AI Tools for Academic Writing

The market for AI tools is growing rapidly and dynamically. In this article, you’ll find an overview of tried and tested tools you can use in academic work. Never lose sight of the fact that generative AI is, by its very nature, unscientific: It formulates imprecisely, does not disclose its sources, and can very convincingly produce nonsense. Nevertheless, you can make use of AI tools – if you approach them with a healthy degree of skepticism.

Using AI tools

AI tools can be meaningfully used at various points in the academic writing process, for example to support …

the formulation of the research question and narrowing of the topic
the literature search
summarizing and understanding academic literature
structuring content
generating text
content-related and linguistic revision
proofreading

AI tools will not take away the time-consuming and sometimes exhausting thinking work that is an important part of academic work. But they can complement your work and sometimes also ease the burden. The better you know your topic, the requirements of academic work, and the tools themselves, the more they can support you.

Always clarify with your supervisors whether you are allowed to use AI tools for your current academic work and how you should make this use transparent.

Elicit

Elicit is an AI research tool that supports you in finding and analyzing academic articles. The tool can provide a brief summary of articles or compile a research overview from several articles.

Searching in Elicit does not replace systematic literature research. The program only has access to part of the available literature on a topic. Older and print literature is not available.

For all Ohm students, there is the possibility to attend the workshop Literature Research with AI as well as to access the associated training materials here.

ChatGPT & Copilot

AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Copilot can support you with many tasks in the writing process. For example, you can turn to these tools for help when brainstorming ideas by asking a question or entering a topic. Let ChatGPT also suggest research questions and outline drafts and use them as a basis for your own research question, outline, or for narrowing down your topic.

ChatGPT can also generate entire text passages based on your input. Often, keywords and sentence fragments are sufficient as input. This function is especially useful if you are experiencing writer’s block and want to get into the flow of writing.

ChatGPT is also useful for making the language in your work more formal and academic – in German or English.

ChatGPT – like all other AIs – can hallucinate. More precisely: the answers AI gives are sometimes wrong, fabricated, or imprecisely worded. This is often difficult to recognize, especially if you are not yet very familiar with a topic. Academic work still requires you to build expertise yourself – by referring to the original texts. You are responsible for the content of your academic work.

For all Ohm students, there is the possibility to attend the writing workshop Microsoft Copilot: Limits and Opportunities in the Writing Process as well as to access the related Workshop materials.

The Language Tool / Grammarly

In times of AI-based language checking, your work should be perfect in terms of comma placement, grammar, and spelling. Tools like the LanguageTool or Grammarly correct your text for you and rewrite it if necesssary. This can also have a positive influence on the style of your texts.

There is no single academic style that is correct for all disciplines. You must decide for yourself whether the AI-revised text matches the linguistic style of your field.

DALL-E

If you need graphic representations, image generators like DALL-E can be very handy. They generate both simple and complex images and can serve as visual inspiration. In academia, DALL-E can be used to create visual representations of complex data or concepts that support and illustrate your work.

The images generated by AI tools are often subject to strong bias. This means: The images often show a lack of diversity and reinforce clichés. Take responsibility for the outcome of your images!

What does it cost me to use AI tools?

The use of AI tools can involve financial and other costs: Many tools offer basic functions free of charge, but fees are often charged for advanced features. Members of Ohm can use Microsoft Copilot free of charge for 30 requests per day.

Checking the AI-generated results can also cost you time, since AI tools do not always deliver error-free or suitable content. And last but not least, excessive use can impair your own writing skills – therefore, use AI consciously and purposefully.

If a website or an app is free, you usually pay with your data! Get used to replacing names, personal data, internal matters, and details of research projects in your requests with placeholders.

Frequently asked questions

Am I allowed to have my academic work written entirely by an AI?

No, that is not allowed. But in many cases you may now use AI as support. Always clarify with your supervisors whether and to what extent you are allowed to use AI tools for your current academic work.

Do I have to list the AI tools I used in the bibliography as a source?

Ultimately, your supervisors decide this. As a rule, it is required that AI tools are listed as aids, but not as sources.

What about data protection when using AI tools?

AI tools like ChatGPT or DeepLWrite often store what you enter in order to improve. US providers do not adhere to the strict GDPR rules. Therefore, it is better not to enter sensitive or personal data and to carefully read the data protection information of the tools.

Any suggestions for improvement? Write to us!

This article was published in September 2025 and last updated in January 2025.

Online Writing Lab