ChatGPT and Generative AI: Plagiarism and academic integrity

Create a classroom policy

Be clear with your students upfront about the extent to which they can (or cannot) use tools like ChatGPT in your class. Make sure your policy is spelled out in writing, and give students ample opportunity to ask questions at the beginning of the semester so that they fully understand. Clearly outline the consequences of not adhering to your classroom policies.

Example syllabus statement

Here is an example statement about ChatGPT to include in syllabi, from Mollick & Mollick (2023).

I expect you to use AI (e.g., ChatGPT and image generation tools) in this class. In fact, some assignments will require it. Learning to use AI is an emerging skill and I provide tutorials on how to use them. I am happy to meet and help you with these tools during office hours or after class.

Be aware of the limits of ChatGPT, such as the following:

• If you provide minimum-effort prompts, you will get low-quality results. You will need to refine your prompts in order to get good outcomes. This will take work.
• Don’t trust anything it says. If it gives you a number or fact, assume it is wrong unless you either know the answer or can check with another source. You will be responsible for any errors or omissions provided by the tool. It works best for topics you understand.
• AI is a tool, but one that you need to acknowledge using. Please include a paragraph at the end of any assignment that uses AI explaining what you used the AI for and what prompts you used to get the results. Failure to do so is in violation of academic honesty policies.
• Be thoughtful about when this tool is useful. Don’t use it if it isn’t appropriate for the case or circumstance.

Policies and standards from other organizations

• Congress bills about AI
• GovInfo: Portal to documents from the Government Publishing Office
• NIST: AI Standards
• Reports from the Congressional Research Service
• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
• Committee on Publication Ethics
• Department of Defense
• Google AI

Policies from other colleges and universities

• George Washington University
• University of Washington

The major citation styles are still working on their official guidelines for citing ChatGPT. However, students should understand that they must cite any information they get from AI tools, just as they would cite other sources. See below for helpful articles and tips for citing ChatGPT.

MLA

In March 2023, MLA provided guidance for citing responses from ChatGPT or output from another generative AI tool.

Format:

"Description of chat" prompt. Name of AI tool, version of AI tool, Company, Date of chat, URL.

Example:

"Examples of harm reduction initiatives" prompt. ChatGPT, 23 Mar. version, OpenAI, 4 Mar. 2023, chat.openai.com/chat.

In-text citation example:

("Examples of harm reduction")

MLA also recommends acknowledging when you used the tool in a note or your text as well as verifying any sources or citations the tool supplies.

Read more:

• MLA Style Center: How do I cite generative AI in MLA style?

APA

In April 2023, APA provided guidance for citing responses from ChatGPT or output from another generative AI tool.

Include a description of the prompt when quoting output from a generative AI tool in your paper. Use the author of the AI algorithm - or the company who produced the tool - in both the in-text citation and full reference. It may be worthwhile to include the chat's transcript as an appendix to your project.

Format:

Author. (Date). Name of tool (Version of tool) [Large language model]. URL

Example:

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. chat.openai.com/chat

In-text citation example:

(OpenAI, 2023)

Read more:

• APA Style: How to cite ChatGPT

Chicago

Chicago Manual of Style has released some citation guidelines on their FAQs page: You do need to credit ChatGPT and similar tools whenever you use the text that they generate in your own work. But for most types of writing, you can simply acknowledge the AI tool in your text (e.g., “The following recipe for pizza dough was generated by ChatGPT”).

Cite ChatGPT in a footnote similarly to how you would an unpublished interview. Personal communications are non-retrievable sources and therefore shouldn't be included in your Chicago bibliography.

Example footnote:

If the prompt you used doesn’t already appear in your text, add it to the footnote.

Concerned about students using ChatGPT or other AI tools to plagiarize or cheat? Several tools have been developed that can help you detect when submitted work was generated by an AI.

Red flags to watch out for

• Repetitive answers: ChatGPT can answer the same question in different ways, but often not very different; similar answers from several different students may mean they are using AI generated content.
• Fluffy verbosity: It has a tendency to use filler language.
• Overly biased toward neutrality: It provides factual (or at least factual sounding) answers but refrains from offering opinions or judgments.
• Incorrect information: It can write plausible sounding answers that are in fact counter to fact.
• Fake citations: For an example of false facts, it can fabricate citations, such as using a real author's name and a real journal title but make up a title of an article the author plausibly could have written but never actually wrote.