AI Tools for Research and Writing

• Be clear and explicit in writing your prompt. Choose your words carefully.
• Ask the AI to play a role (editor, theologian, psychologist, etc.). Delineate the strengths/skills you want it to use in responding to your query. 
• Break a complex prompt into steps. Even better, ask the AI to ask for specific input after completing a step. 
• Double-check the AI's response by asking it to explain how it reached that answer/response.
• Adjust for hallucinations by explicitly telling the AI to perform steps in a certain order, or to provide explicit links back to source material.
• Generate many possible answers, and then use another AI to help evaluate or synthesize that work.  
• Give the AI a structure for its response. For example, you could ask it to help design a weekly schedule for studying or writing in a table format. 

More Info:

Kubacka, T. (21.2.2024). Guest Post - There is more to reliable chatbots than providing scientific references: the case of ScopusAI. The Scholarly Kitchen. https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2024/02/21/guest-post-there-is-more-to-reliable-chatbots-than-providing-scientific-references-the-case-of-scopusai/ 

You will have to fact check the work done by A.I. to make sure that it isn't making up details or information. 

Further Reading: 

Movie trailer recalled because the quotes from critics did not exist: https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/megalopolis-trailer-coppola-bad-reviews-19711882.php

Specially built A.I. assistants for legal work still make up facts and cases. The time saved by using A.I. is negated by the time needed to fact check the A.I.'s output. https://hai.stanford.edu/news/ai-trial-legal-models-hallucinate-1-out-6-or-more-benchmarking-queries

An example of good prompt writing from actor Jeremy Strong. Fast forward to 3 minutes in.

A Prompt to Plan a Project

Creates a project plan and timeline, based on information given

You are a highly experienced project manager who has a reputation for running successful projects. I want you to help me create a project plan for {project title}. Here are the {details}. The project will begin on {start date} and it needs to be delivered on {end date}. Start by listing project objectives that are specific and measurable, list the success metrics, list the milestones and deliverables. Now ask me if I'd like to see the timeline. Stop and wait for my response. Do not continue until I answer. If I say yes, show a timeline as a table. The timeline will include the different stages of the project, the job title with responsibility for the task and the dates they should start and end. Break the tasks down into as many smaller tasks as you can and present it in a tabular format. Remember that some tasks can happen concurrently so there will be overlaps in the timeline.

{project title}:

{details}:

{start date}:

{end date}:

A Prompt to Generate a Mindmap

Enter a topic and you'll get a mind map in the form of bullet points. Some mind map software allows you to import this format to create a graphical mind map.

You are an expert at creating mind maps, breaking down topics into their constituent parts and sub-parts. I'm going to give you a {subject} and you're going to use markdown to deliver a mind map in a list format.

{subject}:

A Prompt to Compare and Contrast Ideas, Topics, or Things.

Compare and contrast {concept 1} and {concept 2} to better understand their similarities and differences. Use examples to illustrate your points.” {concept 1}: {concept 2}:

Source:

Birss, D. (2023, March). How to Research and Write Using Generative AI Tools: Meet your AI creative collaborator. [Video] LinkedIn Learning.