The Research Process: Tools and Tips for Success

Here are some tips for using AI in ways that can help save time with assignments and keep you on the right side of ethics:

• Whenever you write something, it should be in YOUR VOICE. Plagiarism is when you use the voice and words of another person and the principles still apply when it comes to robots/ AI; it's not ethical to submit any other voice in writing other than your own.

• Faculty are aware of AI tools and it is often  really  easy to detect when they have been used to write something, so write in YOUR VOICE.

• You can copy and paste your writing into an AI tool to get some pointers for improving it, but you do run the risk for the results to be too "robotic" and raise red flags for Faculty grading your work. An even better way to work on improving your writing would be to make an appointment with one of the skilled humans in the  Writing Center .

• One of the BEST USES of AI in writing assignments is to use it for brainstorming. Have an idea about a topic, but not really sure about all of the issues or counter-issues surrounding it? AI can really help out with getting the ball rolling there; get the ideas and then investigate those issues in reputable resources like Credo or the NY Times.

• Remember all those years when you were told not to use Wikipedia because you could not trust where the information came from? It's similar with AI; the pool being used to source information from is widely unknown and absolutely not up to date (not past 2021). If you asked for information about Gaza or the Ukraine, there would be no mention about the current military conflicts. AI will always give you a response, but it's not always going to be correct answer. Even if you ask it to provide citations, more often than not it will give you references that it simply made up. Trust your gut. If it doesn't feel like using an AI tool for a purpose is ethical, then it probably isn't.

• Remember that research and writing are some of the greatest tools we use to learn. Don't let AI shortcuts rob you of the education you are paying for.