Student attitudes towards disclosure of GenAI in academic writing: A multidisciplinary study of undergraduate students in Nigerian universities
This multidisciplinary study of Nigerian undergraduates reveals that while students generally hold favorable attitudes toward disclosing generative AI use in academic writing, inconsistent institutional policies and fear of punitive consequences hinder the translation of this ethical awareness into consistent practice.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
In the quiet hum of a university library or the glow of a laptop screen in a dorm room, a new kind of helper has arrived. It is not a person, but a machine that can write, summarize, and explain almost anything a student asks. This technology, known as generative artificial intelligence, has changed how young people learn and how they create their schoolwork. It can draft an essay, fix a grammar mistake, or brainstorm ideas in seconds. But this speed and ease have created a difficult question for teachers and students alike: when a machine helps you write, who gets the credit? The answer lies in a simple act called disclosure, which is the practice of telling the teacher, "I used this tool to help me." Without this honesty, it becomes impossible to know if a student truly understands the material or if the machine did the thinking for them. The stakes are high because schools need to know if a degree represents a person's own mind or a computer's output.
A team of researchers from several Nigerian universities set out to understand how students in Nigeria are navigating this new reality. They wanted to know which tools students were using, whether they knew they were supposed to admit it, and what stopped them from being honest. The researchers surveyed 240 undergraduate students from universities across the country, asking them about their habits and their feelings. They found that students were indeed using these tools, but they were mostly sticking to a few familiar names. The most popular tool was ChatGPT, followed by Meta AI and Google Gemini. While there are many other specialized programs available for drawing pictures or writing code, the students in this study mostly relied on the big, general-purpose chatbots to help with their writing.
The study revealed a surprising mix of confidence and fear. Most of the students knew that they were supposed to tell their teachers when they used artificial intelligence. They understood that being honest was a sign of integrity and that hiding the help they received was wrong. However, knowing the rule and following it are two different things. The researchers discovered that even though students felt it was right to be honest, many were too afraid to do it. They worried that if they admitted using a tool, their teacher would think they were relying too heavily on the technology, that they would get a lower grade, or that they would be penalized for academic misconduct. This fear was so strong that it often outweighed their desire to be truthful.
The biggest obstacle was not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of clear rules. The students reported that their universities did not have consistent policies on how to use these tools. One teacher might say using a tool is fine, while another might say it is not permitted, and neither might explain exactly how to write a note saying, "I used this." Because the rules were unclear, students felt confused and unsafe. They did not know how to declare their use properly, and they feared that any attempt to be honest would be misinterpreted as an admission of guilt. The study showed that when students felt more certain about the rules and the consequences, they were more willing to be open about their use of technology.
Interestingly, the researchers found that the subject a student studied did not change their attitude. Whether a student was studying engineering, medicine, law, or the arts, their feelings about disclosing artificial intelligence use were very similar. They all shared the same mix of understanding the ethical need for honesty and the fear of negative consequences. This suggests that the problem is not specific to one type of school or one kind of major, but is a widespread issue affecting all students. The study concluded that while Nigerian students generally want to do the right thing, they need their schools to provide clear, consistent, and supportive guidance. Without a safe environment where honesty is rewarded rather than penalized, students will likely continue to hide their use of these powerful new tools, leaving teachers unable to judge the true value of the work in front of them.
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