Only after you have approval from your supervisor and your program, and that approval has to be documented. The guidance on generative AI (GAI) from the Yeates School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (YSGPS) also requires full transparency about any use in a thesis, dissertation, or major research paper (MRP). At the final oral examination you explain and defend that use along with the content. Programs and supervisors decide how far use may go, and some limit it in theses even where they welcome it in research methods. We found no date on the page; we read it on November 9, 2026.
If your AI statement clearly doesn't cover what you describe elsewhere in your thesis, Esmond points it out.
YSGPS addresses graduate students directly: “They must actively seek and document approval from their academic supervisors and programs before incorporating GAI into any aspect of their SRC and writing processes.” SRC stands for scholarly, research, and creative activities, so the rule reaches the work behind the document as well as the text. It names two parties, your academic supervisor and your program, so a yes from one may leave the question open with the other.
The first step at TMU is to ask your supervisor, and check your program's position, before you use Esmond or any other AI tool for your thesis or MRP.
The guidance sits under TMU Senate policies, including Policy 60 on Academic Integrity. Programs and supervisors are expected to give clear guidance on the acceptable extent of GAI use, and YSGPS says its Student-Supervisor Checklist will cover AI in the initial agreement and in regular check-ins.
A hypothetical example of a commentFigure 5 in your MRP looks redrawn with an AI image tool, but your transparency statement only mentions help with editing text. Does the statement cover the figure?
A first comment on one part of your own draft, right away and without an account.
Get a free previewYSGPS warns that a program or supervisor may encourage GAI in research methods while limiting it in papers and theses. It also extends the principles for producing or editing text to figures, images, graphs, sound files, videos, and other audio-visual content. Treat each kind of use as its own request.
| Use | What YSGPS expects | Note for your file |
|---|---|---|
| GAI in research methods | Documented approval from supervisor and program, within the extent they set | Which method, which tool, which data |
| GAI in drafting or editing text | Documented approval, which may be narrower than for methods | A separate line in the approval |
| GAI to create or modify figures and media | The same principles as for text | Which figures, with the original and the changed version |
| Data from human participants or industry partners | No identifying or confidential data in third-party GAI tools without documented permissions | Research Ethics Board or partner approval |
The disclosure rule is short: “full transparency about the use of GAI tools in their published work (including MRP reports, theses, and dissertations) is required.”
YSGPS describes transparency as a shared responsibility of students, supervisors, and committee members. It includes open discussion, explicit advance agreement on the specific applications of GAI tools, detailed descriptions of tool use in the thesis, and acknowledgment and citation of the tools. If your program permits GAI in research, it should specify how you describe and reference it, for example whether excerpts of prompts and responses, or the full exchanges, go in an appendix. For citation formats, the guidance points to APA and MLA guidance.
YSGPS says your performance at the final oral examination counts alongside the written document. “During this examination, students must explain and defend their use of GAI and the content within their thesis or MRP.”
You also bear full responsibility for any AI-generated content you choose to include, and you must show mastery of the program-level learning outcomes, which typically involve communicating ideas and conclusions effectively. YSGPS cautions that overreliance on GAI can stand in the way of some of those outcomes.
For research with human participants, YSGPS says you must not submit personal or identifying information, or anything that could re-identify participants, to third-party GAI tools. Confidential information from an industry partnership is treated the same way, since sharing it could breach a non-disclosure agreement. Processing such data with GAI needs documented permissions, such as explicit approval from a Research Ethics Board or the partner.
TMU licenses a GAI tool through Google that, according to the guidance, does not use TMU activity to train its models. YSGPS adds that the principles of ethical, responsible, and transparent use still apply to it.
On detection, TMU currently does not endorse any AI detection tool. YSGPS does not recommend controlling AI-generated content through surveillance or detection, and calls the available tools unreliable, with possible privacy concerns.
This example is made up. A master's student in urban planning has documented approval from her supervisor and program to use a GAI tool for cleaning survey data. For the MRP she also uses an image tool to redraw a zoning map from a municipal report, and her transparency statement mentions only the data cleaning. Under the YSGPS guidance, the map falls under the same principles as text, so it needed its own approval and its own line in the statement. At the oral exam she would have to explain that figure with nothing on file behind it.
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 a thesis or MRP draft and points out factual errors, inconsistencies, and blind spots, judged against the standards of your field. Read how Esmond works and see a sample report before you raise it. Under the YSGPS guidance, AI feedback on your draft is GAI in your writing process, so ask your supervisor first, check that your program accepts it, and document the approval before you upload. If you go ahead, describe the use in the thesis or MRP and be ready to explain it at the oral exam. Keep identifying participant data and confidential partner information out of anything you upload, and read the Privacy Notice. Toronto Metropolitan University has not reviewed or approved Esmond.
No. YSGPS leaves the acceptable extent of GAI use to programs and supervisors, and requires documented approval before any use in research and writing. Some programs or supervisors may limit GAI in theses.
The guidance names both: graduate students seek and document approval from their academic supervisors and programs.
Yes. YSGPS says the principles for producing or editing text also apply to figures, images, graphs, sound files, videos, and other audio-visual content.
TMU currently does not endorse any AI detection tools, and the YSGPS guidance does not recommend detection as a way to control AI-generated content.
Read on November 9, 2026.
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