Comprehensive guide for students

The digital revolution has now also reached the higher education landscape in German-speaking countries. Artificial intelligence (AI) is fundamentally changing the writing process at universities — from simple automatic grammar checking to complete text creation using modern AI systems.

As a student at universities, this raises a central question: Where is the line between legitimate AI support and unlawful academic misconduct? This grey area is a headache for many students, especially when it comes to important theses such as the bachelor thesis, master thesis or dissertation.

The answer is clear: AI can and should act as an intelligent writing partner, but it must never replace your own thinking. This comprehensive guide shows you in a practical way how to use AI tools responsibly in your scientific work.

What you'll learn in this guide:

• What are the different types of AI-generated content
• How to use AI tools such as fastwrite and other platforms securely and effectively
• What specific guidelines universities recommend
• How to document AI usage transparently and in compliance with regulations
• Subject-specific features of various fields of study

💡 Golden rule: Use AI to support your thoughts and work and never as a digital ghostwriter for your scientific texts.

What is typically considered AI-generated in the higher education landscape?

The definition of AI-generated content has expanded significantly in recent years. Most universities and universities of applied sciences now understand AI content to mean a wide range of automatically generated text modules.

Classic AI-generated content today includes:

• Full sections of text: Contiguous paragraphs created by chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude, or other models
• Sentence additions: Automatically completed sentences and phrases
• Text transformations: Paraphrased or restructured original texts
• Content syntheses: AI-generated summaries of scientific articles
• Bibliographic elements: Automatically created citations and bibliographies

A common misconception among students is that any form of AI use is automatically considered plagiarism. However, this assumption is incorrect. Instead, two fundamental questions are decisive for the evaluation:

1. Does the AI you use only support your own ideas and thought processes, or does it completely replace them?

2. Is the use of AI marked or not?

Typical and unproblematic AI applications in everyday university life

Surprisingly, you're probably already using various forms of AI support today, often without even being aware of it. These everyday applications are considered legitimate and unproblematic by almost all universities, provided that they are only used as tools and the creative influence of the students prevails.

Proven AI applications include:

• Creative brainstorming: AI helps you overcome writer's block and structure complex thought processes
• Linguistic optimization: Translating and simplifying complex technical terminology for better comprehension
• Technical fixes: Comprehensive spelling, grammar, and style check
• Content synthesis: Summarizing extensive scientific literature
• Formatting support: Automatic citation formatting according to common standards such as APA, Harvard, Chicago, or other citation styles

These applications are generally permitted — provided that the AI does not provide the central arguments and conclusions of your scientific work and that the use of generative AI is identified in the declaration of independence.

Where is the red line? Understanding the limits of using AI

The distinction between permitted AI support and illegal AI dependency causes difficulties for many students. However, most universities have now developed guidelines that provide at least some guidance when using AI in scientific work.

As a rule, the following are allowed:

• Linguistic smoothing and sentence structure improvement
• Optimizing the argumentative structure
• Correction of grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors
• Adapting writing style to academic conventions

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The following are categorically prohibited:

• Complete development of key arguments through AI
• Automatic generation of research results and conclusions
• Complete takeover of AI-generated analysis parts without personal intellectual effort

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‍If you're unsure where you currently stand, it's best to ask yourself the question:

Does the AI used simply formulate my existing thoughts and ideas in a more understandable and structured way — or does it deliver the thoughts, arguments and conclusions itself?

If AI replaces the intellectual substance of your work, you've probably crossed the line of illegal use.

Specific guidelines: How much AI is permitted according to universities?

Although there is no uniform Germany-wide or EU-wide regulation for the use of AI in scientific work, a number of best practices have become established in the German-speaking academic landscape. Most universities are guided by the following guidelines:

General guidelines:

• Maximum 20-30% AI share for language optimizations, structural improvements and formatting
• Significantly reduced share of AI for core analytical parts such as data analysis, discussion of scientific results and conclusions
• Minimal to no AI usage when developing the research question and the main argument

Practical application by work stages

• Literature review and state of research: Expanded AI support for structuring and summarizing is usually allowed here
• Method part: Moderate use of AI allowed for linguistic precision
• Research question and central argument: These should come almost entirely from your own intellectual effort
• Discussion of results: Only minimal AI support for language preparation

Subject-specific differences in higher education

The acceptance and limits of AI use can vary significantly between different subject areas and differ once again between chairs and supervisors/lecturers. These differences reflect the specific requirements and traditions of the respective disciplines.

Natural and Engineering Sciences (STEM Subjects): STEM degree programs usually handle AI use rather restrictively, as data interpretation and mathematical modelling are considered core competencies. AI-generated data analyses or automatic interpretations of scientific experiments are generally prohibited.

Humanities and Social Sciences: Linguistic AI support is more appropriate in these subject areas. As a student of German studies, history, sociology or philosophy, you may use AI more frequently for stylistic improvements and structural optimizations, but you must work completely independently when developing interpretations and arguments.

Economics: Economics subjects such as business administration or economics are somewhere in between. AI support for language purposes is usually permitted here, but you must develop the theory and the necessary qualitative or quantitative analyses independently.

Understanding tools for AI detection and plagiarism detection

The reality of AI recognition at universities is more complex than many students assume. Modern plagiarism and AI detection tools such as Turnitin or GPTZero can provide an indication of what proportion of a text seems to be AI generated. The basis for this is certain text structures and patterns that may be typical of AI. A 100% correct statement, however, has not yet been able to make any tool.

In principle, however, the assessment of the tool serves as an indication and can indicate abnormalities, which must then be examined in more detail. However, a tool can also display an AI share of 20-40% — even with completely legitimate and rule-compliant AI use.

This technical reality therefore leads to a practical dilemma: Even if you use and label AI completely correctly and within the framework of university guidelines, you can be falsely suspected.

Field-proven solutions:

• Never use AI-generated texts unchanged, but as the first rough version
• Systematically adapt AI results to your personal writing style and vocabulary
• Integrate personal phrases and subject-specific phrases
• Develop a recognizable linguistic handwriting in your scientific work

By making these adjustments, you not only reduce the risk of false AI recognition, but also remain authentic and further develop your own scientific writing skills.

Identify and avoid citation traps

One of the most common and dangerous pitfalls of using AI in scientific work lies in the area of source work. AI systems tend to generate seemingly plausible but factually incorrect or distorted sources.

Typical citation errors from AI:

• Invention of non-existent scientific publications
• Distortion of author names, years of publication, or titles of papers
• Mixing different sources into a seemingly coherent reference
• Wrong attribution of citations to authors

Indispensable test routines

• Check every AI-generated source systematically, e.g. in Google Scholar or your university's (online) library
• Use professional reference management tools such as Zotero, Mendeley, or Citavi

Follow the rule: Never blindly accept AI quotes

Best practices for ethical and correct use of AI

Successful integration of AI into scientific work requires a well-thought-out and ethically based approach. The following best practices have been established at universities:

Recommended practices (DO's):

• Use AI specifically for structural optimization, linguistic clarity and stylistic improvements
• Verify all AI-generated facts and claims independently from reliable sources
• Maintain your personal scientific writing style and subtly incorporate AI support
• Document your AI usage transparently and completely
• Develop a critical awareness of the limits and risks of AI systems
• If in doubt, consult your advisor or lecturer

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Practices to avoid (DON'Ts):

• Never outsource the argumentative core of your scientific work to AI
• Don't accept AI-generated texts unchanged and unfiltered
• Don't use unverified AI citations or references
• Don't neglect developing your own scientific writing skills
• Don't disguise your AI usage from supervisors and reviewers

Transparent disclosure: sample wording for scientific work

Honest and precise documentation of AI use is an essential part of scientific integrity. Universities are increasingly expecting explicit information on the type and extent of the AI support used.

Proven formulations for various usage scenarios:

I assure you that I only used AI tools as an aid and that my creative influence prevails in the present work. I am aware that the use of machine-generated texts does not guarantee the quality of content and text. I am fully responsible for taking over all machine-generated text passages I use myself and document in the following list for which tasks I have used AI tools. In the present work, I used generative AI systems as follows:

· Not at all

· for brainstorming

· preparation of the structure

· to create individual passages, totalling x% of the entire text

· for the development of software source texts/program code

· to optimize or restructure software source codes

· to proofread or optimize

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Conclusion: Responsible use of AI with tools such as fastwrite

The use of AI technologies in higher education is no longer as unregulated and questionable as it was a few years ago — provided that they support and enrich your scientific work instead of replacing it. The key lies in using these tools consciously, ethically and transparently.

With sophisticated AI tools such as fastwrite, you retain complete control over your scientific work, remain transparent to supervisors and reviewers and can still write efficiently and purposefully. In this way, your thesis remains authentic, scientifically credible and ethically correct.

The future of scientific writing lies not in resistance to AI technologies, but in their intelligent and responsible integration into scientific work.

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