How to evidence your work at LUBS
Why use this guide?
Further down on this page is a series of steps to follow, taking you from the planning to submission stages of your work. If you follow the advice carefully, your work will meet our academic integrity standards and you will confidently be able to do the following important actions:
- Demonstrate academic integrity
- Stay organised and secure
- Show how your ideas developed
- Recover earlier versions of your work
- Evidence of your authorship
- Demonstrate your process
- Clearly explain any use of AI tools
- Protect yourself if academic integrity questions are asked
the most important rule
Keep evidence of how the work was created, not just the final version.
1. Before you start: organise for success!
- Create a dedicated folder for the assignment
- Save all files in one location
- Turn on automatic version history where possible
2. While you plan: keep your notes and research
- Mind maps
- Notes and ideas
- Initial outlines
- Reading summaries
- Research logs
What to keep: Evidence of your thinking, reading and early ideas.
3. Create versions: keep your drafts
- First draft
- Subsequent drafts, with clearly labelled filenames (e.g., v1, v2, v3)
- Major revisions
- Feedback versions
What to keep: Save separate versions - do not overwrite your work.
4. Develop your work
Use version history
If using:
- Microsoft Word
- OneDrive / SharePoint
Make sure version tracking remains enabled. This creates a timeline showing how your work evolved.
Use AI tools transparently
Keep a record of:
- Prompts you used
- AI-generated outputs
- Chat transcripts
- Notes on what you accepted, changed or rejected
- Screenshots (if chat history may disappear)
Remember: AI outputs are evidence of your process, not evidence of authorship. Your own judgement and development remain essential.
5. Keep your research evidence
Keep evidence of your research:
- Search terms
- Articles read
- Notes taken
- Source summaries
- Data files and sources
Keep all of your evidence until:
- Assessment marks are confirmed
This shows: where your ideas came from and how you developed your argument.
Before submitting your work, ask yourself
- Can I explain how my work developed?
- Can I show where my ideas came from?
- Can I demonstrate any AI use?
- Could I provide drafts if requested?
- Do I have evidence of my independent thinking?