Before using any GenAI to support an assessment, you should always check and follow your assessment brief and your tutor's guidance on use of GenAI. [Staff - for more detailed guidance and support please see the LTE web page.]
Any use of GenAI tools in academic work must be undertaken in a manner which is ethical and transparent. That means that if you have used GenAI to support a piece of assessed work at UON, in many instances you will need to acknowledge where and how you have used GenAI. Not doing so can be seen as academic misconduct. In particular, you should not pass off content produced by GenAI as your own work. You are advised to complete the University of Northampton Plagiarism Avoidance Course, usually known as UNPAC to learn more about academic integrity.
If you have or are thinking about using Generative AI (GenAI) as part of an assessed piece of work at UON you will need to consider carefully what is allowed and how you can acknowledge this ethically in your work.
There are three key steps you will need to take:
For this type of assessment you are unable to use GenAI due to the design of the assessment. For example, a closed book exam where you are required to demonstrate within controlled conditions that you have core knowledge or a skill in a particular area. As it is not possible to use GenAI within this type of assessment, you do not need to acknowledge use of GenAI.
You may make use of GenAI in your assessment in an assistive role, but you must acknowledge this appropriately. Steps 2 and 3 outline the different types of GenAI use, what you need to acknowledge and how you should do this.
Using AI is part of the assessment and will be expected. You must still acknowledge where and how you have used GenAI. Your assessment brief should outline how your tutor wants you to do this.
If you have used GenAI in a piece of assessed work at UON, you must make it clear where and how you have used GenAI output, not doing so can be seen as Academic Misconduct.
If you tutor has provided an assessment brief with instructions of how you should reference GenAI, you should follow those instructions.
If you have not received specific instructions from your tutor, we recommend that you acknowledge use of GenAI using the following guidance:
Some uses of GenAI are seen as 'permitted use' and do not normally require an acknowledgement in your work. These include:
The following uses of GenAI require an acknowledgement in your assessment (see Step 3). Extra care should be taken with 'Higher-risk' uses where GenAI-generated content is added directly to your work.
For each instance where you have used GenAI in your assessment, you should include an acknowledgement. This should include the name of the GenAI software that you used and a clear description of where and how the output was used in your work. If you have used GenAI in multiple ways in a single assessment, for example by creating an essay plan and summarising text, you should include acknowledgements for each of these.
Acknowledgements should be included as appendices in your assessment.
LLS have developed a recommended tool for writing GenAI acknowledgements that can be found below.
The GenAI Acknowledgement Generator is a tool designed to help you write an acknowledgement when you have used GenAI in a piece of assessment work. You should complete each question by including relevant information or including N/A.
When you have completed each section, you can generate and download your acknowledgement. You should then include any of these acknowledgements as an appendix in your work.