Possibly, but at Louisiana State University the answer is settled in a conversation with your major professor and advisory committee. The LSU Graduate School says on its Thesis & Dissertation Preparation page that this conversation has to happen before you start the major work on the document. The same page recommends an Artificial Intelligence Disclosure and Responsibility Statement in the front matter, naming the tools, what you used them for, and that you checked their output. The page carries no date; we read it on November 9, 2026, and it says more detailed research guidelines are expected from the Faculty Senate.
If your AI statement clearly doesn't cover what you describe elsewhere in your thesis, Esmond points it out.
The text sits under the heading Use of AI in a Thesis or Dissertation, on the Graduate School page that also covers formatting, iThenticate and submission to the LSU Scholarly Repository. Its first sentence is the rule: “Prior to starting the major work of creating the document, the student must discuss with their major professor and advisory committee if and how generative AI may be used in the process.”
The words "if and how" matter. LSU sets no default answer for every graduate student. Your committee can agree to some uses, limit them, or decide that none fit your project. Have that conversation before you use Esmond or any other AI tool on your thesis or dissertation, and follow what the committee tells you.
The page also explains why the committee holds this role: “As the advisory committee is the primary body responsible for assessing the work of the student, they should provide specific, realistic guidance to the student about their expectations.” So you can expect, and ask for, concrete guidance rather than a general remark.
A hypothetical example of a commentYour disclosure statement says you reviewed and verified all outputs, yet two studies summarized in chapter 2 report sample sizes that differ from the same studies in your chapter 4 table. Which version did you check against the original articles?
A first comment on one part of your own draft, right away and without an account.
Get a free previewThe rule is tied to a moment: before the major work of creating the document begins. That can be the prospectus or proposal stage, if your program has one, when the committee is already discussing scope and methods. Raising AI at that point costs little. Raising it after three chapters exist puts your committee in the position of judging uses it never discussed.
Our suggestions for what to bring into that conversation, so the answer is specific enough to act on:
On disclosure, the Graduate School says: “One recommendation is to include an Artificial Intelligence Disclosure and Responsibility Statement in the front matter of the thesis or dissertation document immediately following the Acknowledgments.” It then lists what the statement specifies and links to a formatting example.
| Part of the statement | What the LSU page lists | What to have ready (our suggestion) |
|---|---|---|
| Tools | Names and versions of AI tools used | A log with tool, version and date of each session |
| Purpose | Purpose of use, with grammar checking and literature summarization as examples | One line per purpose, matched to the chapters involved |
| Verification | Confirmation that you reviewed and verified all outputs | The original sources you compared each output against |
| Responsibility | A statement of personal responsibility for the document | Nothing extra; this is your own declaration |
The page presents the statement as one recommendation. It does not say every thesis must contain one. Your committee can make it a condition for your document, and because the committee decides if and how you use AI at all, a request from them settles the question for you.
LSU's wider rules are still in progress. The Graduate School page says more detailed research guidelines on generative AI are forthcoming from the Faculty Senate, and on November 9, 2026 we found no published version of them. The Faculty Senate Generative AI Committee's guidelines endorsed on December 4, 2025 concern generative AI in the curriculum, meaning courses and teaching. They do not replace the thesis rule above, so for the thesis itself the Graduate School text and your committee's guidance are what apply.
The same Graduate School page asks you to run your completed document through iThenticate right before your defense and to report the results to your committee chair. That check is about overlap with published sources. It is not an AI disclosure, and a clean report does not replace the statement your committee asked for. Keep the two apart in your planning: the disclosure records what tools did, the similarity report records what overlaps with existing text.
This example is made up. A doctoral student in oceanography agrees with her committee that she may use an AI tool for grammar checking and for first summaries of literature, provided she checks every summary against the article. Her statement lists both purposes. During the final months she also asks the tool to suggest a structure for her discussion chapter and keeps two of its headings. Nobody objected to that use, but nobody heard about it either. Her statement names the tool and two purposes, while her own log shows three. The committee approved grammar and summaries. The structure question was never part of the conversation the rule asks for, and the statement no longer matches what happened.
Esmond evaluates every assignment before you submit. It never writes it.
Esmond is an AI tool that doesn't write for you. If your course doesn't allow any AI tools, don't use Esmond for that work. If you're unsure, ask your instructor or advisor.
Esmond evaluates the content of a draft from within your field: it points out factual errors, inconsistencies between chapters and blind spots in the argument. how Esmond works and the sample report show what that looks like, and you can share both with your major professor. At LSU, include Esmond in the conversation the Graduate School asks for and ask your major professor and committee first, before you use it on your thesis or dissertation. If they agree, name it in your AI Disclosure and Responsibility Statement with its purpose, like any other tool, and check whether your department adds expectations. For the general question, see whether you can use Esmond. LSU has not reviewed or approved Esmond.
The Graduate School does not ban it. It requires you to discuss with your major professor and advisory committee if and how generative AI may be used, before the major work starts. They can allow some uses or none.
The Graduate School calls it one recommendation. Your committee can ask for it, and then it applies to your document.
In the front matter, immediately after the Acknowledgments, according to the Graduate School page.
The LSU page uses grammar checking as an example of a purpose the statement can list. Ask your committee whether they want it named in your case.
The Graduate School says more detailed research guidelines are forthcoming from the Faculty Senate. We found no published version on November 9, 2026. The Faculty Senate guidelines from December 2025 cover courses.
Read on November 9, 2026.
Get your paper evaluated before you submit