Generative artificial intelligence as a teaching tool in research writing: a scoping literature review

Generative Artificial intelligence (AI) is widespread all over the world. It has become a topic of concern most especially in the field of education. In the present context, generative AI has become prevalent among students who are very reliant on online sources because of its ease of use making them produce written outputs instantaneously. Consequently, it adversely affects their critical thinking skills and limits their ability to produce an authentic written output which does not commit ethical concerns. The limited skills of students on paraphrasing, summarizing and citations are rooted on being reliant to generative AI. Thus, students’ inability to draft their own research paper resorted to copying directly what is given by Generative AI leading to many underlying issues in the academe such as originality. The emergence of Generative AI in the field of education is inevitable and making a policy on its proper usage may help the educators and students to capitalize on its potential. AI opens other facets of learning such individualized instruction and self-paced learning. This scoping review examined important ideas and implications from peer-reviewed journals, published studies, and relevant articles on Generative AI. This study emphasizes the potentials of Generative AI as a teaching tool inside and outside the classroom.