Institute for Nonprofit
Management and Governance Open main menu
Hintere Außenansicht des D2 Gebäudes

AI and Software Policy

Version 12.11.2024


We encourage you to use the best possible technical tools for the various tasks involved in the preparation of a written paper (seminar paper, project work, Bachelor's thesis, Master's thesis, etc.). This also includes the appropriate use of AI.

We expect you to document the use of these tools transparently and not to use any tools other than those that you specify in the paper.

For documentation please provide a list of used tools at the end of your paper after the bibliography. Table 1 below gives an impression of what this list should look like. It also gives examples of possible tools and appropriate uses.

Table 1: Example of a list of used tools

ToolPurposeConcerned parts of the work
Scholar.google.comPreliminary literature reviewResearch Proposal, chapter 2 (State of Research)
EBSCO Business Source PremierSystematic literature reviewChapter 2 (State of Research)
EndNoteLiterature management, citationsWhole paper
RData analysisChapter 3 (Analysis)
DeepL WriteLanguage editing to correct language errors and improve styleWhole paper
ChatGPTFirst draft of the summaryChapter 5 (Conclusion and Outlook)

In Table 2 below, you will find a list of which technical tools you may consider using for which purposes. This does not mean that you should use all of these tools for all of these purposes! Other useful applications are possible, and new tools are constantly being developed. Please let us know if you find any helpful new tools and uses yourself.

Table 2: Examples of possible tools

PurposesExamples for possible tools
  • Preliminary literature review
  • WU Plus Katalog
  • Scholar.google.com
  • ResearchRabbit
  • Scite.ai
  • ask.orkg.org
  • Systematic literature review of journal articles
  • EBSCO Business Source Premier
  • Proquest
  • Scopus
  • Search for "grey literature"
  • Scholar.google.com
  • Literature management, citations
  • EndNote
  • Zotero
  • Citavi
  • CADIMA (Literature management and documentation of systematic literature reviews)
  • Quantitative data analysis
  • SPSS
  • R
  • STATA
  • Simple calculations (e.g., cost accounting, liquidity planning)
For more extensive and complex calculations, it is better to use the tools mentioned for quantitative data analysis.
  • MSExcel
  • Qualitative data analysis
  • MaxQDA
  • ATLAS
  • Nvivo
  • Transcription
  • MaxQDA
  • Open AI Whisper
  • Language editing to correct language errors (spelling, grammar, punctuation) and improve style
  • DeepL Write
  • Grammarly (Englisch only)
  • Translations
  • DeepL Translate
  • Check and improve the flow of arguments in a self-generated text,
  • check and improve the paragraph structure of a self-generated text,
  • get suggestions for shortening a self-written text,
  • revise texts in a way that makes them easier to understand.
  • ChatGPT Canvas
  • Gain an initial overview of a topic,
  • have basic terms explained to you, and
  • have connections between concepts explained,
  • generate ideas for research questions,
  • generate ideas for search terms,
  • summarize texts,
  • have the flow of argumentation of a self-generated text checked and improved,
  • have the paragraph structure of a self-generated text checked and improved,
  • get suggestions for shortening a self-generated text.
AI tools are not very helpful for finding solutions to novel and special problems. For these kinds of problems, AI provides average to banal weak solutions. You are welcome to try it to see if it helps you. We strongly advise against relying on it for such purposes.
Due to the way the underlying technology works, texts generated by AI are inevitably clichéd and tend towards platitudes. 
We reserve the right to apply strict grading standards when it comes to such weaknesses.
Do not believe anything AI generates. If it tells you a purported fact, assume it is false unless you know it to be true or can confirm it from a reliable source. You are responsible for all errors and omissions by AI tools. AI is best able to help you with topics you are already familiar with.

If you are working with generative AI such as ChatGPT, please create a separate chat for each project (e.g. your term paper, master's thesis). Write all prompts for that project - and only for that project - into that chat, and keep the chat until the project is complete. Your supervisor may ask you to share this chat with them (see instructions), e.g. in case detection tools sound an alarm or there is reason to believe that there is room for improvement in the way you are interacting with the AI.
  • ChatGPT
  • Talk AI
  • Bing Copilot