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Learn what it's useful for and how to prompt effectively.
Remember to always verify the information it gives you.
Check with your teacher for each course to find out the policy on using ChatGPT and similar tools.
Remember, you'll always need to verify the information, because ChatGPT will sometimes make things ups (known as "hallucination.")
Library research (not yet). For now, it's best to use Library databases, the Library Catalog, or Google Scholar. This may change in the future with more specialized search tools based on LLMs. See I can’t find the citations that ChatGPT gave me. What should I do?
Note: You may want to try one of these sites below that summarize web search results with generative AI. (But don't use ChatGPT, since it's not connected to web search).
Simply, it's what you type into the chat box.
Think of ChatGPT as your personal intern. They need very specific instructions, and they need you to verify the information.
ChatGPT sometimes makes things up. That's because it's designed to write in a way that sounds like human writing. It's not designed to know facts.
1. A role could be, "Act as an expert in [fill in the blank]."
Act as an expert community organizer.
Act as a high school biology teacher.
Act as a comedian.
2. Example prompt:
Act as an expert academic librarian. I’m writing a research paper for Sociology and I need help coming up with a topic. I’m interested in topics related to climate change. Please give me a list of 10 topic ideas related to climate change.
3.Example of changes: (keep conversing until you get something useful)
Now give me some sub-topics or research questions for [one of those topics]. And give me a list of keywords and phrases I can use to search for that topic in library databases and Google Scholar.
Or...
I didn't like any of those topics. Please give me 10 more.
To learn more, try these tutorials about ChatGPT from The University of Arizona Libraries. They contain short videos (3 min or less), and quiz questions for self-review of what you learned
This guide is based on "Student Guide to ChatGPT" by University of Arizona Libraries is licensed under CC BY 4.0