First, read the AI at Newcastle page in this guide - this includes information on using Grammarly.
Before deciding to use a generative AI tool, such as Copilot or ChatGPT, check with your course coordinator or lecturer to make sure that it’s permissible in your course and/or assessment, and that your intended use won’t breach the University’s academic integrity policy (read more about academic integrity).
Just because information is available on the internet does not mean that it’s free from copyright, or that it has been shared with the owner’s consent. It’s almost impossible to know where information produced by a generative AI tool came from, and it could contain inherent biases, which may then be incorporated into the tool's response to your prompts (see Issues and Considerations for more).
For these reasons, it’s important to check the outputs from generative AI to ensure you aren’t breaching academic integrity, consent, or copyright – and to ensure that your eventual output is not flawed by bias or inaccuracy.
If you have permission from your course coordinator or lecturer to go ahead with using AI, here are some tips to get better results:
ChatGPT can’t replicate your learning or style of writing because they are yours, but it can provide you with some ideas. You can expand on those ideas by researching, exploring other resources (try using Library Search to find some!) and extrapolating from lectures and tutorials.
Does it agree with what you’ve already learned about your subject? How does it compare with other subject-specific resources you have read - is it accurate? Does it contain any kind of bias, or unexpected results? For more help with evaluating content, try the Library’s Resource Evaluation Tool.
If not, try adding more parameters to your prompt. For example:
You can ask for responses in the form of bulleted lists, dot points, tables, and so on, instead of straight text. If you’re feeling adventurous you can even ask for the response to be formatted in HTML or CSS.
OpenAI have provided 'Six strategies for getting better results' on their Prompt engineering page.
The Masterpreneur's guide for beginners provides some useful tips, as does the CREATE framework by Tom Barrett.
The CREATE framework is also applied in this LinkedIn Learning course (1hr 15 mins): How to Research and Write Using Generative AI Tools
Note: If you need scholarly, authoritative resources, use Library Search or a library database, and restrict your results to articles from peer-reviewed journals.
Microsoft Copilot access for staff and students
The University provides free access for staff and students to the premium version of Copilot; sign in using your University Microsoft account details. Copilot can also be accessed via the icon in the Edge browser (top right).
Copilot draws from GPT-4 and is connected to the internet so its responses have more chance of using up-to-date sources. Copilot also provides links to where it obtained information, which can aid in checking for authority and accuracy (this is important to do!). Image generation is also possible via Copilot's integration of DALL-E 3.
The enterprise tool provides protection for your data and does not use your prompts to train the model, nor does it save any of the prompts or responses.
It's important to check for the 'Protected' icon top-right of window to ensure that you're logged in through the University's access:
If you hover your mouse over this icon it should read: "Protected Your personal and company data are protected".
To learn more, see the DTS knowledgebase article Microsoft Copilot: getting started
Watch a free short (35 minute) LinkedIn Learning course: Streamlining Your Work with Copilot
Other AI tools
The University of Newcastle does not endorse any of the following tools. For an approved AI tool, see the enterprise version of Copilot above.
Generative AI is an evolving space. Keep up to date with new tools via There's an AI for That and the Generative AI Product Tracker.
Here is a very short list of some generative AI tools. These may not offer data security/privacy like the University's access to Copilot:
Some ways that you could use ChatGPT and other generative AI tools ethically (within the parameters allowed for students):
Screenshot from Generative artificial intelligence technologies and teaching and learning by Monash University, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Screenshot taken from Copilot, response generated 25 March 2024 [response shown is incomplete for space reasons]
Acknowledging your use of generative AI
It's important to be transparent when using generative AI tools. This includes having an acknowledgement or declaration of which tool you've used and how. Kester Brewin's article from The Guardian provides some useful guidelines:
Was anything generated using AI (e.g., essay text, images, etc.)?
Was anything suggested using AI (e.g., creating an outline, discussion points, etc.)?
Was anything improved using AI (e.g., clarity, structure, tone, format/layout, etc.)?
Was anything corrected using AI (e.g., spelling, grammar, etc.)? And if so, did you check/evaluate/edit these suggestions?
These considerations can be worked into an acknowledgement of your use of AI, using the sample template below:
Acknowledgement I acknowledge my use of [insert tool name + (access link)] to [state how you've used the tool]. The prompt I used was: [include prompt]. I then [specific mention of any additional use, edits, or changes you've made]. |
Examples:
* Note that you may be required to include draft material or extended / lists of prompts as part of your assessment submission, e.g., in an appendix or as an additional file.
Referencing information taking from generative AI outputs
You can find information on how to cite outputs from generative AI tools in the library’s Referencing Guides. Note that most AI tools will not have shareable links for their outputs. Where this is possible via a shareable link (e.g., ChatGPT), including this link is recommended.
For AGLC4, APA 7, Chicago A, Chicago B, and MLA: Using the left menu, go to the ‘Other sources’ tab.
For Harvard: Using the left menu, go to the "Email etc.' tab.
For JAMA and Vancouver: Using the left menu, go to the 'Personal Comm' tab.
Once on the pages mentioned above, click on the option for 'Generative AI', as illustrated below.
Before creating AI-generated imagery there are a number of considerations to be taken into account. LDTI here at the University have created some useful pages for use of AI image generators:
These pages have been created with staff/course use in mind, but still have useful information for students.
And when working with these image generators, don't forget about the potential bias and copyright issues and considerations in this space, and citing that you've use an AI tool (see the Citing your use tab on this page).
We'd love to hear your feedback on this guide. If you think changes could be made, or more information added, please visit our feedback page.