What are VerdictPal guides?
Three academic workflows. Each path has a matching tool stack and a playbook with the exact run order, outputs, and failure checks. Nothing here asks you to trust a chat transcript.
VerdictPal · editorial desk · updated 16 Oct 2026VerdictPal
Guides
Guides that leave an artifact behind.
Three academic workflows. Each path has a matching tool stack and a playbook with the exact run order, outputs, and failure checks. Nothing here asks you to trust a chat transcript.
Before you submit or upload
Which AI research tools make up citations, and how to catch one before you submit
What two arXiv papers show about wrong or fabricated references, and how to check every citation before submitting your thesis or paper.
Can you upload unpublished research to an AI tool? What happens to your files
Check permission, training settings and retention before uploading a thesis or manuscript. Dated ChatGPT, Perplexity and SciSpace policy evidence.
Can I upload my thesis?
Compare training settings, retention and education or enterprise rules for ten research tools. Sort the dated evidence; unknown facts stay visible.
Does Perplexity make up sources?
Two published tests on Perplexity citations, what they cover and what they don't, plus a quick way to check a Perplexity source before you cite it.
Perplexity alternatives for research
Alternatives to Perplexity grouped by job: cited web answers, private search, open source, academic papers and developer APIs. Prices checked 16 October 2026.
AI that cites real sources
Which AI tools cite from a real paper index and which cite the web or nothing at all, plus a two-minute check for any citation.
Elicit alternatives
Alternatives to Elicit grouped by job: finding papers, extracting from papers, and open-source screening. Prices checked on vendor pages in October 2026.
Gemini Notebook (NotebookLM) vs ChatGPT Projects vs Claude Projects
Source grounding, upload limits and training rules for Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM), ChatGPT Projects and Claude Projects, from the vendors' help pages.
AI Rules for Theses at Swiss, Austrian and German Universities
Can you use AI in your thesis, and how do you declare it? Rules from ETH, ZHAW, HSG, Uni Wien, UZH and nine more, from official sources, checked 16 Oct 2026.
ETH Zurich AI Rules for Your Thesis
Can you use AI in your ETH thesis? Agree it with your supervisor and tick the right box on the declaration of originality. Official sources, checked 16 Oct 2026.
ZHAW AI Declaration Rules for Your Thesis
At ZHAW, AI use must be declared, by default with a list of AI systems and purposes, unless your lecturer sets other rules. Checked 16 Oct 2026.
HSG St. Gallen: AI Rules for Theses
At HSG, AI counts as an aid: list it in the aids directory and confirm responsible use in the declaration of authorship. Official text, checked 16 Oct 2026.
University of Vienna: AI Rules for Theses
At the University of Vienna, the BSP/W1 declaration requires you to make AI-generated texts and images transparent. Clarify the rest with your supervisor.
University of Zurich: AI Rules for Theses
At UZH, the rules on AI in your thesis depend on your faculty or programme. Where AI is used, it must be fully labelled. Official sources, checked 16 Oct 2026.
University of Geneva: AI Rules by Faculty
At the University of Geneva, faculties decide on AI use and you are personally responsible for yours. What GSEM, Sciences and FTI require, checked 16 Oct 2026.
TUM: AI Rules for Your Thesis
At TUM, AI rules for theses depend on your school and chair. At CIT, a framework agreement sets what is allowed, labelled or forbidden. Checked 16 Oct 2026.
LMU Munich: AI Rules for Your Thesis
At LMU Munich, AI rules for theses depend on your faculty. Physics: clarify with your supervisor and state which software you used, when and how much.
University of Basel: AI Rules for Theses
The University of Basel has no general AI ban; lecturers decide. AI may only play a supporting role in assessed work. Leitfaden v3.0, checked 16 Oct 2026.
University of Bern: AI Rules for Theses
At the University of Bern, lecturers define which aids are allowed and may require an adapted declaration naming the AI tool. Checked 16 Oct 2026.
EPFL: AI Disclosure Rules for Students
EPFL rules (Lex 1.3.3, Art. 4) require AI use to be disclosed in a statement. Your course or instructor sets the wording. Checked 16 Oct 2026.
UNIL Lausanne: AI Rules for Students
At UNIL, assume an AI tool is not allowed unless your teacher explicitly allows it, then declare tool and use. HEC MSc has its own form. Checked 16 Oct 2026.
BFH: AI Rules for Your Thesis
At BFH, AI rules depend on your department and degree programme; lecturers decide how AI content is labelled. BFH AI policy, checked 16 Oct 2026.
Fribourg Law Faculty: AI Rules for Papers
Fribourg's Faculty of Law requires a register of AI use annexed to written work started from 16.02.2026. Directive n° 3, ch. 59a–59f, checked 16 Oct 2026.
write your AI-use declaration
Students reaching for student researcher AI who must turn a broad assignment into a page they can defend when someone asks where a number came from.
Student researcher
PathStart here
Student researcher
Build the source trail with Perplexity, Semantic Scholar, Zotero, and NotebookLM before you write a sentence, so every claim has a source you opened and dated.
StackStudent research core
Four tools with one rule between them: nothing enters the bibliography until you have opened it and written down the date.
PlaybookTrusted-source brief
One page: the question, 6–8 dated source rows, three claims, and the caveat under each.
Students and researchers hunting literature review AI tools who already have papers downloaded and a supervisor waiting for structure, not another chatbot essay.
Literature reviewer
Path
Literature reviewer
Use the named tools to group papers by what they claim and measure, so disagreements surface before you write the first section.
StackLiterature review stack
Six tools that keep the reading in your hands and the bookkeeping out of them.
PlaybookLiterature-review map
A one-page map: 4–6 clusters, two anchor papers each, three disagreements with the design choice behind them, and the gaps your next search has to close.
Students and researchers looking up AI for peer review who must write a referee report on a manuscript they are not allowed to share.
Peer reviewer
Path
Peer reviewer
Settle the venue AI rule first, then build the report from one human read and the public citation record — not from a pasted PDF.
StackPeer review stack
The public record does the citation work. The manuscript stays on your machine. The judgement stays yours.
PlaybookManuscript review
A structured report: a summary the authors recognise, major issues with fixes, minor issues, citation flags with public URLs, and a recommendation that follows from the majors.
Worked examples
2 showcasesQuestions these guides answer
Every answer below is assembled from the dated fields on this page. Nothing is written separately for search.
How is a live guide structured?
Each path has a matching tool stack and a playbook with the run order, outputs, and failure checks.
Who are the live guides for?
Three academic workflows:
- Students reaching for student researcher AI who must turn a broad assignment into a page they can defend when someone asks where a number came from.
- Students and researchers hunting literature review AI tools who already have papers downloaded and a supervisor waiting for structure, not another chatbot essay.
- Students and researchers looking up AI for peer review who must write a referee report on a manuscript they are not allowed to share.
The Pack · Editorial newsletter
Know when the rules move.
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