What to do if you suspect a student used AI on an essay

The answer, in order

1. Write down what raised the question. A sentence or two, today, before you talk to anyone. “Detector said 64 percent” and “the essay cites a book that does not exist” are very different starting points, and you want the difference on paper.
2. Check the evidence you already have. Open the writing record if the essay was written in a recorded editor. Pull the document history if not. Check every citation. Compare with the student’s earlier work.
3. Count independent signals. A detector score and a polished style are one signal, not two, because both come from the text. A paste of a full paragraph plus a source that does not exist are two.
4. Invite the student to talk about the work. Keep the first message short and neutral. A sample is below.
5. Hold the conversation. Ask about the argument and the choices, and listen.
6. Decide, and write down why. Close it, resolve it under your policy, or refer it on.

Why the order matters

Most cases that go badly go badly in the first hour. A teacher sends a message that says “the AI checker flagged your essay,” the student feels accused, and from then on the conversation is about the number, not the writing. Courts have started to look at these cases. In Newby v. Adelphi University (2026 NY Slip Op 26021), a student’s 100 percent Turnitin flag was read as human by Grammarly and ZeroGPT, and the court found the finding “without valid basis” and ordered the record expunged. The students who have won so far won on process, not on disproving the detector.

Source: Newby v. Adelphi University, Justia; GradPilot lawsuit tracker; checked 2026-09-08. More cases on the AI detection lawsuits page.

What counts as evidence

Strong

• A writing record that shows large pastes where your rules did not allow them, or an essay retyped at a steady rate with no revision.
• Citations that do not exist, quotations that are not in the cited source, page numbers past the end of the book.
• A student who cannot explain the central argument of their own paper in a calm conversation.

Weak on its own

• A detector percentage. The false positive research is the reason.
• Polish, vocabulary, or a voice that sounds different. Students improve, get tutoring, and care more about some topics.
• A Google Docs history with one big insertion. Students draft elsewhere and paste their own work in all the time.

The first message to the student

I have been reading your essay and I would like to hear how it came together. Could you stop by during office hours this week, or suggest a time? Bring any notes or drafts you have. I would like to go through the argument with you.

Sample first message

No tool is named, no score is quoted, and nothing in it has to be withdrawn later if the student did write the paper.

In the conversation

• Ask them to summarize the argument in a few sentences.
• Ask why they chose one source over an obvious alternative.
• Point to a strong sentence and ask what it means.
• Ask what they cut, and why.
• If you have a writing record, look at it together, as a description of what happened in the editor, and ask about anything that stands out.

Nervousness is not a signal. Most students are nervous in a meeting with a teacher about their grade.

When to refer it on

Refer a case when two independent signals agree and the conversation did not explain them, or when your school requires every case to be reported. Send the evidence, your notes from the conversation, and a plain description of what each piece does and does not show. A reviewer who did not know the student should be able to follow it.

What not to do

• Do not run the essay through detectors until one agrees with you.
• Do not ask the student to prove a negative.
• Do not put an accusation in writing before you have talked.
• Do not penalize on a score alone. Several universities have turned their detector off for exactly this reason; see the list.

Where a writing record helps

Most of the hard cases are hard because there is no evidence about how the essay was written, only the finished text. When students write in EssayGuard, every keystroke, paste, pause and revision is recorded with server-side timestamps, and each essay is marked Approved, Needs Review or Flagged with a plain summary: what we saw, what it usually means, how to find out. You can replay the session, and if a case has to leave your office, print an evidence report that states what the record does and does not establish.

A record shows how text entered the editor. It does not show whether the ideas were the student’s. It narrows the question so the conversation can settle it. EssayGuard is free for the rest of this semester; set up one assignment before the next essay is due.