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Referencing

General referencing guidance for University of Exeter students

GenAI tools such as ChatGPT can help you in a variety of ways, but it is important that you are aware of how to use them responsibly - in an ethical, appropriate, and transparent way.

See the AI: Understanding it guide for more information on how you can use GenAI responsibly.

GenAI Use in Assessments: An overview

From the start of the 2025-26 academic year, the University of Exeter follows a four-tier approach to GenAI use in assessments: 

  1. AI-integrated – where the use of GenAI tools is required by the module’s Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) and included in the assessment brief. In AI-integrated assessments, you must include prompts and, where possible, hyperlinks to their output as part of your list of references. The lecturer running your module will explain how AI should (and should not) be used and explain the ILOs in the assessment brief. If anything is not clear, please ask them for clarification. 

  2. AI-assisted -  where you may use GenAI tools ethically and responsibly to assist in the development of an assessment. In AI-assisted assessments, you must include prompts and, where possible, hyperlinks to their output as part of your list of references if you use GenAI tools. The assessment brief will include a checklist of the uses of AI allowed. If anything is not clear, please ask the lecturer running your module for clarification. 

  3. AI-minimal– where you may use AI tools for checking spelling and grammar mistakes only, with no other impact on the structure or content of the assessment.  

  4. AI-prohibited – you must not use GenAI tools as their use prevents achievement of the Intended Learning Outcomes.

For more detailed information on AI use within each assessment category, please scroll down to 'Guidelines for each category of assessment'.

If you are not sure what is expected for a particular assessment after reading all of the information on this page, please speak to your module leader before you complete the assessment. 

Guidelines for each category of assessment

1. Use of AI tools in AI-Integrated Assessments

For AI-Integrated assessments, you are required to effectively use GenAI tools in order to successfully achieve the module’s intended learning outcomes, as per your assessment brief. 

This means: You may use GenAI tools ethically and responsibly in accordance with the purposes in the checked boxes in your assessment brief.

When writing your assessment, you must never use AI tools: 

  1. For uses other than those represented by checked boxes in your assessment brief. 

  1. To translate more than a word or short phrase into English unless agreed in the checked boxes in your assessment brief. 

  1. To upload sensitive or identifying material to an AI tool.

  1. To present material that has been generated by AI as your own work or the work of someone else.   

When submitting your assessment, you must: 

  1. Check the box during the submission process, that confirms you have adhered to the university’s academic conduct policy and the expectations on use of GenAI in your assessment brief. 

  2. Treat the AI tool like a citation from any other source. 

  3. Include a list of all AI prompts and, where possible, hyperlinks to their output with your references, at the end of your work.  You do not need to include the outputs themselves, just the links. 

  4. Retain the full outputs generated by the prompts you have used during your assignment for your records. These outputs should be accessible through the hyperlinks which you have submitted with your assignment. If hyperlinks are not produced through the tools you use, save the AI-generated output in a document that you can easily access later (e.g. on OneDrive). You may be asked to produce this material in the event of an academic conduct inquiry. 

2. Use of AI tools in AI-Assisted Assessments

For AI-Assisted assessments, you may use GenAI tools if you choose to do so. This is because using AI tools in specific ways can assist with your learning and will not inhibit fair assessment of your achievement of the module’s intended learning outcomes.

This means: You may use GenAI tools ethically and responsibly in accordance with the purposes in the checked boxes in your assessment brief.

When writing your assessment, you must never use AI tools: 

  1. For uses other than those represented by checked boxes in your assessment brief. 

  1. To translate more than a word or short phrase into English unless agreed in the checked boxes in your assessment brief. 

  1. To upload sensitive or identifying material to an AI tool.

  1. To present material that has been generated by AI as your own work or the work of someone else.   

When submitting your assessment, you must: 

  1. Check the box during the submission process, that confirms you have adhered to the university’s academic conduct policy and the expectations on use of GenAI in your assessment brief. 

  2. Treat the AI tool like a citation from any other source. 

  3. Include a list of all AI prompts and, where possible, hyperlinks to their output with your references, at the end of your work.  You do not need to include the outputs themselves, just the links. 

  4. Retain the full outputs generated by the prompts you have used during your assignment for your records. These outputs should be accessible through the hyperlinks which you have submitted with your assignment. If hyperlinks are not produced through the tools you use, save the AI-generated output in a document that you can easily access later (e.g. on OneDrive). You may be asked to produce this material in the event of an academic conduct inquiry. 

3. Use of AI tools in AI-Minimal Assessments

You may use AI tools for checking spelling and grammar mistakes only, with no other impact on the structure or content of the assessment.  This is because using GenAI tools outside of these uses prevents fair assessment of your ability to achieve module learning outcomes. 

When writing your assessment, you must never use AI tools: 

  1. For uses other than checking your spelling and grammar. 

  1. To translate more than a word or short phrase into English. 

  1. To upload sensitive or identifying material to an AI tool 

  1. To present material that has been generated by AI as your own work or the work of someone else.   

When submitting your assessment, you must: 

  1. Check the box during the submission process, that confirms you have adhered to the university’s academic conduct policy and the expectations on use of GenAI in your assessment brief. 

4. Use of AI tools in AI-Prohibited Assessments

You must not use GenAI tools under any circumstances when preparing and writing for this assessment.  This is because using GenAI tools prevents fair assessment of your ability to demonstrate module learning outcomes. 

When submitting your assessment, you must: 

  1. Check the box during the submission process, that confirms you have adhered to the university’s academic conduct policy and the expectations on use of GenAI in your assessment brief. 

Academic Honesty and Policy

Academic honesty requires giving full credit to contributions (through proper referencing), never falsifying or fabricating the results of any research, and ensuring that all submitted work is a true representation of one’s own understanding. While AI tools can support your learning, they must not replace your independent thought and original work in assessments. The University needs to assess your knowledge and skills to award degrees. 

The Academic Conduct and Practice policy of the TQA Manual clarifies that using AI-generated content should be acknowledged in the same way as that taken from human authors. Misuse of AI generated content can lead to a student being found guilty of one or more of the offences listed in section 12.3 of the policy. This could include: 

  •  Plagiarism which covers situations where students deliberately or accidentally represent work or ideas as their own without appropriate acknowledgement or referencing, including AI; 

  •  Misrepresentation includes misrepresenting an AI generated source as your own work;   

  • Fabrication (creation of false data/references) could also involve material taken from AI tools;  

  • Falsification if AI is used to manipulate results in an unapproved way. 

Declaring and referencing the use of GenAI

If you are using a GenAI tool as part of your academic work, please check that you have used this guidance on how to declare and reference your use of these tools.  

A. If you are not sure whether and how you can use GenAI in your academic work, please check your assignment brief and discuss with your module convenor.
B. Please be aware that practice and guidance in this area will change over time, so check this guide regularly for the University’s most up to date referencing advice.
C. While GenAI tools can be helpful, they should not be used to generate content which is included in an assessment without following guidance on acknowledging and referencing GenAI. This would be an offence under the University’s Academic Conduct and Practice policy.
D. It is important to note that GenAI tools do not always output accurate information. Outputs are also subject to bias relating to the material on which they were trained. You should therefore verify any information that you plan to use in your academic work, including any references or sources. In addition, any content you generate using a GenAI tool should be critically analysed and evaluated, and appropriately acknowledged and referenced. See advice on the importance of taking a critical approach to AI.  

See Referencing the use of GenAI for more guidance.

GenAI and Assistive Technology

The University's guidelines on the use of GenAI in assessments appreciate that assistive technology using AI may have been recommended as part of the Disabled Students Allowance / Apprenticeship Needs Assessment Process.The majority of these tools are allowed even in AI prohibited assignments. If there is any uncertainty with this please check with your Faculty Hub.

If you would alike to discuss this further please engage with AccessAbility. 

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