Academic integrity

Acknowledging, citing and referencing use of AI tools and technologies

Before you use GenAI for assessment-related work you must check to ensure that your subject coordinator has authorised GenAI use and the ways it can be used.

Remember two important principles:

1. Asking about GenAI use is acceptable: it's not an admission of guilt
2. Clarity about learning expectations and the assessment process is the goal.

If you have used an AI tool or technology such as ChatGPT to generate an output which you either paraphrase or direct quote in your writing, you must cite and reference this output as a source in your reference list. Guidelines for how to cite and reference AI outputs are available for each of the referencing styles commonly used at the University of Melbourne. Check with your subject coordinator about the preferred referencing style in your subject. For examples on how to format your citations and references using a selected style, see Re:cite.

If you have used an AI tool or technology in any other way (see below) in the process of completing your assessment, an acknowledgement of how you have used AI tools or technologies is required. You can create this acknowledgement by adding a declaration at the end of your assessment.

GenAI uses requiring a declaration

Through the process of completing your assessment, there’s a range of GenAI uses to declare. Some examples include:

• Brainstorming: you used an AI tool to discuss a topic and develop ideas for your assignment
• Planning: you created outlines to structure the assignment after chatting with an AI Assistant
• Drafting text: you had the LLM create text that appears in the assignment (with appropriate citation)
• Content generation: you had an AI tool generate tables, figures, coding, images or videos for your assignment.
• Proofreading: you prompted the tool to advise you on grammar and simple formatting errors
• Editing: you prompted the tool to advise you on tone, clarity, and the flow of your ideas between sentences, paragraphs, and sections.

What to include in a declaration

A declaration is a personal statement that you write to describe for readers how you have used AI tools and technologies to prepare an assessment. It should include:

• The specific AI tools or technologies you used
• How those outputs were used in your work
• Whether detailed records of prompts and outputs  you used in the AI tools or technologies are available on request (as a pasted log of chat conversations in a text document, for example).

Why you should include a declaration

As a student, your declaration is an important statement confirming that the work you are submitting for assessment is your own and has academic integrity. Attempting to present AI-generated output as your original work without permission or proper acknowledgement is considered academic misconduct and may result in penalties.

If your subject coordinator has advised that AI tools and technologies can be used in your subject and to complete an assessment, a declaration provides important information describing how you have used these tools and technologies in your work. For your readers, declarations add clarity and transparency about the extent to which you have used AI tools and technologies in your research, writing and learning processes.

A subject coordinator may request a general statement about whether you did or did not use GenAI in an assessment. If you did not use GenAI tools, then you can still declare that using the example language provided below.

Where to place your declaration

A declaration to acknowledge how you have used AI tools and technologies in your work can be added at the end of your assessment. A declaration generally follows the reference list and does not need to be started on a new page.