Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools and Resources

Ai tools can assist with various tasks within the research process, from brainstorming topics and generating keywords, to assisting with literature searching, including literature reviews, summarizing sources or text/ data analysis, and more.

*Generative AI may not be permitted in every course or assignment. If your instructor provides instructions that differ from the information we've provided, always follow your instructor's directions. If AI use is authorized by your instructor, then when using AI, you must always cite it according to current APA Style.*

Generative AI can be a helpful tool for brainstorming during the research process. Here are a few tips that will help you use AI tools like ChatGPT for brainstorming topics and keywords for research.

1. Define your general topic area.

2. Choose your AI tool (such as ChatGPT).

3. Craft your prompt, clearly specifying your request. For example, you can ask the AI to generate ideas for research questions or propose methodologies or recommend scholarly databases. Refer to the section on Prompts.

4. Experiment and refine your prompt, building on what was helpful or not helpful about the response given.

5. Critically evaluate and filter the results using your human expertise, knowledge, and experience. Validate using credible sources.

6. Beware of ethical considerations such as bias, source, privacy, and citing the use of AI according to Saybrook University Guidelines and Procedures on Academic Integrity Relating to Artificial Intelligence (AI). 

One of the best ways to ensure relevant and comprehensive results from your library searches is to collect a good list of keywords pertaining to your research topic. In addition to using your own knowledge and judgement, consulting with your librarians, database thesauri, and other experts in your field, you can use AI for quick and easy help generating keywords.

1. Introduction:
   • Begin by introducing yourself and your research topic to ChatGPT. Provide a concise description of your role, the subject, and the main focus of your research. For example, "I am a doctoral student working on my dissertation. My topic is 'Children with Autism and Their Academic Performance and How They are Supported in the Classroom.'"
2. Ask for Suggestions:
   • Pose a question to ChatGPT asking for keywords related to your research. For example, you might ask, "Can you suggest keywords for this topic?" or "What are some relevant keywords for studying autism in children?"
3. Review and Refine:
   • Examine the model's responses and pick out potential keywords. Look for terms that accurately represent the core concepts of your research and try to think of what is missing in the results list, based on your own knowledge of the area.
4. Ask Follow-up Questions:
   • If needed, ask follow-up questions to narrow down or expand on specific aspects of your research. For example, you can ask, "Can you provide more keywords related to academic performance?" Repeat this process for as many keywords or topics as you'd like.
5. Validate the Results and Consult Existing Literature:
   • Cross-reference the generated keywords with existing literature in your field or a database thesaurus to ensure that your keywords are recognized and accepted within the academic community. 
6. Iterative Process:
   • Refine and expand your list until you are satisfied with the selection.

Generative Ai has introduced new tools available to researchers, enabling users to visualize connections between works, or facilitate evaluation and synthesis of relevant works.

These tools are a supplement to the literature review process, not an alternative route.They do not search all relevant literature, and are not meant to substitute library database searching. It's important to always verify the information by referring to the actual article.

AI search tools do not rely solely on traditional keyword searching; they use algorithms to find related articles.

Traditional searching:

1. Search the library collections with carefully selected keywords or subject terms
2. Identify the important journals associated with your field of study and search through the previous five years of published and peer-reviewed articles.

AI-assisted searching:

You still need to follow the steps of traditional searching. AI does not replace your human judgment. Steps 1 and 2 allow you to establish credible journals to find good seed articles to train an AI algorithm that works for your subject. Also, when you only use AI search tools, you will be woefully disappointed in the repetition you see in the results produced and the lack of quantity of results that meet the CRAAP test.

When you find articles that may be relevant to your research while using AI tools, ALWAYS search for them in OneSearch or the library databases to verify that they are truly published scholarly articles. Do not assume that citations or articles you find in AI searches are real.

It can be difficult to know how if the content AI produces is from a valid source that can be used for research. The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) provides these steps on evaluating sources found from AI tools.

"1. Are the citations actually real? Does such a journal/website/book exist? State which are not real, and which are real. State whether any website used in a real citation where you found it is credible and why.

2. State where those specific real citations are available in full text (check our library databases too). List the names of the places you found them (for example, name of such-and-such website, name of database, etc...).

3. Check the credentials of the lead author by doing a Google search of their name in quotes. Are they trained in the field of the topic? State their credentials and/or academic degrees.

4. Now run their name (in quote marks) in a library database (like ProQuest or EBSCOhost), use a drop-down to search for AUTHOR - do they appear? IF YES, what are their other article/s (provide the permalink URLs) about?

5. Now search for the topic you have chosen in a library database. What are the top four most relevant (provide the four permalink URLs)? Note if they match any of the original four generated.

“Vetting ChatGPT Sources | ACRL Framework for Information Literacy Sandbox.” Retrieved January 22, 2024, from Vetting ChatGPT sources | ACRL Framework for Information Literacy Sandbox