-date systems, so in-text citations look alike — a surname and a year in brackets. The real difference is authority: APA is a single published standard (currently the 7th edition, with a manual you can check), while Harvard is a family of institutional variants with no governing body.
• Can I trust ChatGPT for references and citations?
  No. Language models routinely fabricate citations that look completely plausible — real author, real journal, realistic title, a volume and page range — for an article that was never written.
• How do I reference ChatGPT or AI in my essay?
  Check your department's referencing guide first — most UK universities added AI wording between 2024 and 2026, and that guidance overrides any general rule you find online.
• Do I need to cite AI if I only used it to brainstorm?
  Usually no citation — but increasingly yes to a declaration. A citation credits specific content, and brainstorming leaves none in your text. A declaration states which tools you used and how, including for planning and proofreading.

The last pass, and who you can safely show your work to.

• How do I check my essay for AI before I hand it in?
  Read for the things detectors react to — uniform sentence length, heavy formulaic signposting, and paragraphs that summarise rather than argue — and rewrite those passages in your own voice, for clarity.
• Is it safe to put my essay into an AI checker?
  It depends entirely on the checker — read its terms before you upload assessed work. Three questions decide it: does it store your document, does it train on your work, and does it share it with third parties?

What your marker is actually looking for.

• How can I tell what grade my essay will get before I submit?
  Mark it against your own module's rubric, before your marker does. That document is the actual grading criteria, it's usually on the VLE, and most students never open it.

Getting the rules straight before it matters.

• First year at uni in 2026: what counts as AI misconduct?
  The safe rule is: use AI to understand and plan, but write and reference the work yourself. Submitting AI-generated text as your own, or paraphrasing it to hide where it came from, is what gets treated as misconduct.

Honest answers about money, including ours.

• Do I need to pay to check my own essay for AI?
  No — you shouldn't have to pay just to check your own essay once. SafeGrade gives you a free scan with no card required, so you can see how your work reads before you submit without spending anything.
• Is a £3.99 essay checker worth it for a skint student?
  It depends on how much you write — and on what a resit would cost you in time, stress and a capped mark. For roughly the price of one meal deal a month, a checker that catches referencing errors and AI-looking passages before you submit can be worth it.