Only with the approval of both your supervisor and your supervisory committee, and every thesis carries a Transparency Statement, including theses that used no AI at all. The Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research (FGSR) sets the statement requirement on its thesis page, and committee members confirm on the Thesis Committee Release form that they knew of and approved the uses you describe. The university's Generative AI Hub states the approval rule for graduate students. Neither page is dated; both were read on November 9, 2026.
If your AI statement clearly doesn't cover what you describe elsewhere in your thesis, Esmond points it out.
The approval rule, from the Hub's section for graduate students, is one line: “You must have the approval of both your supervisor and supervisory committee to use GenAI tools.” Both approvals are needed; a supervisor's yes alone does not meet it. So ask your supervisor first before you use Esmond, or any other AI tool, for this thesis, and bring your committee in before you go ahead.
FGSR adds the documentation rule: “All theses submitted to FGSR require a Transparency Statement to describe the use of artificial intelligence (AI) assisted technologies in the preparation of the thesis or to confirm that no such technologies were used.” The Hub repeats it for students in thesis-based programs and asks that the statement cover the research itself as well as the thesis that came out of it.
A hypothetical example of a commentYour Transparency Statement says a tool was used only to translate interview excerpts, but the stimulus images in Appendix B carry a note that they were generated with the same tool. Which description will your committee sign?
A first comment on one part of your own draft, right away and without an account.
Get a free previewIf no AI-assisted technology was used, FGSR gives the sentence to include: “I declare no AI-assisted technology was used in the preparation of this thesis.” It is short, and it is a declaration you sign off on, so check before you include it that no tool in your workflow added AI features you accepted along the way.
If you did use AI, the statement has to address a fixed set of points. The table below lists them with what each one asks of your draft.
| Point FGSR asks for | What it means for your thesis |
|---|---|
| The name of each AI-assisted tool | Every tool, including features built into software you use daily |
| The purpose of each use | FGSR's examples: rephrasing your own sentences, translating your own sentences, spelling, grammar, and sentence structure, generating ideas, generating images, stimuli, or materials |
| Confirmation that supervisor(s) and committee know of and approved these uses | An approval that matches each purpose you list |
| Confirmation that no other AI technologies were used | A complete list, checked against your files |
| Acknowledgment that biased, incomplete, or inaccurate output was recognized and corrected | Notes on what you checked and changed |
| Acknowledgment that you alone are responsible for accuracy and academic integrity | Your own account of every AI-assisted passage |
The Transparency Statement is checked at a fixed point in the process: “All thesis committee members who review the thesis will be required to confirm on the Thesis Committee Release form they are aware of, and have approved, the use of AI-technologies as described in the Transparency Statement.”
That makes the statement more than a note to readers. Your committee signs against what it says, so a use missing from the statement is a use they have not confirmed. It also means approval given in a meeting months earlier should match the purposes you list at the end. The statement sits in the front matter of the thesis and starts on a new page; FGSR links a sample Transparency Statement from the same page.
The Hub draws the line clearly. For a course, the instructor decides, through the syllabus and assignment instructions, and the Hub warns that AI features built into common word processors count as GenAI use; unless the instructor permits it, you turn them off for that coursework. For the thesis, the decision moves to your supervisor and supervisory committee together.
Two more points from the Hub apply to graduate work. Materials your instructors and thesis supervisors created are protected by copyright, and you may not upload them to a GenAI platform without their explicit permission. And if you collaborate on research for publication, everyone involved should know about your GenAI use and agree to it. Under personal data, the Hub tells students to choose tools the University of Regina has approved, for privacy and data security, and names Microsoft Copilot as the tool the university has adopted, available to students under its Microsoft 365 license.
This example is made up. A master's student in psychology gets her supervisor and committee to agree, at a committee meeting, that she may use a GenAI tool to translate interview excerpts from French. Later, short of time, she uses the same tool to generate the images shown to participants in her second study. Her Transparency Statement lists translation only. Generating stimuli is a separate purpose on FGSR's list, so it needed its own approval from both supervisor and committee, and it has to appear in the statement before the committee signs the release form.
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 your thesis draft from within your field and flags factual errors, inconsistencies, and blind spots, each linked to a passage. See how Esmond works, a sample report, and whether you can use Esmond. At the U of R, a review of your draft by an AI tool is GenAI use, so it needs the approval of both your supervisor and your supervisory committee before you upload, and a line in your Transparency Statement naming Esmond and the purpose. Your committee will confirm that line on the release form. Esmond is not a tool the University of Regina has approved, so leave personal data out of what you upload and read the Privacy Notice first. The University of Regina has not reviewed or approved Esmond.
No. It requires the approval of both your supervisor and your supervisory committee before you use GenAI tools, and a Transparency Statement in every thesis.
Yes. FGSR requires one in every thesis. If no AI-assisted technology was used, it gives a one-sentence declaration to include.
No. The Generative AI Hub asks for the approval of both your supervisor and your supervisory committee, and committee members confirm it on the Thesis Committee Release form.
For coursework, only if your instructor permits it. For a thesis, the Transparency Statement covers AI-assisted technologies used in its preparation, so name any such features there and raise them with your supervisor and committee first.
Read on November 9, 2026.
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