Artificial Intelligence Software and the Research Writing Culture of Postgraduate Students in Federal Universities in South – South, Nigeria

This study examines the extent of influence of AI software on the research writing culture of postgraduate students in Federal Universities in South-South Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was used for the study. Stratified random sampling procedures permitted selection of 381 postgraduate students from a total population of 8,01 5 at six institutions for the 2024/2025 academic session. A research instrument, consisting of 20 items titled “Artificial Intelligence Software and the Research Writing Culture of Postgraduate Students Questionnaires” (AISRWCPSQ), was developed and validated by experts, achieving a high reliability coefficient of 0.89. The result showed that ChatGPT and Grammarly were perceived to be highly valuable and strongly influential on patterns of research writing for both master’s and doctoral students. The findings revealed that the extent of influence was substantially greater for doctoral candidates than for master’s students. However, the findings identified several limitations, including excessive reliance on these tools, reduced originality of academic work and major concerns with the ethical consequences of their use. As a consequence of these developments, the overall influence of AI software on the academic writing has been substantial and represents increasing urgency for effective and ethical integration of these technologies into programs of postgraduate education. Finally, our results support the view that components of AI literacy and experience with digital methods of writing should be incorporated into programs of postgraduate education to enable students to utilize AI technologies in a manner that is both responsible and consistent with the standards of academic writing.