The records.
A checklist for preserving and organizing your own records when your writing has been questioned. It does not determine which policy governs a case, calculate deadlines, or recommend arguments; it covers what to keep and how to arrange it so that anyone reviewing it — including an adviser of your choosing — can follow it. If an outcome could affect enrollment, immigration status, a degree, professional licensing, or accommodations, consider obtaining qualified advice before responding.
- Save what was received
Keep the notice and anything the institution provided, exactly as received: emails, attachments, the score or report if one was shared, and the date each item arrived.
- Preserve drafts and version history, without modifying originals
Google Docs: File → Version history; capture the timeline and a scroll-through of named versions showing dates and word counts. Word and OneDrive: Version History from the title bar, plus AutoRecover files. Keep outlines, notes, photographs of handwritten material, and contemporaneous messages about the assignment. Duplicate all of it to two locations the same day, and edit only copies; platform version histories are subject to retention limits and can be altered by subsequent edits.
- Locate potentially relevant official sources
The academic-integrity policy, the student handbook, and the course syllabus are the usual places institutions state how such matters proceed. These are potentially relevant sources, not a determination of which one governs; confirm applicability with the institution. Any dates they contain are quoted from the source, not a deadline calculation.
- Arrange the records chronologically
One chronological PDF behind an exhibit list: assignment date, outline, each draft stage with date and word count, final submission. A useful standard: a reader unfamiliar with the situation can follow the document's development in two minutes. Early drafts belong in the record precisely because they are rough; development over time is what the records show.
- Note the questions you want answered
Keep a running list, in your own words, of what you want to understand about the process and the concern raised. Bring it to any meeting; a written list survives a stressful conversation better than memory does.
- Seek qualified assistance when consequences may be substantial
If an outcome could affect enrollment, immigration status, a degree, professional licensing, or accommodations, consider obtaining qualified advice before responding. An organized set of records makes that assistance faster and cheaper wherever you find it.
The transmittal note
A factual cover note for a records packet. It asserts only what its author chooses to state and what the packet attaches; edit everything.
The evidence packet — $59, planned
The checklist above remains published and free. The packet is an organizer for your own files, and nothing else: an exhibit index, a chronology, a factual cover sheet, evidence captions, a source list, a redaction checklist, and the editable transmittal note above. All document processing and packet assembly happen on your device; Gathered Work never receives your documents or their contents. Nothing is selected or pre-filled based on your institution or circumstances; it does not identify which policy governs your case, calculate deadlines, or recommend arguments — and it contains no appeal or hearing materials. One price, no tiers. If an outcome could affect enrollment, immigration status, a degree, professional licensing, or accommodations, consider obtaining qualified advice before responding; the free checklist is written to make that advice cheaper to act on.
Not yet available. A founding preorder at $39 — with a stated delivery date, cancellation and refund terms, and an automatic full refund if the packet does not ship by that date — opens alongside the pilot institution pages. There is no signup here yet, and nothing on this page collects or transmits anything.