When used properly, generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools can be great resources for you to use throughout the research and writing process. This guide provides direction on appropriately using generative AI within academic research and writing, including potential issues, copyright, publisher policies, citing AI, and AI tools for research and writing.

Before you use any AI tools or AI-generated content within your work, we recommend that students review the Institute for Teaching & Learning Excellence’s (ITLE) guide for Leveraging AI Tools Responsibly: Strategies for University Students.

To use AI effectively and ethically, it’s essential to be aware of potential issues. Note, this isn’t an exhaustive list, and issues and solutions may evolve over time.

• Human vs. Machine Authorship: AI tools can be great resources to shape your own original ideas and critical thinking. But never misrepresent AI-generated content as your own original creation. If you use AI, be transparent about it.

• Prompt engineering: The instructions you give to an AI tool (a “prompt”) will directly impact what it generates. You may need to try different versions of your input, or ask follow-up questions to shape the output.

• Privacy: Be wary about inputting confidential, sensitive, personal, or proprietary information into an AI tool. The data may not be secure and may also be used to further train the AI tool.

• Bias: Since AI is trained using human-produced and potentially biased content, it’s capable of generating incorrect, biased, and/or harmful information that's presented as fact.

• Inequality: Uneven access to AI tools—especially fee-based, higher quality AI tools—can create or exacerbate inequalities.

• Reliability & Transparency: AI tools are bound by the data they’re trained with and may not always provide reliable or correct information or citations.

All original content on the AI in Academic Research and Writing pages are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. All linked content maintains its respective license.