The Marker's Desk

The Marker's Desk

By Dr Katerina ThomasEducationSelf-Improvement
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The Marker's Desk episodes

  • I Used AI. My Similarity Score Was Fine. Then My Tutor Asked One Question | The Marker's Desk

    How much AI is too much in an assignment? Sam asked ChatGPT to write most of her marketing essay. She changed a few words and submitted it, and her similarity score came back at 2%. She thought she was fine. In this episode you sit in the marker’s chair. You’ll learn why a low Turnitin score proves almost nothing about AI. You’ll also hear the one question that tells a tutor who really wrote the work.

    In this episode

    • What a similarity score measures, and why AI-written text usually slips past it

    • Why a very low score can make a marker look more closely, not less

    • Three things in the writing that make a tutor stop: a voice that isn’t yours, words beyond your level, and polished phrases that say very little

    • What happens when a tutor invites you to explain your work before it ever reaches an academic integrity panel

    • How to use ChatGPT to understand the topic, so you can explain every word you submit

      • Five questions to ask before you submit

      1. Does this sound like me? Would I say these sentences in a seminar?

      2. If my tutor pointed at any word, could I explain what it means and why I used it?

      3. Could I explain how I built my argument, step by step?

      4. Do I know where every source came from, and have I checked it says what I claim?

      5. Does my brief allow the way I used AI, and have I declared it if I’m asked to?

        6. If any answer is no, don’t submit yet. Go back and make the work yours.

        Get The Marker Note

        Every week I share a student situation in my free newsletter, The Marker Note. I explain what I’d look for as a marker and give you something practical to check in your own work. When you join you also get the Own Check, a one-minute self-check for your assignments. Join here: https://marker.beehiiv.com/subscribe

        If someone on your course still checks their similarity score and calls it done, send them this episode.

        Rules on AI use differ between universities. Check your module brief and your university’s policy.

        16 min
      6. Can I Use ChatGPT for My Assignment? | The Marker’s Desk

        Students ask me this all the time. Sometimes they ask it late at night, typed into ChatGPT itself.

        I can’t give you a yes or a no, and nobody honest can, because your university doesn’t mark the tool. It marks you. In this episode I give you a better question to ask before you type a single prompt: what am I letting it do?

        In this episode

        • Why Anna’s prompt was fine on Monday and not allowed on Tuesday

        • The three jobs AI can do for you: help you learn, help you work, or do the work

        • The gym spotter, and the difference between steadying the bar and lifting it

        • What students tell me in academic integrity meetings, and the silence that comes after

        • How to change a prompt so the thinking stays yours

          • Before you type: three questions

          1. Am I allowed to use AI for this task? I don’t mean AI in general. I mean this task, this module, this assessment. If the brief is unclear, unclear doesn’t mean yes. Ask your lecturer.

          2. What am I letting it do? Is it helping me think, or doing the thinking I’m being assessed on?

          3. Would I show this prompt, and what came back, to my lecturer? If the honest answer is no, you have your answer.

            4. Try this instead
            (only if your assessment allows this kind of AI use)

            • Instead of “Write my introduction”, try: “What does a strong introduction need to do? Don’t write it for me.”

            • Instead of “Make this more academic”, try: “Tell me where my meaning is unclear. Don’t rewrite it.”

            • Instead of “Solve this”, try: “Give me one hint, then wait.”

              • Get the OWNED Check (free)
              It’s a one-minute check to use before you open ChatGPT, not after you’ve submitted. You get it when you join The Marker Note, my free weekly email. Each week I take one real student question about AI and assignments and answer it the way your marker would.
              👉 Join The Marker Note and get the OWNED Check

              Watch on YouTube
              Can I Use ChatGPT for My Assignment?

              The book
              This episode settles one question. My book, Can I Use AI for This?, gives you a way to decide for every assignment after this one. Be the first to know when the book launches. Join the wait list.
              Human First. AI Second.

              Rules differ between universities, and between modules. Your assessment brief and module guide always come first.

              Know someone on your course who’s about to open ChatGPT for an assignment? Send them this episode.

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              Can you use ChatGPT for your university assignment? An Academic Integrity Officer explains why the real question is what you let AI do, and gives you three questions to ask before you type.

              13 min
            • The Marker’s Desk — Podcast Trailer

              Can you use AI for your university assignment without crossing the line?

              The Marker’s Desk helps university students work out what AI can help with, what must stay their own work, and how to use AI without handing over the thinking.

              Hosted by Dr Katerina Thomas, university lecturer and academic integrity officer.

              Practical guidance on assignments, research, writing, referencing, critical thinking, AI detection and academic integrity.

              Human First. AI Second.

              Episode One coming next.

              2 min

            About The Marker's Desk

            From the publisher's feed

            The questions you'd ask your marker, if you could.