Current Students

The Department of Communication is dedicated to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity and intellectual rigor. We recognize that the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools across academic work can pose challenges to those standards. Although AI tools may be valuable in certain contexts and applications, they also raise ethical concerns that challenge the goals of graduate education, especially the intellectual development of students as independent scholars and knowledge creators.

This document states the Department of Communication’s policy for the use of AI tools toward the completion of graduate dissertations, theses, applied projects, and preliminary papers[1]. The policy does not apply to the use of AI tools in graduate coursework, which is determined by individual instructors. This policy is subject to change at any time. Students are responsible for following the most recent published version of this policy.

For the purposes of this document, the Department of Communication adopts the broad definition of artificial intelligence (AI) offered by IBM: “AI is technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human learning, comprehension, problem solving, decision making, creativity and autonomy.” This definition, and thus the policy, covers a variety of AI tools including those currently referred to as “generative AI,” “assistive AI,” “agentic AI,” and “weak AI.”

The Department of Communication permits the limited (see details below), responsible use of AI tools toward the completion of graduate dissertations, theses, applied projects, and preliminary papers. AI tools can be valuable for particular research and writing tasks. However, the use of AI tools should not diminish the standards of scholarship, originality, and transparency that apply to graduate research. Students must critically evaluate any output AI tools produce. AI tools may not serve as a substitute for a student’s own judgment and independent reasoning, and they should not be used to generate arguments, analysis, or interpretations for inclusion in the final work. Students are solely responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and authenticity of their work. Dissertations, theses, applied projects, and preliminary papers must be original contributions by the students alone.

Given our discipline, it is perfectly reasonable for students to study AI-related topics, which may include the use or output of AI tools as data, stimuli, attitude/perception objects, text, etc. Doing so is perfectly acceptable with advisor’s and, when appropriate, committee members’ approval. Nevertheless, the research and writing processes for all dissertations, theses, applied projects or preliminary papers, regardless of topic, must adhere to all policies stated herein.

Students are responsible for performing the central tasks of research: identifying research questions, investigating how the existing literature addresses those questions, developing research designs to examine the underexplored aspects of those questions and formulating analysis plans to evaluate data generated by those designs. AI tools may be used to support early-stage thinking activities such as brainstorming topics, refining research questions, exploring alternative perspectives, identifying possible counterarguments and clarifying complex concepts. In these cases, AI should be used to prompt reflection, comparison, and critical thinking, not to supply conclusions or replace the student’s own reasoning.

Students may use AI tools to organize ideas, develop outlines or think through the structure of an argument or project. Such uses are appropriate when they help students plan, organize and refine their own work for greater efficiency. However, these uses become inappropriate when they generate the substance of that work.

Students may use AI to suggest publications about a topic or to provide preliminary descriptions, identify broad themes or offer comparisons across the literature. That is, AI tools may be used to help students orient themselves to or to become initially familiar with a body of research. However, students are responsible for reading relevant sources directly, evaluating their quality and relevance and ensuring that all interpretations, syntheses, and citations/references are accurate. The inclusion of fabricated (or nonexistent) references undermines the credibility of scholarship and is considered a violation of UB’s academic integrity policies. Any discussion of existing literature in a dissertation, thesis, applied project or preliminary paper must be based on the student’s own reading and understanding of the original scholarly texts.

AI tools can provide valuable assistance when creating stimulus materials or other messages to be tested in communication research. The use of an AI tool for such purposes in dissertations, theses, applied projects or preliminary papers requires the express approval of the student’s academic advisor. As with other elements of the research and writing process, the creative output of an AI tool should be solely based on or prompted by the student’s ideas. Complete transparency about the use of an AI tool to generate text, narratives, graphics, video or any other communication element tested in a dissertation, thesis, applied project or preliminary paper is required not only in the disclosure statement (see Disclosure of AI use below), but also within the Methods (or other relevant) section of the document itself.

The use of AI tools for any data collection and analysis must be approached with extreme caution and only with the express approval of the student’s academic advisor. Potentially appropriate uses of AI tools in data collection and analysis include to assist with developing survey instruments, developing qualitative coding schemes, clarifying interview questions and technical coding and debugging. However, AI tools should not be treated as autonomous analytic authorities. Students remain solely responsible for verifying the accuracy and methodological rigor of all AI output and workflow. Presenting analyses as a product of one’s research without full methodological understanding of how it was produced conflicts with the expectation of rigorous scholarship. Analytic decisions, interpretations, and conclusions must remain the student’s own work and scholarly judgment.

AI tools can only be used to analyze data generated by human subjects when such use is consistent with university policy, applicable legal and ethical standards and, where relevant, approved research protocols. In such cases, all data must be fully de-identified; moreover, students must not upload or enter identifiable, confidential, proprietary, FERPA-protected, HIPAA-protected or human-subject data into public AI systems. If students are uncertain whether data are sufficiently de-identified or whether the use of AI is permissible, they must consult their academic advisor before proceeding with any analysis.

The text of a dissertation, thesis, applied project, or preliminary paper must represent a student’s own arguments, analysis, and interpretation. AI tools may be used in limited ways to improve grammar, readability, style or clarity in the text the student has already drafted. AI tools should not be used to generate core sections of a dissertation, thesis, applied project or preliminary paper, to produce original text on the student’s behalf, or to paraphrase large sections in ways that obscure authorship. The final written work must represent the student’s own scholarly voice, analysis and intellectual contribution.

This document states a general departmental policy. Academic advisors, in consultation with any committee members, have the freedom to impose further requirements on dissertations, theses, applied projects and preliminary papers completed under their supervision. Students must continually discuss with their academic advisor their use of AI tools throughout the completion of each project to understand the specific expectations that apply.

Any student using any AI tool at any time during the preparation of a dissertation, thesis, applied project or preliminary paper must include a disclosure statement in the final document describing how those tools were used in the research and writing process. The statement should identify the AI tool used and the ways in which it was used. It should also confirm that the student carefully reviewed any output and takes full responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the work. The following example illustrates the basic format expected of a disclosure statement:

In preparing this [dissertation/thesis/applied project/preliminary paper], I used [name(s) of AI tool(s)] for limited purposes during the research and writing process. Specifically, this tool was used to [describe the uses, such as editing text to improve its clarity and readability, suggesting relevant literature for further review, identifying robustness checks for empirical results, generating computer code for data collection and/or statistical analysis]. I carefully reviewed any output produced by the tool and take full responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of this work.

To support the disclosure statement, it is recommended that students keep careful records of all AI use during the research and writing process on all projects, including the particular model used, specific prompts, and all output. This information may be requested by the student’s advisor and committee members or may be required by journals when the work is submitted for publication.

Violations of the Department of Communication’s Policy on Artificial Intelligence Use in Dissertations, Theses, Applied Projects and Preliminary Papers may be referred to UB’s Office of Academic Integrity. Possible sanctions for improper use of AI tools include academic probation and dismissal from the academic program. At the request of a faculty member, the Department Chair or the Director of Graduate Studies may appoint an ad hoc committee to gather evidence regarding a student’s use of AI, determine whether this policy has been violated and report cases of academic misconduct to the Office of Academic Integrity.

Students should be keenly aware that many academic journals have developed or are in the process of developing their own AI policies. Some may end up being more restrictive than others (e.g., not considering studies with AI-generated stimuli). In addition to strictly following the departmental policy, students should continually check the AI policies of potential target journals to avoid research practices that may prevent them from publishing their work due to unacceptable AI use. Additionally, submitted manuscripts based on dissertations, theses, or preliminary papers are often co-authored with advisors or other collaborators. Full disclosure of any AI use to all collaborators is essential as manuscripts reflect not only on a student’s scholarly reputation but also that of the co-authors.

[1] We acknowledge that preliminary papers may be originally developed or drafted under other guidelines (e.g., for a class project). In such cases, the academic advisor and other committee members have flexibility in the application of this policy. Nevertheless, the student is still responsible for full transparency of the use of AI tools on the project.