Artificial intelligence (AI) can be a powerful tool for helping with your academic work, but you may be wondering how to use it responsibly so you can get the assistance you need, without cheating or breaking the rules.
Here, we explain 11 ways to use AI to help you with your schoolwork, and we give some examples to show you how to do it yourself.
Note that it’s always best practice to ask your instructor or check their rules and guidelines for the use of AI for coursework. Each instructor has different parameters and definitions when it comes to cheating. Follow instructor or institution guidelines and transparently acknowledge what tools and prompts you used in your assignments.
What is AI?
AI refers to technology that can analyze information, generate text, and perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. AI tools use algorithms and vast amounts of data to recognize patterns, make predictions, and assist with writing, research, and problem-solving. In an academic setting, AI can help with brainstorming ideas, organizing content, and improving writing clarity—but like any tool, it should be used responsibly to support, not replace, your own thinking and work.
Is using AI cheating?
What constitutes cheating is partly subjective and depends on your school’s rules and guidelines. It also depends on the type of assignment and how you use the technology. One professor may encourage you to use AI as a research or outlining tool in order to get a taste of common workflows in professional settings, while another may want first drafts to come from your own thinking, intuition, or creativity. When you’re writing in an academic setting, always comply with your institution’s and educator’s AI usage policies, typically found in the course syllabi or academic integrity guidelines.
Keep reading to explore practical ways to use AI responsibly so you can enhance your writing and study process without crossing the line into academic dishonesty.
How to avoid cheating with AI
There are a number of AI writing tasks you can perform that don’t involve plagiarism and don’t count as an improper use of the technology. AI really shines in the early stages of writing, like developing ideas and outlining, as well as in the late stages, like revisions and citations.
If you use AI in your work, we recommend transparency. Proper disclosure, attribution, or citation, where applicable, helps maintain trust and credibility. The best way to show your work and prove originality is by using Grammarly Authorship to track your writing history, revisions, and changes. Turn it on before you begin work on an assignment in order to get a clear record of your writing process. You can provide this report to your professor or use it to gain insight into your process and understand how you use AI.
See Authorship in action below:
11 ways to use AI without cheating
1 Generating ideas
Don’t know what to write about? You can always ask AI to help you think up ideas. For example, essay topics can be abstract, and it’s OK to ask AI to help you develop a useful, narrower thesis, just as you might ask a friend or teacher to help you think about what to write about. Don’t forget to add the assignment guidelines in the AI writing prompt, so the AI generates usable ideas.
2 Summarizing
It’s not always easy to write a summary. Academic sources can get overly complicated, making it difficult to condense all that information. AI can help with this, especially because it can “read” thousands of pages in just a few moments.
Using AI for summaries can work in two ways. First, it can summarize sources that you’re considering using. If you don’t have time to read each source before you decide what to use, AI summaries can help you choose the best ones. Second, you can use it to outline the main points of a work if you need to write about it in your own text. This helps you identify the key points and can suggest the most succinct wording.
3 Recommend research
Another helpful aid in finding sources is to hear AI recommendations. If you use a prompt like “What are some of the best/most accurate/most controversial works about …” the AI can browse through the virtual library and deliver a list of what are generally regarded as the top sources on a topic. This gives you a head start when preparing your sources.
4 Outlines
Knowing how to write an outline can give your work much-needed structure. But if you’re not sure how to organize your sections, you can ask AI to help. Sometimes you’ll have to explain everything you want to include, which makes a pretty long prompt, but the AI can organize your points in the most logical and organized sequence. This works for both a research paper outline and an essay outline.
5 Paraphrasing
Using AI without cheating can actually help you avoid other forms of cheating. Paraphrasing is when you rewrite someone else’s ideas in your own words, and it’s absolutely essential for incorporating sources unless you want your paper to include only direct quotes.
Sometimes paraphrasing can be a chore, especially when the original author seems to choose the right words. Feel free to get AI to help; just use it for ideas instead of copying and pasting what it says. If you want to paraphrase, you have to support it with a citation to give credit to the original author.
6 In-text examples
Have you ever understood something perfectly, but when put on the spot, you can’t think of any examples? Well, AI can provide an example or two for you in no time at all. Examples generated by AI can come in handy to remove your own personal biases or to simply come up with something that best illustrates a concept.
7 Proofreading
One AI tool that’s been around for a long time is the ability to proofread your text to check for typos, like misspellings, grammatical mistakes, and misplaced or missing punctuation. Using AI to ensure your writing is mistake-free is always a good idea. Those little mistakes can be hard to catch but can cost you when it comes to your grades.
8 Revisions and suggestions
All-in-one AI tools can also check your grammar and spelling. At the end of a writing project, an entire first draft can be checked from start to finish very quickly. You can even use AI to touch up individual sentences if you’re worried about them being boring or redundant.
Just be careful of which AI you use. At this stage in its development, AI is known to make mistakes, so use one you can trust for spelling and grammar, like Grammarly.
9 Feedback
You can ask AI to “read” your finished work, in order to obtain early feedback and prepare yourself for your audience’s reactions.
In particular, getting AI feedback works great for strengthening your arguments. AI can analyze your work and present counterarguments that might undermine your position. If you catch these early enough, you can work them into your writing and debunk or otherwise address them. Similarly, AI can also point out parts of your argument that are missing, which can then be added in a second draft.
10 Write citations
Using an academic format like MLA, APA, or Chicago requires proper citations. However, each style guide has its own rules, so knowing the correct citation formatting for each can be difficult. Now you can simply ask AI to create a citation for a particular source. You don’t even need to include all the source’s information; the AI can “look it up” online. Just be sure to double-check it afterward.
11 Study aids
Lastly, AI can be used to help you study. You can ask AI to generate study aids like flash cards and quizzes, or to explain in simple words any complicated concepts you’re having trouble with. If you’d like physical materials, you may have to print them out or write them yourself, but even so, AI can provide a reliable blueprint.
Examples of AI without cheating
Outline
Prompt:
Create an outline for a three-page paper on photosynthesis in algae.
AI writing:
I. Introduction
A. Definition of photosynthesis
B. Importance of photosynthesis in algae
II. Photosynthesis Process
A. Light-dependent reactions
B. Light-independent reactions
III. Factors Affecting Photosynthesis in Algae
A. Light intensity
B. Temperature
C. Carbon dioxide concentration
IV. Applications of Photosynthesis in Algae
A. Biofuel production
B. Carbon capture and storage
V. Conclusion
A. Recap of main points
B. Future research opportunities
Generate ideas
Prompt:
What are some good topics for an argumentative essay about a controversial idea?
AI writing:
When choosing a topic for an argumentative essay about a controversial idea, it’s important to consider a variety of factors. Some good topics might include the debate over gun control laws, the legalization of marijuana, or the impact of social media on society. Other potential topics could include the death penalty, abortion, or climate change.
Ultimately, the best topic will depend on your interests, your audience, and the specific requirements of your assignment. It’s important to choose a topic that you are passionate about and that you feel strongly about defending, but also one that is well researched and supported by evidence. With careful consideration and research, you can choose a topic that will engage and challenge your readers while also demonstrating your skills as a writer and critical thinker.
Paraphrasing/summarizing
Prompt:
Paraphrase the “to be or not to be” monologue from Hamlet.
AI writing:
Whether it is better to exist or not to exist is a difficult question to answer. Should one suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or take arms against a sea of troubles and end them once and for all? To die, to sleep—and in that sleep, to dream, perhaps of a better life beyond this mortal coil. But what dreams may come in that sleep, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause …
Closing thoughts
When used thoughtfully, AI is a powerful study buddy that can help you brainstorm and refine ideas, revise writing, and even cite sources. But it should never replace your critical thinking and creative expression. To use AI without cheating, practice transparency, include proper citations in your work, and always act in alignment with your institution’s guidelines.
At Grammarly, we help you follow these best AI practices by keeping responsible use and academic integrity at the core of our product. Our originality features, such as plagiarism and AI detection, help you make sure your writing is thoroughly cited and original, while Grammarly Authorship allows you to track your process, show your work, and prove your originality.
AI without cheating FAQs
Does using AI count as cheating?
What constitutes cheating is partly subjective and depends on your school’s rules and guidelines. It also depends on the type of assignment and how you use the technology. Always comply with your institution’s and educator’s AI usage policies.
If you use AI, there are a few best practices that will help you comply with academic integrity:
- Disclose how and when you use AI with a citation. Grammarly can instantly generate AI citations for you in APA, MLA, and Chicago styles.
- Check your document for plagiarism or instances where text may sound AI-generated. We offer plagiarism and AI detection for free so you can make sure your work is thoroughly cited and original.
- Track your writing process with Grammarly Authorship so you can show your work and prove your originality.
Can professors see if you use AI?
Professors may use AI detection tools, like Grammarly’s AI detector, to check whether a piece of writing was AI-generated. However, AI detection isn’t always accurate. These tools can sometimes misidentify AI-generated content as human-written or flag human writing as AI-generated.
That’s why transparency is key. To avoid any confusion or potential academic integrity issues, it’s best to cite your AI usage if you’ve used it to assist with your work. Grammarly Authorship can also help track how your writing was produced, providing visibility into your writing process and ensuring that your work remains authentically yours.
Is it academic dishonesty to use AI?
Using AI isn’t inherently academically dishonest, but it depends on how you use it, and on your institution’s or professors’ policies. If AI-generated content is presented as entirely your own without acknowledgment, it could be considered plagiarism or misconduct. To stay on the right side of academic integrity, always follow your instructor’s guidelines, cite AI when required, and use tools like Grammarly Authorship to maintain transparency.
