Translation tools and assessed work
Universities set their own rules on translation tools for assessed work. Five questions to answer before using one on a dissertation or thesis, and how to keep a record of what you did.
Students ask a simple question: may I use a translation tool on my dissertation? The honest answer is that it depends on where you study, and on what you use it for. No tool can answer it for you, Tolayda included.
Why the answer differs
Each university writes its own academic integrity policy. Many now say something about AI tools, and translation is often treated separately from writing new content. A department or a programme can add its own rules on top. Two students at the same university can face different answers if their programmes differ.
Five questions to answer first
What does the policy say? Read your university's academic integrity policy and your programme handbook. Search them for translation, machine translation, and AI.
Is translation assessed? On a language or translation degree, the translation may be the work being marked. Using a tool there is a different matter from translating a chemistry dissertation you wrote yourself.
Does the work have to be declared? Some policies ask you to say which tools you used and how. If yours does, keep a record as you go, not after.
What does your supervisor expect? A supervisor can tell you what is normal in your department. Ask before you start, and put the answer in an email so you both have it.
Whose words are they? Translating your own finished writing is not the same as having a tool produce the argument. The ideas, the structure, and the claims should still be yours, and you are responsible for every sentence in the English.
Keep a record
If you do use a tool, keep the original, the translation, and the changes you made. A record answers questions before they are asked: what was translated, what you rewrote, and when.
What Tolayda keeps
Tolayda keeps the original beside the English, block by block, so it is always clear what each paragraph came from. Edit history records every change to a heading, paragraph, caption, or table cell: who made it, when, and the text before and after. A supervisor can receive a locked, read-only copy of exactly what you left in place.
None of that replaces the policy. It makes it easier to show what you did. Assessment stays with the assessor.
How to approach the translation itself is in Translating a dissertation into English.