Referencing

The University of Exeter follows a three-tier approach to GenAI use in assessments: 

1. AI-integrated – where use of GenAI tools is required and is part of the Intended Learning Outcomes of the modules or the assessment brief. In this category, in addition to following our referencing guidelines students are required to provide a history of the GenAI tools and prompts they have used, alongside associated outputs, as an appendix.   

2. AI-supported – where responsible use of GenAI tools in the development of an assessment is supported. This may include using GenAI tools to summarise literature, improve the structure of your work or quality of English language.   All use of GenAI tools should be acknowledged in a statement submitted with  assessments and referenced appropriately. Students are asked to keep a record of the tools, prompts and outputs used so they are able to produce these if necessary, at a viva and demonstrate how they have built on this content to ensure the work is original.   

3. AI-prohibited – where the use of GenAI tools is prohibited as their use prevents achievement of the module learning outcomes.  In this category, students can only use AI-powered spelling, grammar and translation checkers to identify and correct language errors. 

If you are unsure about how GenAI can be used in your assessments, speak to your module convenor for guidance. 

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 Generate 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 lists 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 

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.  

It is important that you acknowledge that you have used GenAI tools in your work. You also must make clear how you have used these tools. Failure to do this may result in academic misconduct.

All assessments that come under the category of AI-supported and AI-integrated will be required to include a student declaration acknowledging their use of GenAI in their assessment. This will be included as an additional page at the front of the assessment, following this template. 

When submitting your assessment, you must include the following declaration, ticking all that apply:

Please note: Submitting your work without an accompanying declaration, or one with no ticked boxes, will be considered a declaration that you have not used generative AI in preparing your work. 

If a declaration sheet cannot be uploaded as part of an assignment (i.e. at the start of an essay), students understand that by submitting their assessment they are confirming they have followed the assessment brief and guidelines about GenAI use.

If you have any questions about your assessment brief or ELE page, please contact your module convenor. You can also access a copy-and-paste version of the above checklist here.

The declaration enables to you acknowledge the range of ways in which you have used GenAI in creating your academic assignment. In addition to this, if you include content generated by GenAI in your work, you also need to reference it. Failure to reference correctly may be considered Academic Misconduct.   

It is considered poor academic practice to include any content generated by GenAI tools in your work, unless you are explicitly reflecting on, analysing and evaluating the output of the software. Some assignment briefs might ask you to do this, especially if they include a focus on how to use GenAI in your subject.  

Quoting from outputs: If you do include GenAI content in your work, including simple facts or definitions, you must enclose it in quotation marks and include a reference following your department’s referencing style.

Appending outputs: If your in-text citation is also referring to a larger section of content generated by GenAI, it may be appropriate to include this as an appendix, as you might do with other background information. See your assignment brief for further guidance on use of appendices.

Finding primary sources: GenAI might mention sources of information, and you may wish to refer to these. It does not always provide reliable summaries. You must therefore check the quality of these sources, read them yourself, and paraphrase content and/or select quotations from them to use in your assignment. You should then reference the primary source that you have read.
If it is not clear where the GenAI tool found the content, and you can't find an alternative source for the information, then it is safer not to use the information.

See further advice on appropriate vs inappropriate usage of GenAI in the Understanding AI Guide.

Find your referencing style and follow the links to Cite Them Right (CTR). Once you are on the Cite Them Right homepage for your referencing style, go to the ‘Digital and Internet’ tab. You should see a link for Generative AI. Sometimes this is listed under ‘Software’. If your department is using a referencing style that is not included in Cite them right, you should visit the guidance for your style and ask your module convenor for further advice.

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.