Writing with GenAI for Graduate Researchers: FAQs

AI tools present opportunities for streamlining activities, providing input to improve the writing process, and even to support research related tasks such as identifying relevant literature. To properly evaluate the risks and benefits of these opportunities, digital literacy, information literacy and AI literacy skills are critical and will play an increasing role in both research and the workforce.

Therefore, students are encouraged to use and experiment with AI tools while remaining aware of the risks. As these tools are incapable of performing original research, and may "hallucinate" information, overreliance on such tools may produce derivative, substandard, or even inaccurate research. In addition, overuse of these tools may inhibit the development of the critical judgement and communication skills needed to be an independent researcher.

The University has provided the following guidance for Graduate Researchers around digital assistance tools:

• Statement on responsible use of digital assistance tools in research
• Graduate researchers and digital assistance tools statement.

For more information on the University’s policy on GenAI, see the Home page of the Generative Artificial Intelligence Taskforce website.

Remember, discuss any use of AI tools with your supervisor.

If you would like to develop your writing and editing skills further, you can make an individual appointment with Academic Skills or refer to our online resources.

Material generated by AI will never be the same as text and ideas that have been generated by you. The University has issued a statement concerning the use of text and material generated by AI tools that is then submitted as your own work. The statement clearly stipulates that:

For more information on citing and acknowledging AI tools, see Graduate researchers and digital assistance tools.

Writing challenges and demonstrates your ability to think, communicate and plan. As you shift between ideas, language and the requirements of a thesis, you must make decisions from the level of individual words, up to the level of argument and structure of the entire text. Learning how to evaluate and execute these decisions successfully requires you to develop the communication and critical thinking skills that are necessary not only to receive a PhD but also to create a strong foundation for your future career.

To develop your writing skills, see Academic Skills' online modules for Graduate Researchers. We also offer workshops and individual appointments tailored for GRs to support your writing at every stage.

Any text generated by AI tools and included in the thesis must be presented in quotations, and cited appropriately on the page (for example through footnote or in text reference). See the Library’s Re:Cite for how to cite AI generated text per referencing style.

AI generated images must be acknowledged clearly (either in the diagram legend, or in a footnote). See the Library’s Re:Cite for how to cite AI generated images per referencing style.

Using AI or other image manipulation tools to alter original research images or generate images which could be misinterpreted as being original research images is a violation of academic integrity.

The authors are responsible for the accuracy or all images and for ensuring they have the rights to use them.

If you are planning on using GenAI to support the production of research outputs, you must maintain records of generative AI use, including programs or applications used, dates and prompts. These records may be requested by supervisors, other University staff, examiners, or other relevant parties in the regular process of evaluating your work.

In addition, if you use AI for any purpose within the thesis, you need to declare whether any digital assistance tools, such as generative AI tools, were used in preparing the thesis, and the extent of their use. The declaration is expected to be specific, detailed, and exhaustive. Examples of such disclosures include

• Generative AI was used in this thesis to improve clarity and expression. Logs of use including dates and input text are available on request.
• Generative AI was used to create diagrams xx, yy. The prompts, dates, and applications used for the generation of these diagrams are noted in the footnote of each image.
• AI tools were used to generate the data visualisation shown in diagram xx. I have confirmed that the visualisations are an accurate reflection of the data. The tool used was yy on date zz.

See section 3.11.e in the University's Preparation of Graduate Research Theses Process | University of Melbourne

If you use AI for editing, follow the guidelines in the FAQ below and be prepared to discuss this with your supervisor.

While it is okay to use AI tools to a limited extent to get advice on editing and correction, any text that is included in the thesis must be done so with explicit acknowledgement in each instance. For acknowledging AI output, you should do so in line with the advice contained here: Graduate researchers and digital assistance tools.

You are also responsible for verifying any AI outputs used in your writing. AI tools can be unreliable, but also undermine your skill development and you can lose control of your Intellectual Property (IP).

You may want to develop your own editing skills. To do so see Academic Skills' online modules for Graduate Researchers. We also offer workshops and individual appointments where you can receive tailored advice on editing your thesis and other work.

AI tools such as Grammarly can be useful in helping to correct spelling mistakes and to alert you to ways in which your expression might be improved. These types of tools are also routinely becoming embedded in the most commonly used word processing software. While the use of these tools is acceptable, asking AI tools to rephrase or rewrite your own writing can be considered inappropriate if it extends into rewriting the substance of your content and not merely correcting mistakes or providing suggestions to improve expression or clarity. For more information on how and when to acknowledge your use of these tools, see Graduate researchers and digital assistance tools.

While you can use AI tools to correct your spelling or to highlight grammatical errors, the Large Language Models (LLMs) that AI tools rely on are trained on text and data harvested from the web. While they may be useful for basic suggestions, their reliance on web-sourced data can lead to inaccuracies and misunderstandings in complex writing contexts.

Writing consists of various components – words, clauses, phrases, sentences and paragraphs – each building on the previous until a whole text is produced. Each of these forms a hierarchy that builds meaningful and effective writing (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: From words to meaning: building writing

Words are selected for their meaning, connotation, tone and precision. Careful word choice is important for clarity and impact. If AI tools are used to generate synonyms like a thesaurus, it is crucial to cross-check the meaning of the synonym to ensure that the nuance, formality and tone are what you intended.

Clauses and phrases are the building blocks of sentences. Some can stand alone as a complete thought (e.g. ‘The author agreed’) and others are dependent on other information to make sense (e.g. ‘with the findings’). They are crucial in building complex sentences and creating relationships between ideas. Relying on AI tools to edit clauses and phrases can result in oversimplifications or use of idiomatic expressions that are inappropriate to your subject area, genre or desired level of formality and tone.

Sentences and paragraphs carry larger units of meaning. Sentences are complete thoughts formed by clauses, and paragraphs combine related sentences into units that develop an idea or argument in a logical sequence. If employed at this level, AI tools may struggle to achieve coherence and fail to capture the full context and subtleties of your intended message, missing vital links and synthesis of ideas.

As a Graduate Researcher, there are high expectations about the quality of writing. Asking an AI tool to identify your grammar errors without suggesting changes is very different to asking it to make the changes for you. AI tools cannot replicate the complexity and richness of your writing even though it may appear that they can.

As indicated in the University’s Statement on responsible use of digital assistance tools in research, “editing assistance should be limited to elements such as language and expression (clarity, grammar, spelling), completeness, and consistency.” See also the Australian Standards for Editing Practice “Editing of theses.”

Consider how you can build your own English language skills without relying on translation or editing tools. See our resources for English language development.

On first reading, there tends to be a smoothness in the writing style produced by AI tools. This appearance of cohesiveness is achieved by the extensive use of linking devices, repetitive structures and summarising statements included in AI outputs. Large language models also tend to select words based on their frequency, which can make the expression seem natural, familiar, and reasonable in tone. A further contributor is the overstatement of confidence in AI writing, creating an assuredness of tone that can misrepresent or displace the complexity and nuance of your original knowledge claims.

Careful, critical reading of AI outputs may sensitise you to these problems. An AI tool has not read the literature you have, has not collected and analysed the data that informs your work, and is not bound by a commitment to research ethics and integrity that you are. Having confidence in your research and writing process and asserting your voice as an author are key qualities to develop as a researcher.

Consider how you can build your own research, writing and thinking skills as a graduate researcher. See Academic Skills' resources to find out more.

As noted in the Statement on responsible use of digital assistance tools in research, “such tools should not be relied on for understanding of the literature, and that the collections of papers they identify are usually neither comprehensive nor the most pertinent and may refer to material that does not in fact exist.”

It is critical for your development as a researcher to engage with the material yourself. AI tools frequently miss nuance, flatten and misrepresent arguments. In addition, AI tools do not know which literature is either relevant or significant. Citing works you have not read directly is a poor academic practice that potentially jeopardises your research integrity.

If you are using AI tools to discover articles or other texts or to narrow down potentially useful publications from initial queries, you might want to consider using a research diary to record the questions and prompts you have used, the results you got, and when you made the inquiry.

If you use any summarised text within your own writing, it must be cited and acknowledged as such or it may constitute a breach of the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (2018). For more see the Research Gateway: How does the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) impact authorship (requires single sign-on).

If you upload published work or other research outputs to an AI tool for summarising, those works and outputs may be subsequently used by the AI tool without acknowledgement, violating copyright protections.

For support with research we recommend consulting your discipline librarians, using the Library Guides and exploring tools that aid searching recommend by the Library.

We do not recommend using GenAI tools to produce a reference list or to manage your citations and references.

GenAI is unlikely to generate an accurate reference list as it hallucinates (makes up) references. This hallucination can take several forms including references that are entirely made up, are a mash up of several published sources, or contain minor errors about a source such as different page numbers or publisher information. It's also important to note that GenAI tools are generally unable to distinguish the most relevant or significant literature in your field and particularly in relation to your specific topic and research questions.

The inconsistent application of a referencing style that a GenAI tool may produce will also need your close attention to meet the expectations of your supervisors, examiners, peer reviewers, editors and future readers. You can use Reference Management Software (e.g. EndNote, Zotero):  find guides on how to use them on Re:cite. You can also use online reference generators like Zbib or generate a citation directly from a database. Always double check the accuracy of the reference against the referencing style guide on Re:cite.

Even if GenAI produces an accurately formatted citation or reference to a relevant source, it may be in relation to an inaccurate knowledge claim about the source, such as a superficial, specious or spurious interpretation of a source’s data, methodology, findings, or contribution.

Together, these concerns support that there is an ongoing and essential role for your critical thinking skills and evaluative judgment as a scholar to search the literature comprehensively, read and interpret sources critically, and make knowledge claims about these sources that are accurate and carefully considered. Outsourcing the decision about which sources you include or exclude in your research to a GenAI tool is problematic for your skill development as a researcher and the quality and integrity of your research.

No, there are no specific guidelines based on the use of AI tools for students with neurodivergence or disability. We recommend speaking with staff in Student Equity and Disability Services.

The University’s statement on Graduate researchers and digital assistance tools says that you cannot use any Digital Assistance Tool (including GenAI) for “producing an English translation of text that has been drafted in another language.”