Wisconsin Youth Institute : Writing / Citing / Presenting

Writing / Citing / Presenting

Find resources below to help guide you through the research paper writing process.

Understanding Academic Honesty

The International Center for Academic Integrity identifies six values of academic honesty: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage. The idea is that everyone involved in teaching and learning--students, teachers, staff, and administrators--will conduct their work honestly and ethically. For research papers, academic honesty refers to the expectation that you will conduct your own research and writing, avoiding cheating or copying others' work without proper citation. The links below provide more information on how to adhere to the values of academic honesty and avoid plagiarism.

Writing and Citing

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chatbots

What is Generative Artificial Intelligence?

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), used in AI chatbots, is one kind of artificial intelligence technology that uses predictive algorithms/statistics that are designed to respond to questions in a human-like manner. They are not designed to evaluate sources for credibility or relevance.

Using AI Chatbots in Your Research Process

Since AI chatbots provide limited information that is not always accurate, we do not advise you to use generative AI to find sources on your topic. However, AI chatbots may be helpful for some parts of your research process. For instance: 

• Your topic should be what is interesting to you and not what AI chatbots guide you to. Prompt a chatbot to help brainstorm ideas or to narrow or broaden your topic. (Be sure to confirm accuracy as you research further.)
• Prompt a chatbot to generate a list of keywords associated with your topic. Use these terms as you search online.
• Prompt a chatbot for a second opinion on something that you have written for clarity, style, etc.

Responsible Use of Generative AI

When using generative AI, consider the following key points:

• You are responsible and accountable for any content generated by AI that you incorporate into your work, projects, etc.
• Use effective prompting to limit the amount of decisions the AI tool is making.
• Generative AI can produce inaccurate, biased, and out-of-date content due to limitations in its data sources.
• For guidance on how to check your sources, refer to Generative AI and Credible Sources
• Do not include personal or private information in generative AI prompts.

Presenting

Find tips, video tutorials, and tool suggestions from the UW-Madison DesignLab to help you develop presentations, research posters, infographics, and more. DesignLab consultations are limited to UW-Madison students, but the resources below offer great guidance.