At the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign the answer comes from your program and your committee. The Graduate College says it has no policy on whether generative AI is permitted in doctoral milestones. It encourages programs and committees to discuss their expectations and says those expectations should be communicated clearly to students. On November 9, 2026 we found no university-wide rule for theses. This page quotes that Graduate College guidance and one program rule as an example: the Department of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS), whose graduate handbook was posted in March 2026.
If your AI statement clearly doesn't cover what you describe elsewhere in your thesis, Esmond points it out.
The Graduate College page on AI for exams, theses and dissertations is short and open about what it leaves out: “The Graduate College does not have a policy regarding the permissibility of the use of generative AI in doctoral milestones.” The page itself carries no date.
What it does is hand the question down a level: “However, we encourage discussion within programs and individual committees about their expectations for if and how generative AI can be used in exams and theses.” It adds that programs should communicate those expectations clearly to students, and suggests the conversation cover disciplinary considerations, ethical use and how to cite AI.
In practice this means two students at Illinois can face different rules for the same tool, depending on the department and the committee. If nobody has told you what yours expects, ask before you use a tool on the thesis.
A hypothetical example of a commentYour prompt journal has three entries for chapter 2, all dated after the version your committee read in October. Does the journal account for the help behind that earlier draft?
A first comment on one part of your own draft, right away and without an account.
Get a free previewThe Department of Human Development and Family Studies has written its own guidelines into its graduate student handbook. They are HDFS rules and apply to HDFS graduate students. We quote them here to show what a program-level answer can look like.
The first guideline concerns text: “GenAI tools may not be used to create text to be submitted as a part of any graduate milestone (e.g., qualifying exam, preliminary exam, final defense, etc.).” The second allows a narrower use: “GenAI tools may be used for checking grammar, spelling, rephrasing text, or other editing function of a student's original writing.”
HDFS asks for a record that goes further than a statement in the front matter: “Any use of GenAI must be recorded in a journal documenting prompts, AI responses, and your usage.” As an alternative, the handbook accepts a link to your chat history.
It also asks that GenAI use be cited in APA style, with the text of your prompt included. If you plan to use a tool for editing, it makes sense to start the journal on the first day, since rebuilding prompts and responses afterwards is hard.
The handbook states that not following the guidelines may be treated as a violation of academic or research integrity. Such use may be reported and lead to sanctions under the Illinois Student Code; the handbook names failure of the milestone in question and dismissal from the graduate program among the possibilities.
It ends with a privacy note: companies behind GenAI platforms may store, share or sell your personal or research-related data. It asks students to be careful with private information and to follow Illinois privacy and cybersecurity standards, and to read the University of Illinois System guidance on generative AI before using these tools.
Most Illinois students will not be in HDFS. To find what applies to you:
This example is made up. A doctoral student in a program with rules like the HDFS handbook uses a GenAI tool to rephrase sentences in his preliminary exam proposal. That is an editing function on his own writing, and he logs it in his journal. Later he pastes a regression table into the same tool and asks it to describe the main results for his findings section. Under rules like these, that second request is GenAI analysis of research results and GenAI-created milestone text, both excluded. The journal records both uses honestly. The second use is still outside the rules.
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 and points out factual errors, inconsistencies and blind spots. how Esmond works explains the steps and the sample report shows the output. Since the Graduate College leaves the rules to programs and committees, check what yours says, tell your advisor, and disclose the use like any other tool. In a program with rules like HDFS, that also means a journal entry for each session and a citation in the style the program asks for. For the general question, see whether you can use Esmond. The University of Illinois has not reviewed or approved Esmond.
The Graduate College says it has no policy on whether generative AI is permitted in doctoral milestones. It leaves expectations to programs and committees.
We found no campus-wide ban. Some programs restrict it: HDFS, for example, excludes GenAI-created text in milestones and allows editing help on your own text.
Yes. The HDFS handbook allows grammar, spelling, rephrasing and other editing functions on a student's original text, recorded in the journal.
That depends on your program. HDFS asks for APA citations that include the prompt. The Graduate College suggests programs discuss how to cite AI.
Read on November 9, 2026.
Get your paper evaluated before you submit