AI Policies | Ethical AI Use | AI Proofreading | Humanizing AI Text | AI Limitations
In this blog, We will teach you how to use AI tools like ChatGPT ethically in your research. We’ll look at six powerful ways to utilize AI tools for conducting research and writing papers. As a researcher, it is very important that you have a very clear understanding of how to ethically use AI for academic research.
1. Summarizing research articles
Number one on the list is summarizing research articles. You can use ChatGPT to go through research papers quickly. When you’re doing your literature review, you may have to read 100s of papers, which can take up a lot of time. You can ask ChatGPT to summarize research papers for you. You can look at the summary and decide if it’s worth reading the whole paper or not.
Let’s say I am interested in this paper about the impact of social media on mental health. It is a long paper that contains over 10 pages, I can’t be bothered to read the full paper. So, what I can do is ask ChatGPT to summarize the paper in 100 words and break it down into a bullet list.
As you can see ChatGPT has given me a summary highlighting the main findings of the paper. Apparently, social media is great for communication and information sharing. However, it is linked to things like online harassment, loneliness, and depression. Teens are more likely to feel these negative effects because they’re still growing and developing. As you can see, we managed to understand what is in a 10-page research paper in less than 10 secs.
2. Brainstorming ideas
The second item on the list is brainstorming ideas. Let’s say you are planning to conduct research, but you don’t know where to start. No worries, you can ask ChatGPT for ideas. For example, let’s say my topic of interest is the use of AI in education. Let’s ask ChatGPT to generate a list of research questions.
As you can see it has come up with quite a few ideas. Let’s look at the first three items. Number 1, we can investigate how to integrate AI effectively into classroom environment. Number 2, we can investigate ethical implications of AI in education. Number 3, we can investigate how AI-driven learning impacts student academic performance. I quite like the third one. Now I have found a research question that I like, I need to figure out what methodology to use to answer the research question. We can ask a simple follow-up question to ChatGPT. I am going to ask, “Please provide a quantitative methodology idea for item number 3.”
Let’s look at the quantitative methodology idea that ChatGPT has given us. We can use two groups of students, one using traditional learning methods and another using AI-driven learning methods. We can track academic performance scores for both groups. Finally, we can use a paired t-test to compare the scores and see if there is a difference between the two groups. There you go, we have drafted a research question and a solid methodology in just a few minutes.
3. Virtual tutor
One of the coolest ways to use ChatGPT is as your very own virtual tutor. Let’s look at an example. Let’s say I am reading a paper and suddenly I come across the term “Synthesized”, and I have no idea what it is. So, I am going to ask ChatGPT to explain this term in a simple language that a fourth-grader can understand.
ChatGPT has come back with a response, let’s have a look. ChatGPT tells me that the word “synthesize” means taking different pieces of information and combining them to gain a better understanding of something. It has also given me a simple practical example; it is telling me that it is like putting together pieces of a puzzle so that we can see the whole picture. It makes sense and I get it now. Thanks to ChatGPT.
4. Research paper outline
One of the biggest difficulties students and researchers face is getting started with the manuscript. Most students stare at a blank page for hours, even days without knowing where to start. ChatGPT is perfect for generating an outline for your manuscript. Let’s say I am writing a paper about social media and teenagers. I can ask ChatGPT to provide an outline for my paper. Please remember you must be as specific as possible in order to get useful results from ChatGPT. Provide as much detail as possible about your topic. I am going to say: “I am writing an essay investigating the positive and negative impacts of social media on teenagers. I am using questionnaire surveys in my research. Please provide an outline for my paper with heading and subheadings along with a short summary of what to put in each section.” Let’s see what ChatGPT comes back with.
As you can see ChatGPT has generated a paper outline for me. It has broken down the paper into different sections and tells me exactly what to include in each of the sections. You can ask some follow-up questions to improve your outline. I am going to ask ChatGPT to provide some figure and table ideas for my paper. As you can see, ChatGPT has given me possible table and figure titles for my paper. Furthermore, it also tells me exactly what I should illustrate or demonstrate in the figures and tables.
Great. I have my paper outline along with ideas for tables and figures. Now, I simply have to start writing the sections one by one.
5. Getting feedback
One of the best things about using ChatGPT is getting feedback on your work. But you have to be very clear about what sort of feedback you are after. Let’s say I am working on the limitations section of my paper. I have written something like this : “Small sample size is one of the major limitations of the study.” But I am worried that I am sounding too negative. So, I am going to ask ChatGPT to provide some feedback. I am going to say, “Hi ChatGPT, I am writing the limitations of my paper, and I am worried that I sound too negative, can you please offer some feedback?” and then, copy and paste the text next to the prompt. Let’s see what ChatGPT comes back with.
ChatGPT thinks that using the phrase “major limitation” is too strong and is suggesting that we use a slightly softer phrase. It is suggesting that we say, “One limitation of this study is the relatively small sample size” rather than saying “One of the major limitations of the study is the small sample size”. This makes the statement sound more neutral rather than negative, which I think is a great suggestion.
6. Rebuttal to reviewers
One of the most challenging things a researcher must do in their career is writing a rebuttal to reviewers. It’s like walking a tightrope—You need to defend your work without offending the reviewer. I recently got feedback from a reviewer on one of my papers saying it wasn’t structured properly. But honestly, I thought the structure was just fine. I was not sure how to respond back to the reviewer without offending him. So, I decided to ask ChatGPT for help. I am going to ask, “Hi ChatGPT, a reviewer has commented on my paper that it is not structured properly, however, I believe it is well structured, how do I tell the reviewer this without offending him”. Let’s see what ChatGPT comes back with.
ChatGPT is suggesting that we start by thanking the reviewer, which is always a good idea. Then it is asking us to tell the reviewer that the paper follows a standard format for papers in this field. Essentially, we are telling the reviewer that most papers published on this topic follow this particular format. Then we are politely putting the question back to the reviewer asking him exactly what changes he wants us to make? Essentially, what we are saying is that if the reviewer is specific about what he wants, then we will be happy to make those changes. As you can see ChatGPT has given a response that shows respect to the reviewer while defending our work. Pretty cool, right?
7. Summary
To quickly wrap things up, we explored different ways to use AI tools like ChatGPT ethically for academic research and writing. I want you to pay attention to what I did here. I did not ask ChatGPT to write the paper for me. Instead, I used it to brainstorm ideas and get a sense of direction. I was the one writing the paper using the ideas, not ChatGPT. This is very important to remember.
