Academic Integrity & Plagiarism

Using AI ethically means understanding where help ends and academic dishonesty begins.

Academic integrity is about doing your own work, giving credit, and learning honestly. When you use AI, there’s a line between getting assistance and misusing it. On this page, you’ll learn what counts as plagiarism or integrity violations with AI, with clear examples. You’ll also learn how to stay on the right side of the line.

1. What Is Plagiarism in the AI Era

Definition:
Plagiarism means using someone else’s ideas, words, or work without proper acknowledgment—passing them off as your own. This includes text, ideas, code, images, calculations, or any output—whether human- or AI-generated.

Why AI makes this trickier:

AI can write polished content that looks original but may be reused or based on existing writings.
AI outputs can include hallucinated/false information or invented “references.”
Because AI tools generate quickly, there’s temptation to copy/paste or accept outputs without understanding.

2. Acceptable AI Use vs. Academic Dishonesty

Here are concrete examples to show what is allowed/helpful vs what isn’t.

Scenario	Acceptable Use (Integrity-Safe)	Dishonest / Plagiarism / Cheating
Using AI to generate ideas	Asking AI: “Give me outline ideas for my paper on climate change,” then picking one and writing it yourself.	Copying an AI outline verbatim and submitting it without changes or credit.
Rewriting/paraphrasing	Asking AI to help rephrase your own draft; reviewing and editing its suggestions.	Taking AI’s text (even paraphrased) as your own, without acknowledging it.
Full answers / solutions	Using AI to explain steps or principles, then trying problem yourself.	Submitting AI’s full solution to a homework problem as if you did it.
Using quotes / citations	Quoting AI-generated text and citing the tool. Paraphrasing with acknowledgment.	Quoting or paraphrasing without any citation or indicating it came from AI.
Collaboration / prior work	Using your own past work with AI assistance, acknowledging both.	Self-plagiarism (re-submitting past work) or passing someone else’s (including AI-generated) work as yours.

3. Institutional Policies & Examples

Different institutions have different policies regarding AI usage. Here are some examples. Make sure you understand the policies at your institution if you’d like to incorporate AI responses in your work.

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU): They offer example policies. Some courses forbid all AI-generated content; others allow AI assistance if properly cited. Passing off AI content as your own is considered a policy violation.
San José State University Library states that submitting an AI-generated essay or having AI do your math/solutions for you is not considered “your own work.”
University of Melbourne defines plagiarism and includes “presenting ideas or work that are not your own,” which includes uncredited AI use.

4. Risks & Consequences

Lost trust with instructors / peers
Lower grades, failing assignments, or academic penalties (depending on institution)
Learning gaps: if you depend on AI answers, you miss out on building understanding and skills
False claims or errors in AI output could lead to misinformation in your work

5. How to Stay on the Right Side

Best Practices:

Always understand what you submit — don’t copy verbatim without comprehension.
Be transparent — note where you used AI help.
Use AI to assist, not replace — e.g., for brainstorming, hints, editing, feedback—not full output.
Check the accuracy of AI outputs (facts, constants, references).
Paraphrase properly — don’t just change a few words.

Prompt Examples / Self-Check Questions:

You would be plagiarizing if you copy and paste the response from this prompt:

Write me a 4-paragraph essay on Ernest Hemingway’s "Big Two-Hearted River." The prompt is: How do Hemingway’s language choices help him achieve his purposes?

A better, more responsible prompt would be:

Can you help me analyze Ernest Hemingway’s language choices in his story "Big Two-Hearted River"? Give examples of how his language choices help him achieve his purposes.

Using AI to brainstorm and organize ideas is generally fine, but never submit AI’s work as your own.

Questions to ask yourself before submitting your work:

Did I write this myself, or did I let AI do most of the work?
Did I cite any parts that came from AI or another source?
Could someone else say I copied/gave them something that wasn’t mine?
Do I fully understand everything in my submission (so I can defend or discuss it)?

6. More Case Studies

Case 1: AI Essay Version

Student asks: “Write a 1000-word essay on the impacts of social media” and submits it as their work.

Why this is a problem: No student thought or research; content may be generic, possibly containing errors; no transparency. Violates integrity.

Better approach: Use AI to generate possible subpoints, then pick & research them, draft yourself; cite the tool if you used its wording.

Case 2: Paraphrase Without Citation

Student uses AI to paraphrase a paragraph from a scholarly article, doesn’t mention the article or tool, and submits.

Why problem: Even though wording changed, the ideas come from elsewhere and weren’t credited → plagiarism.

Better approach: Paraphrase in your own words and cite source and/or note AI assistance. Regarding how to cite, please check the next page.

Summary

Academic integrity in the AI era means you can use tools—but you must learn, credit, and understand.
Plagiarism isn’t just copying words—it’s taking ideas, structure, or work without credit.
When in doubt: err on the side of transparency. Ask your instructor if unsure.