ChatGPT, AI, and Information Literacy

Before you use ChatGPT or other AI for your coursework, consider the ways that it might lead to academic misconduct accusations or poor outcomes.

When considering using an AI tool for your research project:

• Talk to your instructor as to whether or not AI usage is alllowed for your creative, written or research assignments
• Check your course syllabus for an AI Classroom Policy
• Familiarize yourself with the colleges policy on plagiarism
• Remember that if your research comes from ChatGPT or another AI tool, you will have to cite it as such
• Test the AI tool you are using by creating prompts on topics you know a lot about already
• Ask yourself if it is worth the risking your academic career and learning outcomes

Uses of AI that either violate the honor code or negatively impact academic success:

• Asking AI to write all or part of an essay that you turn in as your own
• Not fact-checking or critically analysizing an AI summary of an article or topic
• Using ChatGPT to create an annotated bibliography based soley on a topic or prompt*

Uses of AI in that probably won't violate policy or harm grades:

• Asking for comments and feedback on assignments and papers 
• Creating organizational outlines for presentations and papers
• Getting an explanation of course topics one finds confusing
• Using AI for search

The free versions of ChatGPT and Claude are not designed to provide access to source material  

If you asked for information sources, you might be given articles by an author who often writes about your topic, or even  a journal that publishes on your topic, but the title, pages numbers, and dates might be completely made up. This is because ChatGPT 3.5 (and others like Claude) are not connected to the internet and are not designed to locate and identifying actual sources.

However, you can try to see if any are valid by searching OneSearch on our home page. 
 

Check out the "AI Search and Research" section of this guide