Declaration of Authorship

Each paper you write without the supervision of a professor (most of you written work at Leuphana, except for the thesis) or each written part of a group academic paper must be accompanied by a declaration of authorship. This forms the last page of the entire document. This page is not numbered and does not appear in the table of contents.

The contents of the declaration of authorship are defined by the RPO and can therefore be customized. We at the Schreibzentrum/Writing Center worked with the Teaching Service to develop the following template. You may use this template and adapt it to your writing project. It also contains a reference to the possible use of AI-based applications.

Declaration of Authorship

I hereby certify that I have written this thesis (in the case of a group thesis, your part of the thesis should be marked accordingly) independently and have not used any sources or aids other than those specified. I have correctly cited all passages that I have quoted or paraphrased. I have not yet submitted the thesis in the same or a similar form for any other course or examination authority.

When writing your paper, you may have used an AI-based tool. You should always declare which AI tools you have used, however, there are currently no legally binding rules regarding how you should document your AI-usage. We recommend being open and honest about AI use in your papers.
Examiners can define the conditions under which AI can be used, as described in the "Conditions and recommendations for the use of AI-based applications in teaching and examinations." If you use AI tools, please discuss with your examiners in what form you should provide evidence of this.

A brief digression regarding Authorship

Independent work in a university context means acting ethically and correctly in the sense of good academic practice and taking responsibility for one's own learning process, personal skills development and actions. This applies equally to students and lecturers.

Teachers are required to define 'student autonomy' in relation to their teaching and learning objectives by clarify what form of autonomy they expect from students and what role and attitude they would like students to adopt over the course of the semester. Expectations can vary greatly depending on the context. 

• Autonomy can mean that teachers hand over full responsibility for developing and working on a question to the students. This option is based on the consideration that students have acquired the knowledge necessary to take the examination during the course of their studies. Support from the lecturer is not required during the period in which the examination is taken.
• Teachers may adopt the attitude of wanting to closely accompany the working and learning process of students and provide feedback on intermediate steps. This attitude aims to actively support the students' learning process and acquisition of skills in the examination process itself.

A teacher's approach may range between full support to full student independence, depending on that teacher's learning goals. Teachers have a responsibility to communicate to their students what expectations they associate with "independence" in order to create a trusting and constructive working atmosphere.