Exploring a Student’s Work – Academic Integrity Advisory Committee

Sample questions to ask when exploring a student’s work

Asking good questions of your student can help you determine the authorship of a student’s work. Here are some sample questions you can ask.

Document Details Attempt to review the student’s work with them and to determine if there was any outside help including GenAI.	Which/whose computer did you use to write this assignment? What software or writing tools did you use? How did you use these tools? Did you ask anyone to check over your essay for you? Did you receive any outside help with your work? How long did it take you to write this assignment? Where did you find your sources? Which source was the most helpful for you?
Writing Approach Find out whether the student used a template for the creation of the essay. Try to determine a timeline for the student’s work.	Did you use a template for this assignment? How long did it take you to write this assignment? What challenges did you have in writing this assignment? How did you overcome those? What software or writing tools did you use? How did you use these tools? Did you refer to any examples when creating your assignment? Did you take inspiration from any other work when creating your assignment?
Writing Consistency These questions can provide an opportunity to receive insight into the student’s knowledge of their own work. It’s also an opportunity to compare the student’s spoken word with the written work.	Could you speak for a few minutes on the topic of this assignment? Please explain your writing process. Can you tell me the definition of [interesting or unusual word used]? What sources did you use for this assignment? Did they influence your writing? How do you think [assignment work details] relate to [specific course content]? Can you expand on this?
Student Knowledge These questions can provide an opportunity to receive insight into the student’s knowledge of their own work.	Can you tell me the definition of [interesting or unusual word used]? Can you expand or explain your answer to [x] question? How did you come to this conclusion? Open book exams: Which resource(s) did you use to answer this question? Can you show me where specifically?
Images Integrity If there are images in an assignment, find out where a student found these images.	Where did you source the images used in this assignment? What software or production tools did you use in preparing this image? How did you use these tools? Where do you usually source images for your assignments? Why did you include this image specifically?
Study Practices Attempt to review the student’s work with them and to determine if there was collaboration or outside help.	How did you study for this exam? What is your study process? Did you study alone? Or as part of a study group? What resources did you study from?