Using Generative AI Tools in Academic Work: Using AI tools to support your work

Before using generative AI tools to support your academic work, it is critically important that you read and understand the University’s guidance.

Key points of guidance:

• If you use AI tools to generate an assignment (or part of an assignment) and submit this as your own work, it will be regarded as academic misconduct
• It is important that you understand the limitations with current AI tools:
  • Understand the limitations of any AI system you are using; 
  • Check the factual accuracy of the content it generates;
  • Do not rely on AI-generated content as a key source 
• Do not rely on AI tools for your academic work:
  • Over-reliance on AI tools simply to generate written content, software code or analysis reduces your opportunity to practice and develop key skills (e.g. writing, critical thinking, evaluation, analysis or coding skills). These are all important skills that are valued and required to succeed in and beyond your time at University.
• If you use AI-generated content, remember to be open and transparent about how you have used it in your academic work:
  • Be aware that most AI-generated content is not recoverable and cannot be retrieved or linked to in the same way as other information sources
  • When it comes to referencing, current advice is to treat AI-generated content as 'personal communication', which means you should provide an in-text only citation within the main body of your written work - follow guidance on in-text citation for your chosen referencing style (see: Cite Them Right). 

• Always check with your tutor or supervisor if you are allowed to use AI for a specific activity or assessment.
• Remember, whilst AI tools may increase your productivity and save time, they may not be accurate, up to date, or without bias.
• Only use AI tools to support your own workflow, judgement, and creativity. Do not use them to create content that you present as your own.
• Verify the accuracy of AI outputs by checking them against authoritative information sources. Always exercise your own critical thinking in interpreting and assessing AI-generated content. 

One of the biggest questions you may have around using AI is what is acceptable and what is not when using it for academic work. The guidance on this topic is informed by the University's guidance on the use of generative AI. You must consult this before using AI to help with any aspect of your academic work.

• QMU Generative AI Rules and Regulations for Students

We always recommend you check with your Course Organiser or supervisor as well, as different members of staff will have different views on the use of generative AI for academic work.

You must acknowledge any use of generative AI and comply with copyright laws​. This includes:​

• Help with planning or structure​

  • If you use AI to help you plan or structure your work, e.g. you ask Copilot to provide an outline for a presentation on a topic, then you must acknowledge this at the start of your assignment.

• Creation of content​

  • If you use AI to create content, whether images or text, you must reference this like you would if you used content created by a person.

• Help with creating references​

  • We are aware that Copilot and other generative AI tools do not accurately create references in the styles required by QMU (Harvard Cite Them Right 12th edition and APA 7th) and do not recommend you use these tools to generate references.

In all circumstances it is an academic offence to use AI to generate work (e.g. written text for an assignment) that you claim is your own.

If you are unsure whether or not a particular use of generative AI in your academic work is acceptable or not you could consider the following questions:

• Are you using the tool as a study aid to help you learn or are you using it to complete a task that is central to your academic work?
  • For example, you might use generative AI to suggest a timeline of all the steps you need to take to complete your assignment by a deadline. This would be using it as a study aid and, as long as you check with your tutor, is probably an acceptable use. Alternatively, you might ask it to suggest the content you should write about in an assignment. This is likely to be an unacceptable use (unless you are told otherwise by your tutor) as you are using AI to cut corners rather than thinking deeply and critically about what you need to include in your assignment. 
     
• Are you using generative AI to create content that you will use in your work?
  • Unless you've been told you can do this by your tutor this is not an acceptable use.
     
• How much does it matter that the content produced by the AI tool is correct?
  • As we discuss below, AI tools are not programmed to give correct answers so much as plausible sounding ones. This means the information they provide could be incorrect. This also applies to translation. 

If you do decide to use generative AI in your academic work you need to reference it. How you reference AI output will differ depending on the referencing style you are using. Use Cite Them Right Online to check how to reference AI in your chosen style:

• Cite Them Right: Generative AI (Harvard)
• Cite Them Right: Generative AI (APA 7th)