Why Write Assignments?
Completing assignments involves learning and showing what you have learnt. A great thing about doing assignments is that it is one of the ways you can show your new knowledge and/or skills. Also when writing assignments, you need to provide evidence that backs up your argument. It demonstrates your ability to sift through and read a variety of information, make sense of it, then link it to your writing. See the Assignment writing guide for more information or contact a Learning Advisor for help at LSS@wandw.ac.nz or phone 0800141 121
As You Begin Your Studies
There are some important things to consider. How to:
Evaluate What You See, Hear or Read
Critically thinking, analysing and reading are essential aspects of study. It is important to question and reflect on all arguments, ideas and conclusions and not simply accept all that you see, hear or read (See the CRAAP test or Rauru Whakarare Evaluation Framework (a Kaupapa Māori-informed approach to evaluation) on the Finding Information and Research tab on your Subject guide). These skills are important for all information, including anything generated by AI.
Finding Information and Research
It is important that you use, and show your kaiako (tutor) that you have used, relevant sources written by experts whose qualified opinion is based on research. This demonstrates your ability to research widely and thoroughly. For help on how to find information and conduct effective research, see the library subject guides and check out the Books/eBooks and Databases tabs, the Finding Information and Research tabs and the Research guide or contact your Reference & Liaison Librarian.
Can I use AI?
Though Artificial Intelligence (AI) can create information and help with such things as writing, researching, coding, spelling, grammar etc, it is a tool. It is not a substitute for writing your assignment unless your assignment question states you can use it or you have an assignment about the use of AI tools such as ChatGPT.
Whitireia and WelTec have Academic Integrity Procedures that state the work you hand in has to be your own. If you have used AI in any way, you need to be transparent about how you have used it and give credit to the original author by referencing information correctly. This avoids being accused of academic misconduct and/or plagiarism.
Different programmes may have different positions on the use of AI. Check with your kaiako/tutor to see if they have any guidelines on its use before starting your assignment.
Keep draft copies of your assignments that show your writing and research process. You may need to show kaiako/tutors that what you have written is your own work.
Be transparent. You may be asked to declare the AI tools you have used and how.
Turnitin. If you use AI, you will get a very high AI count. You cannot see your AI score but your kaiako can. For help on submitting an assignment and Turnitin, click here.
Do not upload journal articles or published content that comes from library databases, ebook collections, online journals, standards etc to AI. This is a breach of copyright as the library has agreed to terms and conditions of use for many of its e-resources.
Is my information safe? Do not upload your personal information or any personal information of case studies or research participants to AI. Any information or data uploaded could be shared, sold on or used to train its algorithms (This means your personal information or work could be used to create data for other users of the AI tool).
More...
See the following tabs:
You can use referencing software such as Mendeley and Zotero to help collate and reference your work. They can produce an AI count in Turnitin, so talk to your tutor or supervisor about declaring their use. Also remember these references are machine generated so may not always be correct. Check the APA Referencing guide before submitting any work.
Some Schools say you need to add a brief statement on your assignment stating whether or not you have used AI tools in the writing or editing of your work.
Some library databases are now incorporating AI tools which act as research assistants. If you have used AI tools to help produce information, create a paraphrase, or you have quoted from ChatGPT, AI-powered research assistants or any other software, you need to include an in-text citation and reference list entry. If you are citing an AI summary based on a document, you should also cite the document the AI summary is based on. See AI and Referencing for advice on how to do this.
Note. AI tool quickguide. Adapted from Academic Integrity: Using AI Tools for Assignments by Wintec, 2024 (https://libguides.wintec.ac.nz/academic-integrity/using-ai-tools). Reprinted with permission.
Tools such as Grammarly, Quillbot etc will be picked up as AI. Check with your kaiako/tutor to see if they have any guidelines on their use before starting your assignment.
Grammarly
Some Schools say you need to add a brief declaration of how you have used Grammarly, even if you have used it for editing purposes only, i.e. spelling and grammar.
Appropriate use of Grammarly for assignments
Use Grammarly in the following way to avoid issues around academic misconduct:
1. Turn off automatic suggestions that occur as you write - in other words, complete the first draft of your assignment without any help from Grammarly.
2. Save this draft and keep it as a raw (untouched by Grammarly) document that you can produce as proof of your original work if you are interviewed by your kaiako about AI use.
3. Use Grammarly for checking spelling and grammar only.
4. Save the edited version as a separate document to your original one.
Inappropriate use of Grammarly for assignments
You must produce writing that has been written by you and is in your own voice. Grammarly has new AI functionality, that if used, would produce writing that would not be considered your own.
Grammarly tools to avoid:
Quillbot or other paraphrasing tools
Quillbot is a paraphrasing tool. Using it is considered inappropriate use of AI. By using Quillbot, you are not demonstrating to your kaiako/tutor that you have understood the concepts in the original source.
[Source: Adapted from Wintec Academic Intergity: Using AI tools for assignments. Used with permission]
Panchal, J. (2024, February 23). A 3d rendered image of FACT and FAKE word toggle switches [Photograph]. Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/two-buttons-with-the-words-fact-and-fake-on-them-Lj8Q3vZ5vYA
AI has its strengths, but it also has its limitations. Open GenAI tools scrape the internet for information. This may be good information, but it also could be misinformation and disinformation. AI is evolving at a rapid rate but it is still software that cannot tell if the information is accurate or not, even if it sounds convincing (Cottrell, 2024). You have to check the ethics, the accuracy and the references of any information that has been AI generated.
If you use AI, you are responsible for any inaccuracies (O'Leary, 2024).
Limitations of AI
Strengths of AI
Copilot for Microsoft 365 is an AI assistant created by Microsoft to work with Microsoft 365 apps. It has been developed to help search for specific information, create and summarise text and create images based on text prompts. The technology is based on machine learning and is similar to ChatGPT. The free version of copilot accesses the internet but not MS Office 365. The paid version, Copilot for Microsoft 365 gets its information from the internet and is connected to the Microsoft graph so all the data in your MS Office 365 suite (organisational data) e.g. Office documents, One Drive, emails, Teams, SharePoint etc. Its knowledge is everything that you as a logged in user has access to and is inside your apps. See here for more information. (NB. It has a disclaimer stating you need to check for mistakes).
Therefore:
How to remove the Copilot for Microsoft 365 icon from Microsoft Edge:
Please Note: You cannot remove the feature from the browser as it's built in, but you can hide all mention of it.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact the library team!
You can:
call 0800 141 121
email LSS@wandw.ac.nz
or pop into one of our campus libraries