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Literature Research
Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in your research process
Always check with your teacher that your intended use of AI is acceptable!
*Please use AI ethically and responsibly! What does this mean?
Using AI ethically means being honest about your use of it. Describe the tool’s use in a disclosure statement that you include, whether it is in your paper or preparing a presentation like a poster or Powerpoint. Include the tool used, the version, as well as the prompts given.
Example:
AI Usage Disclosure: This document was created with the assistance of [AI tool and version]. The AI was used to [describe use, include a link if possible]. All AI-generated content was reviewed for accuracy and the author assumes full responsibility for the final content.
The APA style guide offers more information about citing generative AI if you would like to read more: Citing generative AI in APA Style: Part 1—Reference formats
Using AI responsibly means evaluating the information you find before you use it for your research project, or share it with others, to determine if it is from reliable and credible sources.
Review some of the evaluation methods outlined on the EVALUATE tab above.
SIFT is another method you can use to fact-check web information that AI gives you.
And, be aware of:
- Hallucinations
AI tools don’t always operate with 100% accuracy and can produce false responses (hallucinations), which can lead to disinformation, skewed results, and creating answers that can potentially be harmful, especially in the realm of health sciences. Don’t blindly trust everything AI might say is accurate even if it sounds convincing. - Bias
Bias occurs when results are produced that favor or discriminate against certain groups of people. This can happen in AI because the data it was trained on reflects historical prejudices or doesn’t represent all groups equally. The way AI systems are designed, what features they prioritize, or how the ‘success’ of what they produce is measured can also contribute to bias.
Ask questions about the information you encounter!
Read more:
- Understanding Biases in AI – Includes a list of different types of biases.
- When AI Gets It Wrong: Addressing AI Hallucinations and Bias
Some ways you could use AI:
- As a Starting Point
Use generative AI tools like ChatGPT, CoPilot, Gemini, & Claude as a starting point to brainstorm or clarify your research topic. These tools can also summarize or outline topics to identify what kind of evidence exists on a topic. - Suggest and Develop Search Strategies
Ask the AI for keywords and synonyms to use when searching in databases, or go one step further and prompt for potential Boolean (AND/OR) search strings. You can then take these keywords and search strings and use them to effectively search databases like PubMed to find articles that support your research. - Discover Articles
Specialized research AI tools like Consensus, Elicit, Semantic Scholar, and Research Rabbit are specifically designed to help discover articles relevant to your research. These tools differ from general AI tools in that they are limited to genuine scholarly sources and provide links to the original research papers. Be sure to evaluate articles found with AI in the same way you would any other source. They each allow you to use the platform for free, though may limit how many questions you can ask in a certain time period. Remember to cite the articles you find and use – not the platform you found them on. - Summarize Articles or Synthesize Evidence
Use AI to increase your comprehension by summarizing articles and breaking down complex concepts. Fact-check any AI-generated claims by tracing them back to the original sources. Never directly quote AI-generated summaries – always cite the original paper.
What does this look like?
Check out this ChatGPT example of research topic exploration on addiction: Addiction research topics
Scroll up if it opens at the end of the ‘conversation’ so you can get to the beginning, and follow it to see how the question and answer process progresses. This one worked especially well, but, remember, AI is not always consistent and won’t always respond in the same way
The process and how you might use it:
- Try ChatGPT or Claude OR CoPilot OR Gemini
AI prompt = I am a high school student needing to write a research paper related to [topic and any factors you want it to consider]. Please give me 10 topics I might focus on. - Pick one or two of the ten topics that you find most interesting.
AI prompt = Please narrow one topic into several possible research questions. I’m interested in topic #x [and type out what that is] or topic #y [and type out what that is]. - Review this next set of questions and choose one that is of interest to you.
AI prompt = Map out question #x as a PICO-style question. - Continue after that.
AI prompt = Turn the PICO elements into search terms with synonyms. [you can ask it to supply keyword terms and/or MeSH – Medical Subject Headings] - Continue after that.
AI prompt = Create some example search strings I might use in the PubMed database.