-
Find & Research
-
-
Search Tools
-
Research Resources
-
-
Get Help
-
-
Use the Library
-
- About
Your instructor will have specific guidelines around when and if you can use AI in their class or for a particular assignment (and if you're ever unsure, just ask). The goal of assignments is often not just to produce work, but to work through the research process, think critically, and reflect, and AI can't replicate that for you. There are many cases when AI can assist with research, though, such as generating topic ideas, suggesting keywords, and helping you brainstorm (again, just check with your instructor on whether that's something they allow as every instructor has different goals)!
If you are allowed or encouraged to use AI in your research, you will likely be required to disclose when you've used it, how you've used it, and what tool you used. Just like you would cite the work of a person or organization if you used it in a paper, you should also cite when you use a tool like ChatGPT or another AI platform in your research.
Consider that AI can get things wrong -- it can "hallucinate," or make up information -- and often cannot cite where it gets the information it shares, so proceed with caution and be sure to verify any claims through other trusted sources!
Why do we cite (other than 'because we're told we have to'!)?
You can learn more about why and how we cite in the tutorial below from the University of Arizona Libraries.
You can think of citations in general like the language of scholarship. Scholars communicate information through work like scholarly articles, and they are building on work other scholars have done on that topic by citing them.
If citations are a language, citation styles are a dialect. Citation style guides like MLA, APA, and Chicago are the conventions and norms for how scholars in a particular field, or publishing in a particular venue, should communicate to be understood by one another. Some of those norms are informed by who makes the style guide: for instance, in MLA style (published by the Modern Language Association), the author and title of the source come first, because in that field, books are a common means of publishing and their titles are valuable information to have upfront. In APA style (published by the American Psychological Association), the year of publication comes second instead of the title. That's because psychologists often publish in journals and the information they publish can become out of date much more quickly than in the field of literature or language, so the date is more valuable for them to see upfront.
You'll want to cite according to the style your instructor tells you to use (or if you have freedom over which style to choose, pick the one you'll likely use in your major, or one you have used before).
Not sure how to cite? Check out the Citation & Bibliography Help guide from Randall Library for links to style guides and other resources. For more in-depth support, visit the Writing & Citing Support tab for suggestions from the University Learning Center's Writing Lab.
