AI as a Dissertation Co-author? What Doctoral Students Need to Know

Doctoral students know the pain of sitting in a vast library (physical or virtual) at midnight, scouring through books for information that aligns with their research. During such bittersweet moments, it’s natural to desire a reliable writing aid.

Enter Artificial Intelligence, or AI, to the rescue! In recent years, this technology has moved beyond laboratories into everyday life. Speaking of academic writing, a German survey found that two-thirds (out of 6,300) of students had used AI tools in their studies. Almost half of the respondents explicitly mentioned ChatGPT and GPT-4 as their tools of choice.

By that standard, it’s fair to question if AI is capable of handling a doctoral-level dissertation or research paper. In this article, we will understand AI’s role and limitations closely.

What AI Can and Cannot Do

Let’s start by stating that AI, artificial as it is, has certain limitations. What this means for your dissertation would depend on the course and whether the task is mechanical.

Let’s take the example of a PhD online nursing degree. Being online, such a program can be pursued on a part-time basis to balance a career and personal life at the same time.

However, Wilkes University shares that the main goal is to prepare students for leadership roles and intensive research that improves nursing outcomes.

Essentially, the core requirements of a dissertation will be similar to a traditional in-person course. However, remote students will need to be more proactive in aligning their research with ethical and practical boundaries. They may be able to take AI’s help in the following areas:

• Organizing and outlining the content based on the research topic or proposal
• Improving content clarity and style, which is especially useful for non-native English speakers
• Summarizing long articles or reviews to categorize literature for the desired chapter
• Rewording ideas or deriving variations to make the content more concise and clearer
• Formatting citations and managing references
• Brainstorming research questions to refine ideas

Conversely, there are areas where AI shows clear limitations, such as:

• Conducting original research in the form of surveys, clinical trials, and case studies
• Critical analysis and interpretation because AI cannot understand the context
• Ethical considerations and judgment, especially when it comes to patient confidentiality and consent
• Creative problem-solving and novel insights because AI can only repackage existing information
• Verifying the veracity of claims, which must be manually checked
• Understanding the contextual application of discipline-specific theories

Students who meet regularly with their supervisors and engage in one-on-one research groups or seminars receive in-person feedback. Those working on their dissertation remotely need to be dynamic in scheduling feedback sessions so they don’t feel isolated.

Moreover, it will require more effort to maintain consistent engagement with peers through virtual communities and forums. Without collaborative support, it may be very difficult to critically compare theories and draw meaningful conclusions, something which AI is inherently incapable of.

Academic Integrity Through Ethical Use

For the success of any scholarly work, be it in the field of nursing or any other discipline, academic integrity is a must. The International Journal for Educational Integrity highlights two aspects of this expression:

• The integrity of the academic practice itself
• One’s own actions of integrity within the academic practice

In the context of a dissertation, we will focus on the second aspect. Academic integrity in one’s work would involve producing original work, citing sources accurately, and upholding all standards of ethical research practices.

In short, it’s the absence of cheating, the violation of which may lead to dire consequences. When a student uses AI in the process, they are not changing these principles. They only have another layer of responsibility to bear. In other words, misrepresenting AI content as one’s own is as unethical as copying someone else’s work or falsifying data.

There are ways to avoid this without losing ownership of one’s dissertation. Students must focus on doing the following:

Be Transparent About AI Assistance

If you use AI tools like ChatGPT or citation generators, you must acknowledge them when relevant. Many institutions even ask their students to disclose their methodology, acknowledgments, and appendices.

Simply giving credit where it is due will help uphold trust. Plus, the dissertation would align properly with emerging academic guidelines. A simple example would be stating that sections of the dissertation were revised using AI-assisted language tools for grammar and clarity.

Verify and Validate All AI-Generated Content

AI is prone to making many mistakes in the form of fabricating citations, misinterpreting data contexts, and oversimplifying complex theories. This can be especially dangerous in healthcare research projects.

You must fact-check, review, and refine any content generated using AI. Moreover, if the tool suggests a new reference, do not include it unless you’ve cross-checked its source and relevance.

Avoid Overreliance

As mentioned earlier, AI can help with grammar, sentence structure, and summary. However, it cannot replace your critical thinking or academic voice.

If you get blindsided by AI, heavy reliance may lead to superficial and incoherent arguments. This may get flagged as academic misconduct. The thumb rule is to use AI as a tool, not a substitute, for data interpretation, theoretical application, and literature synthesis. Otherwise, what’s the point of even writing a research paper?

Follow Institutional Guidelines

More and more institutes are updating their policies around AI use. It’s important to check with your institution’s stance before involving AI in your dissertation.

Some may discourage AI use entirely, whereas others may allow it with certain conditions. In case of any doubts, consult with your dissertation supervisor or the research ethics board.

Finally, it’s crucial to protect data wherever applicable. For instance, healthcare students should never input sensitive or confidential patient details into AI platforms. After all, AI is still not secure enough to handle protected health information.

From what we’ve discussed, it is clear that AI cannot be called a dissertation co-author. However, it can serve as a valuable writing assistant when used ethically to preserve academic integrity.

Research conducted across 24 studies found that AI mainly helps in six areas of academic writing: generation of ideas, data management, content organization, literature synthesis, editing, and ethical compliance. If you leverage AI support in these areas, it’s possible to prepare a dissertation that showcases originality, clear research focus, and methodological rigor.