With the advent of ChatGPT, students and teachers now have another electronic tool to use in their research and learning. Nearly all of us use Google for quick searches and Wikipedia for quick introductions and summaries, and all of us should use Grammarly Premium to assist in any important writing. Now ChatGPT has arrived, and it is a potentially useful tool, though not always reliable.
The following is interim guidance on the acceptable use and referencing of ChatGPT and similar generative tools.
Note: These guidelines are interim only and may change in the future. We will notify you of any changes in policy or advice; you are responsible to read all such emails and other official notifications.
Guidance on the use of ChatGPT and other AI-generative technologies:
Students may:
Use ChatGPT and similar sources for initial research, overviews, explanations, and other basic research.
Use it for initial and provisional answers.
Use it as you would resources such as Wikipedia, or the popular sites that Google may send you to.
You may summarise, paraphrase or quote such material, though this is discouraged for many reasons, and especially for reliability. If you do utilise such material, you must acknowledge it with a footnote and an acknowledgement declaration, as outlined below.
For these and other uses in your academic work, regard ChatGPT and other generative technologies as you would Wikipedia: It may give some reliable information or references, but it is not consistently reliable. Note College’s serious cautions and reservations below.
Students we have new questions.
| Info |
|---|
This is Moore College’s current guidance on using and referencing ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence (genAI) tools at College. |
Contents:
Using generative AI
Essential road rules
Green lights – all good
Amber lights – slow down and exercise caution
Red lights – don’t go there
Finding great sources
Writing and style
Appendix: Referencing AI-generated technologies and information
Referencing
Declaration
| Tip |
|---|
College is committed to finding constructive ways to use these tools in Gospel ministry and ministry training. |
Using generative AI at College:
Essential road rules – Everyone must:
Clearly and fully reference any information, ideas, writing, or text generated by such technologies. This includes outlines, ideas, points within an answer, and any other information or parts of your submitted answer.
State that how you have used ChatGPT and or other generative genAI technologies, even if you have not used them as sources in your final written or oral submission.
Referencing and acknowledgement guidelines follow.
Students must not:
Violate the spirit of the MTC Academic Integrity policy.
Present (See link here.)
Follow the spirit and letter of College’s Academic Integrity Policy.
Not present any material from ChatGPT or similar sources in a way that leaves gives the impression it was your original work, thoughtthinking, writing, or conclusions.
Referencing AI-generated technologies and information
| Info |
|---|
If you use an AI-generative technology such as ChatGPT at any stage of your research, you need to declare that. If you use it as a source, you need to footnote that. |
Reference it as you would other ephemeral sources, such as email and personal correspondence:
Referencing the Use of Al Technologies
All direct quotes, summaries, and paraphrases of text Al sources must be referenced in a footnote. Students are also required to add a statement outlining their use of Al technologies if they use them in an assignment. Examples follow.
SBL Referencing
Footnotes:
(number) Originator of the communication, medium, Day, Month, Year
1 Open Al's ChatGPT Al language model, response to question from the author, 17 February 2023.
Note: Use this full form of the footnote each time you need a footnote. As yet, there is no abbreviated form for second and subsequent footnote.
Bibliography:
An informal source; do not reference, but you must declare its use (see template below).
Declare your use of it with this declaration:
Declaration of Al technology use
If you use Al, you must include a declaration outlining your use of it and the programs used. This will help establish your academic integrity in this work.
Declarations should follow the Bibliography of Sources Used.
Declaration of use (When you use AI-generated information in the research process or for background only, and it does not form part of your final submission)
Template:
I acknowledge the use of <insert Al system and link to the system> to <insert purpose of Al use> in <insert which stage of the assessment>.
Examples:
I acknowledge the use of ChatGPT, https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/ to assist with the structuring of this essay in the drafting process.
I acknowledge the use of Elicit https://elicit.org/ in collating resources for use during my initial research.
Declaration of modified use (When you use and quote, paraphrase, summarise, or otherwise rely upon AI-generated information in your submission)
Template:
I acknowledge the use of <insert Al system and link to the system> to generate <insert materials> which were [modified and] used <insert which stage of the assignment>.
Examples:
I acknowledge the use of Synthesia https://http://www.synthesia.io/ to generate a short video about using Al, which was then modified and used in my final oral presentation.
(Adapted from Summary of Interim Al Technologies Referencing - Update February 2023 by Tabor Institute of Higher Education)
Limitations and possibilities
Possibilities:
...
.
Not upload any College intellectual property (IP) to a genAI tool. This includes, slides, lecture notes, articles, assessment guides, and marking guides. These belong to your lecturers and to College and cannot be shared outside College without College’s explicit consent.
Opting out of ChatGPT data retention or training:
If you wish, you may ask ChatGPT not to retain your data. Currently, ChatGPT offers a retain my data and conversations but ‘do not train’ on it option.
If you use any genAI tool for a College assessment, do not delete your conversations, as you may need to show how you used your genAI.
You can request ChatGPT not to train on your data by going to OpenAI Privacy Request Portal à Select ‘privacy request’ on the top right, enter your account email, and select “Do not train on my content.”
You then have to go through steps that come to you in an email. They don’t make it easy to opt out.
Other genAI models may also have such a feature. Regardless of such features, no one may upload Moore College intellectual property, including your lecture notes, without explicit written permission of the College.
ChatGPT may change these options at any time. If these details change, please email the Academic Support Coordinator to update this document, thanks.
Green lights – Use genAI with a clear conscience to:
Check an assignment or a sermon for clarity: ie, “What are the main points of this essay?” or “In 200 words, what is the main argument of this paper?”
Produce a summary or abstract of an article, essay, or sermon (though you should not submit this, as it is not your work).
Ask for a summary of a work that is in its database. For instance, many web publications and eBooks are in the database for ChatGPT. Find out by asking.
Generate discussion questions or revision questions for a topic.
Generate memory hooks for Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic vocabulary.
Tell you the points of contention in an academic debate.
Give you initial overviews, explanations, or answers. (Sometimes a couple answers from the bot are needed. Single answers can be partial or wrong.)
Generate ideas for and against an argument.
Suggest the strengths and weaknesses of a theologian, a position, or an argument. (Again, a couple responses might be needed.)
Suggest initial outlines.
Create a timeline or outline of, say, Reformed Christology, the Christological debates of the Fourth and Fifth Centuries, or the key literary features of the Pentateuch. (However, the learning value of writing your own outlines and timelines far exceeds the value of merely studying someone else’s outline.)
Answer quick questions during a lecture. One student said, “It pinballs us back into the lecture,” and saves yet another clarifying question.
...
Limitations:
As you probably know, ChatGPT and similar technologies offer new, machine-generated, unique answers each time they are prompted. These programs are created to produce human-like texts, not accurate or true texts. Their answers are based on many terabytes of randomly collected information. These include academic texts of varying quality and many other texts of all types. From these, it generates answers that conform to a pattern (eg, a three-point essay) with no regard for the quality of the information.
AI generators like ChatGPT are not good starting points for academic research. Sometimes its answers are correct, but often, these generative technologies provide conveniently quick answers that are incomplete or wrong. This is because every answer is unique. It also generates ‘hallucinatory’ references that appear reliable but do not exist. Thus, if you are new to a topic, you have no way of knowing if an answer is reliable, accurate, or complete.
...
Amber lights – Exercise caution before using genAI to:
Trim words from an assessment. If you do, you are responsible for any changes to your argument, clarity, or flow of information. Besides, you are entering Gospel ministry, so train yourself to communicate clearly first and foremost.
Rewrite a text in ‘academic English.’ Generative AI so far produces poor academic English, and Turnitin often flags such work as possibly AI-generated, in which case you would have to attend a meeting to explain that. (Besides, Grammarly does a better job with academic English. See below.)
Summarise, paraphrase, or quote material generated by artificial intelligence, though this is discouraged for many reasons: It is not an academic source, and it may not interact with current scholarship. If you use genAI material, you must acknowledge it with a footnote and a declaration.
Tell you where a text could be clearer (but not how to clarify it). This is better done with a human.
Ask where an argument or structure could be improved (but not how to improve it). This is also better done with a human.
Red lights – Don’t use genAI to:
Generate written or oral text for any section of an assessment you submit.
Ask a genAI tool to add words to an assessment. All assessments you submit at Moore College must be in your own words, except where clearly indicated and referenced as a quote.
Give specific points to improve the argument or content of a text.
Upload notes, an outline, or a rough draft to a genAI tool and ask it to write a final text for you.
Ask genAI to do any task if the tool will retain intellectual property that is not yours.
Ask how to improve a text – structure, language, or ‘provide x number of points to improve this text.’ (But asking where it is unclear or needs improvement is OK.)
Ask for help to improve an argument
| Note |
|---|
Is there a better community option? You might want to ask genAI to unpack an assessment guide or a grading rubric but can’t as that is College intellectual property. However, you could do this as ‘learning in community’ with fellow students. There are also allowable tasks you can do better in community than with generative AI: brainstorming, trial outlines, timelines, and almost anything else. It might take a bit more time, but you gain deeper relationships and better learning. |
Options for finding strong sources and reliable information
Options for academic research:
A few reliable overviews such as dictionary articles, recent commentaries, or
...
introductory surveys.
In summary, ChatGPT and its cousins are convenient but not reliable sources. Moore College strongly discourages students from using them for academic research. Alternatives for informal research are:
Google search – Possibly more reliable, if you know how to check the quality of your sources with the CRAP test.
Google Scholar – Academic sources. The ATLA database is usually preferable for your Biblical and Christian studiesThe Library catalogue, of course.
The ATLA database holds a wide range of periodicals for your Biblical and Christian studies. Google Scholar is also reliable but is not focussed on biblical and theological fields.
Shelf searches – look near a good book on the shelves for similar material.
Bibliographies from reliable sources can be wonderful.
Get skilled with our catalogue and databases:
We have this excellent 10:00-minute screencast on finding great secondary sources – originally for Church History, but applicable to all subjects.
The research databases in the Library are essential for serious academic research. The Library will happily run a seminar for you on how to get even more from them.
Check your sources for reliability and relevance.
You will develop your research skills with time and practice.
Options for informal research:
Generative AI – They often return reliable information, but not consistently.
Google – But check especially for quality.
Wikipedia – Often a general or reliable overview and may lead to good sources. It is usually somewhat balanced because of its open editing format. As with any other source, you still need expert knowledge to discern quality or bias.Grammarly – Use it and not ChatGPT
Watch this space:
New tools are hitting the market that generate academic bibliographies and even summaries of academic articles at the push of a button. I don’t yet know of any that are good and that cover biblical, pastoral, and theological fields.
These are early days, and the technology will develop, as will our imagination on how to use it. As you develop other positive uses, the Academic Support Coordinator would love to hear about them.
Writing and style
Use Grammarly Pro to improve your formal, academic writing style. It gives better results, is simpler to use
...
, and College pays for it. It also retains your voice and style.
An encouragement:
Remember, one of your goals at College is to become a wise and skilled minister of the word and pastoral thinker. These tools mitigate against that by providing prefabricated answers that may or may not accord with the Lord, his word, and his wisdom.
...
| Tip |
|---|
Have a suggestion? College wants to find constructive ways to use these tools in Gospel ministry and ministry training. This is a document in development. Please contact the Academic Support Coordinator with comments, suggestions, and improvements, or to let him know other positive uses you develop. We want your input |
Referencing your use of AI-generated assistance or information
Details for footnotes and bibliographies is at: