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 writing. Now ChatGPT has arrived, and we have new questions.
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
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 how you have used ChatGPT or other genAI technologies, even if you have not used them as sources in your final written or oral submission. (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 gives the impression it was your original work, thinking, writing, or conclusions.
· 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.
o 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.”
o 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.
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
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.
The 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 reliable overview and may lead to good sources.
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.
Have a suggestion?
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Referencing your use of AI-generated assistance or information
Details for footnotes and bibliographies is at: