LibGuides: SCI 100- Science: First Year Seminar- Davis: Step 4: Using AI in Research

Using AI in Research

This page explores the potential of generative AI in your academic coursework. Information will be shared about its benefits as a research and writing tool, while also critically examining its limitations and potential pitfalls. Understanding how to effectively and ethically interact with AI is crucial for your academic success both in this course and beyond.

Topics covered will include:

AI and Academic Integrity - definition of generative AI and how it should and should not be used for this assignment
Prompt development - process for creating prompts for AI that are most likely to lead to successful interactions
Recommended Tools - here are some suggested tools to use in an ethical manner

AI and Academic Integrity

“Generative AI (genAI) is a broad label describing any type of artificial intelligence (AI) that can produce new text, images, video, or audio clips. Technically, this type of AI learns patterns from training data and generates new, unique outputs with the same statistical properties” (Rouse, 2024).

Expectations of Generative AI Usage for the Thesis Statement Assignment

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools (Chat GPT, Perplexity, etc.) may be used for the thesis statement assignment, but you are required to provide a citation or acknowledgment when using these tools in any course activities. Proper acknowledgment ensures academic integrity and demonstrates understanding of the source and influence of generative AI tools on your work. When citing generative AI content please use the APA Style Citation guide (examples for citing gen AI usage are linked here). Failure to acknowledge the use of generative AI tools may be considered a violation of HACC's academic dishonesty policy. You are still responsible for what is submitted, no matter how it is created.

Be aware that you should not input any personal or sensitive information into any of the gen AI tools. Each gen AI tool has their own privacy statements which can be found on their websites.

Gen AI tools are large language models that have been trained on enormous amounts of text. Gen AI tools generate information that is based on the probability of the next word within written text; it's based on very complex mathematical equations. Please be aware that the information produced may not be accurate, credible and reliable, and may produce misinformation. To learn more, please watch the video "When ChatGPT is Confidently Wrong."

Prompt Development

While it seems simple enough to interact with AI, you can tailor your interactions to get the results that best suit your needs. Because AI is trained to react to the words you type, providing it with a clear prompt will give you the best chance at quality results. Follow these best practices:

Use correct spelling and grammar
Ask follow-up questions
Experiment with different phrasings
Prompt for fact-checking

(Skill Leap AI, 2023)

Prompt Engineering Methods

This is how to create an effective gen AI prompt. It needs to contain context, specific information and an intent or goal as well as a response format if it is needed.

[Context] + [Specific Information] + [Intent/Goal] + [Response Format (if needed)] = Perfect Prompt

I’m a college freshman looking to learn how to properly set up a paper in APA 7th edition format. Explain to me how to do so, in a step-by-step process.

(Skill Leap AI, 2023)