It is possible to use ChatGPT and other AI tools to assist with academic assignments when the instructor permits it. Please check the syllabus for classroom policies and ask the course instructor any questions that arise about AI tool use. Unless explicitly stated by assignment guidelines in rare instances, students should never use these tools to generate the body of text for a written assignment.
Topic Development
One possible use for ChatGPT and similar AI tools is to brainstorm topic ideas for papers or other projects. This may be especially useful if the user is having difficulty coming up with ideas to begin their assignment. Of course, every topic suggestion provided by an AI tool should be checked for relevancy. If the output provides an interesting topic idea, the user will have to make sure that there is supporting evidence to go that route and modify the topic accordingly. They will also want to check that the topic fits within the assignment's guidelines.
Additionally, generative AI is particularly useful for coming up with a catchy paper title. Just know that any text inserted as a prompt may be saved for training purposes, so be careful sharing your own work with AI tools. You could provide a brief summary of what the paper is about and ask for an appropriate title.
Generating Keywords
You can prompt ChatGPT or a similar chat bot, like Microsoft Copilot to provide a list of keywords for a research topic. This may be especially useful if you are having difficulty locating appropriate resources in a library database and need to brainstorm additional search terms. Furthermore, ChatGPT seems capable of providing general instructions on how to use keywords in academic databases, such as how to widen or narrow results using OR/AND in your search.
For example, here is a prompt given to ChatGPT (free version) and part of its output:
Prompt: My topic is online information literacy and the impact of generative AI. What kind of search terms can I use for JSTOR?
Output: For your research topic on online information literacy and the impact of generative AI, you can use a combination of specific keywords and phrases to conduct a thorough search on JSTOR. Here are some suggested search terms.... (I am leaving out the individual search terms and focusing on the advice given)
Combine these terms using Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to refine your search. For example:
Additionally, you may want to include specific aspects or dimensions of your topic, such as:
(OpenAI, 2024)
These suggestions are useful and provide a number of ways to frame the topic. However, it is worth noting that if those terms are actually searched using quotation marks, the exact phrases will have to appear in an article for it to show up in the results. Only a couple results will appear unless the quotation marks are removed. Generative AI like ChatGPT can be especially helpful with brainstorming, but if you are having trouble with a search, it is always a good idea to reach out to your subject librarian.
Interpreting Complicated Documents
One of the main advantages of ChatGPT is that it uses Natural Language Processing designed to generate human-like speech. More complicated documents can be entered as a prompt with instructions to produce a simplified account of its contents without jargon. ChatGPT may provide a summary that is easier for a general audience to understand. This may be especially useful when determining if a source is relevant to a research project. Of course, this comes with the risk that the output is an inaccurate representation of the contents. Users will need to ensure the output is relevant by reading the document more closely. Students should still complete assigned readings for courses. W3Schools provides instructions on how to request an explanation of a text on this page.
Coding
ChatGPT can assist with coding if permitted by your course instructor. W3Schools provides instructions on how to use ChatGPT-4 for coding. Like all other outputs from ChatGPT, responses should be checked for accuracy. Code should be tested to ensure that it works.
This guide primarily discusses ChatGPT, a popular generative AI chatbot with a wide range of uses. However, what generative AI you should use depends on the task required. For example, GitHub Copilot is a generative AI that incorporates popular coding editors into its outputs and provides guidance for the user, and may be a better option for learning to code.
How do I start using ChatGPT? You will need to make an account on OpenAI’s website. It is free to make an account and use an older version of ChatGPT, but please note that use of the newest version, ChatGPT-4 requires a $20/month subscription.
Prompting
Effective use of generative AI requires good prompting (basically, how you ask the AI took to do what you want it to do). GitHub has a page for Awesome ChatGPT Prompts to help you get started. Prompts are the user's part of an iterative conversation with the chat bot, in which prompts and outputs build on one another to get closer to the needed information (unless the user specifies otherwise).
Here is a video on Prompts and Priming for ChatGPT from a business consultant. The video is about generating a standup comedy routine, but the recommendations could be used to produce other kinds of output.