Checking Gen AI content for accuracy
Verify GenAI outputs using reliable original sources (such as academic books, and journal articles). Cite those sources as your evidence instead.
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Using gen AI
GenAI can produce inaccurate, incomplete or biased information. Verify its outputs using reliable original sources and cite those sources as your evidence instead. Original sources include:
- professional websites
- academic books
- journal articles.
Make sure your submitted work reflects your own understanding. You remain responsible for everything you submit. Treat GenAI outputs as a starting point, not a source.
Always:
- Cross-check GenAI outputs against trusted academic sources - ones outside the AI tool you're using.
- Evaluate for bias, relevance, and accuracy.
- Think critically and make decisions yourself.
Verifying and citing sources
Where GenAI has suggested factual information, verify it against the original source, then reference and cite that source - not the GenAI tool. GenAI tools and their outputs must not be cited as sources.
- If GenAI suggests journal articles, find them through Library Search so you know the article exists and can cite it correctly. Your reference is the article itself, not GenAI.
- If GenAI suggests ideas, use Library Search to find supporting articles and books to help you build on and explore them further. This keeps your work independent of the GenAI content.
How GenAI might affect your thinking
As you begin using GenAI tools to help with academic work, you should consider how they might shape the way you think.
A 2025 study published in the journal Societies surveyed and interviewed 666 people of different ages and educational backgrounds about their use of AI tools. It found that heavier users tended to score lower on critical thinking, and that this was linked to 'cognitive offloading' — letting the tool do the mental work you would otherwise do yourself. The effect was strongest among younger participants, who relied on AI tools the most (Gerlich, 2025).
This is an association rather than proof that AI use reduces critical thinking, but it's a useful reminder to stay actively engaged. Before turning to GenAI for your next assignment, it's worth asking whether it's helping you learn, or quietly doing the thinking for you.
Reference: Gerlich, M. (2025). AI Tools in Society: Impacts on Cognitive Offloading and the Future of Critical Thinking. Societies, 15(1), 6. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc15010006
GenAI can't replace your own expertise
It can be tempting to let GenAI do the hard thinking for you. But the skills you're building at university - analysing, evaluating, and judging what's reliable - come from doing that thinking yourself. Leaning on GenAI too heavily can mean:
- Handing over mental tasks you'd otherwise do yourself (cognitive offloading).
- Letting your own judgement fade through lack of use.
- Passing decisions to a tool that can't understand your discipline, your context, or what's at stake.
GenAI can support your learning, but it can't replace the expertise you're here to build. Use it to prompt and check your thinking - not to think for you.