Between Words and Prompts: Revealing Student Practices of ChatGPT in Academic Writing
Keywords:
academic writing, AI ethics, AI literacy, ChatGPT use, cognitive outsourcingAbstract
This study examines the gap between students’ claims about their use of ChatGPT in thesis writing and the practices revealed by their prompt records. Data is collected through in-depth interviews with six final year students from three different universities across Indonesia: Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi. The data were analysed thematically following Braun and Clarke’s approach, from which three main themes emerged. First, Framing ChatGPT as a Learning Tool, where students position ChatGPT as a learning tool that speeds up the process and clarifies ideas; Second, Delegated Authorship Through Prompts, which shows that students often give explicit commands to ChatGPT to compose parts of their thesis, even using additional tools such as Quillbot and Google Translate to refine the results; Third, Ethical Ambiguity Between What Is Said and Done, which reflects students' ignorance, defensiveness, or discomfort when faced with ethical questions related to the use of ChatGPT. This study concludes that although students claim to use AI responsibly, their practices show a form of cognitive outsourcing that they are not fully aware of. These findings highlight the importance of a critical understanding of academic AI literacy and the need to develop more contextual policies and ethical guidelines in higher education settings.
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