From disruption to integration: Teaching ethical AI use in research writing
Generative AI tools now produce academic text in seconds, reshaping student workflows and challenging how research and writing are taught. Funded by the Innovation Hub’s Teaching & Learning in an AI-Rich Environment program, a faculty team from Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies—Michael Fosmire, Jerilyn Tinio, Victoria Dawkins, and Jing Lu—set out to design an ethical framework for AI-assisted research. Rather than banning AI, the project, titled “Fostering ethical and effective use of AI tools through reflective, scaffolded research writing assignments,” explores how AI can support learning, ethics, and critical thinking.
The project asked students to use AI intentionally, document their use, and reflect on its effectiveness, limits, and ethical implications, while focusing on research-intensive assignments in ILS 230: Data Science and Society and ILS 100: Introduction to Information Studies. Instead of leaving AI usage to be informal or hidden, scaffolded activities guide students through tasks such as brainstorming topics, locating sources, evaluating AI-generated summaries, checking citations, and examining privacy and copyright concerns.
During a shortened summer grant period, the team adapted its plans to focus on designing and pilot-testing student assessments. Focus groups, think-aloud activities, and surveys were created to understand how students currently use AI for research. Early findings showed that students mostly rely on AI for brainstorming and outlining, and value its time-saving benefits, but often use shallow prompts and overestimate the quality of AI outputs.
Based on this work, the team drafted AI-specific learning outcomes and six scaffolded learning activities emphasizing ethical reflection, effective tool use, and critical evaluation of AI outputs. These activities were deployed in ILS 230 in fall 2025, with continued evaluation and refinement planned beyond the grant period.
Next steps include completing assessment cycles, revising activities, and converting the materials into a portable, just-in-time research module for Libraries’ widely used AI research guide. The project’s broader goal is to help students develop transferable skills for navigating research, ethics, and decision-making in an AI-rich academic and professional landscape.
