All Signature Work projects, papers, and other products will be governed by the following guidelines:
- Generative AI can only be used as a supportive tool in Signature Work projects. It may not be used to generate a project’s core content – the ideas, procedures, analyses, and conclusions that are the student’s fundamental intellectual contribution. Generative AI can be used to refine that core content.
- The Signature Work paper should be substantially the student’s own writing. Generative AI may be used to correct linguistic errors and/or bring prose in line with academic standards.
- All use of Generative AI must be declared alongside final product submission. Any text, graphs, images, etc. directly generated by AI must be cited in-text.
- The above guidelines represent the minimum requirements of all student Signature Work projects. Students and faculty mentors should discuss these guidelines and establish project-specific expectations around Generative AI, which will be submitted as part of the Signature Work proposal. Mentors may require more strict and/or specific guidelines than the ones given here.
- Students should submit periodic drafts to their mentor and the Signature Work Office showing their writing process, including before and after using Generative AI.
- It is the student’s responsibility to follow the guidelines and expectations around Generative AI usage. Failure to do so will be treated as an Academic Integrity violation.
Three key procedural changes will accompany this new policy.
- Signature Work Proposals will now include a section with the GenAI policy, which students/mentors will read and agree to. There will be an additional box where students can write any specific AI expectations they developed with their mentor.
- During students’ capstones, there will be a weekly prompt (Formstack/Qualtric) for students to upload their work in progress. Work in progress will be shared with the mentor and temporarily archived by the Office of Signature Work.
- Alongside their final submission, students will submit a standardized cover letter detailing their full AI-usage across multiple categories.
