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UnTXT and Loughborough University's AI Policy - What Students Need to Know

Summary: UnTXT reads your writing; it does not write. On Loughborough's own definition of generative AI — AI used to create new content — that puts it outside the policy. The guidance says nothing either way about checking tools, so your assessment brief is what governs. Acknowledge it in your assessment statement anyway; it costs one line.

What Loughborough's AI Policy Actually Says

Loughborough's academic integrity guidance defines generative AI as using AI "to create new content (e.g. text, images, music, audio, videos)." Read that definition twice, because the whole question turns on it: it is about making something.

UnTXT does not make anything. It reads what you already wrote and marks the passages carrying the statistical fingerprints of machine-written text. Nothing generated, nothing suggested, nothing rewritten.

So on the university's own definition, UnTXT is not a generative AI tool.

Now the part we are not going to dress up. The guidance does not mention checking or proofreading tools anywhere — not to permit them, not to forbid them, and anyone telling you Loughborough has explicitly blessed detection tools is quoting a sentence that does not exist. What the university actually asks is that you comply with the requirements in your assessment brief for how generative AI may or may not be used, and that you reference GenAI use in your work.

So read your brief. It governs, and briefs differ by module and department.

What we would do. Say you used it. One line in your assessment statement — "I used UnTXT, an AI detection tool, to check my own draft before submission" — costs nothing and means nobody can later suggest you hid something. Declaring a tool you did not strictly have to declare has never once gone badly for anybody. The other way round has.

And if your brief reads ambiguously, or it is a module where you would rather simply be certain, ask the module leader before you submit. That conversation is much easier beforehand.

Source: Generative Artificial Intelligence — Academic Integrity, Loughborough University, checked 7 September 2026. Policies change. If that page and this one ever disagree, theirs is the one that counts.

Why Students Use UnTXT Before Submitting at Loughborough

You edited AI-assisted notes into your own words - but you're not sure it's clean

This is one of the most common situations. You used an AI tool legitimately for brainstorming or note structure, then rewrote in your own words. But you're not certain the rewrite is thorough enough. UnTXT shows you the specific sentences that still carry AI patterning, so you can address them before submission rather than after.

Your writing style changed across a long piece

Dissertations, extended reports, and group projects often develop inconsistent voice - especially when sections are written at different times or lightly edited from notes. UnTXT flags passages whose style sits oddly against the rest of the document. That is useful for quality-checking your own work, quite apart from any question about AI.

You want a second opinion before an important submission

For coursework with significant weight, or final-year projects where academic integrity stakes are highest, UnTXT gives you an additional layer of review. The free tier covers the first 1,000 words, which is enough to see what the tool flags before deciding whether to check the rest.

What the Results Mean for Your Submission

UnTXT's results are not a verdict. They are a signal. A flagged passage does not mean you used AI - it means that passage shares statistical characteristics with AI-generated writing. Human writers produce these patterns too, particularly when:

  • Writing formally in an academic register
  • Using hedging language ("it could be argued that...")
  • Structuring arguments in a conventional academic format

What you get back is two colours, and that is deliberately the whole of it.

Gold means the passage reads as yours. Grey means it carries the patterning that machine-written text tends to have. There is no percentage, no letter grade, and no per-sentence score to agonise over, because a number invites you to treat a signal as a verdict and it is not one.

Nothing on the page rewrites your work. The highlights are read-only: UnTXT will not suggest a replacement sentence, and it will not quietly improve your prose while you are looking at it. That is on purpose. If a tool rewrote the flagged passages for you, the finished thing would be a little less yours every time, which is the exact problem we exist to push against.

How to Use UnTXT for a Loughborough Assessment

  1. Finish your draft first. Run it on something complete. A half-written argument reads as disjointed to any detector, including ours, and you will spend an afternoon fixing a problem that was only ever the draft being unfinished.
  2. Paste it in and press Analyse. One reading, and it takes a couple of minutes: two frontier models argue over your text passage by passage, and a third settles anything they disagree on. The wait is the models actually reasoning rather than a progress bar for show.
  3. Read the grey passages and ask yourself an honest question — is this how I write, or is this how I write when I am tired and reaching for the phrasing that sounds academic? Often it is the second, and the fix is your own voice rather than a thesaurus.
  4. Leave the gold alone. Those are the passages that sound like you. If you are ever unsure what your own academic voice actually is, read them back — that is it, on the page, in your own words.
  5. Rewrite anything you want to change yourself. In your words, not ours.
  6. Your analyses are saved with the date and word count, so you can show what you ran and when if it ever matters.
  7. Acknowledge it in your submission. One line in your assessment statement.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does using UnTXT mean I used AI in my essay?

No. UnTXT is a detection tool that reads your writing. It does not generate content. Using it is analogous to running a spell-checker or using a grammar tool - it is part of the editing and review process, not the writing process.

If UnTXT flags a sentence, will my tutor flag it too?

Not necessarily. UnTXT and institutional tools use different detection approaches. A flag in UnTXT is an indication that a passage shares statistical similarities with AI writing. It is one input to help you make revision decisions - not a certainty of detection elsewhere.

How much does it cost to check a standard Loughborough essay?

The first 1,000 words are free on sign-up, no card needed. A typical essay runs 2,000–3,000 words, so that allowance covers roughly the first third of one. Checking whole pieces, or checking regularly, means a monthly subscription from £8.40 including tax, which carries a monthly CVT allowance.

Can I check my dissertation in sections?

Yes. Analyses are saved in your account history with word counts and dates. You can analyse chapter by chapter and track progress across a longer piece.

Do I need to tell Loughborough I used UnTXT?

Best practice is to acknowledge it in your assessment statement. It demonstrates transparency and good scholarly habits. It is not required by policy, but it is the honest and recommended approach.

Start for Free

The first 1,000 words are analysed free. No credit card required. Sign in with your Google account at untxt.uk.

This page reflects UnTXT's understanding of Loughborough University's publicly available AI policy as of early 2026. Policy details may change. Always check your department's specific guidance and the most recent version of Loughborough's generative AI guidelines.