*Research 101

AI stands for artificial intelligence, which is technology that enables machines to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence.

Tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini are generative AI, more specifically Large Language Models (LLMs). A large language model is an advanced computer program designed to understand and produce ('generate') human-like text. It is trained on massive amounts of written data, which allows it to perform tasks such as answering questions, summarizing, generating creative writing, and engaging in natural language conversations.

There are two types of LLMs: grounded and ungrounded. A grounded LLM has access to the internet and can search when responding to questions or tasks. Two examples of grounded LLMs are Perplexity AI and Microsoft Copilot. An ungrounded LLM only has access to the training data it has stored, which is often more limited and not as current. ChatGPT is an ungrounded LLM, which means it is not a good option for research.

Google is also experimenting with AI search overviews at the top of some of its search results; similarly, its AI is prone to hallucinations or incorporating satirical/sarcastic information (see: Glue pizza and eat rocks: Google AI search errors go viral).

Academic misconduct is any dishonest behavior that gives you an unfair advantage in your schoolwork, like cheating, plagiarism, or falsifying information. Just like copying and pasting information from online or from a friend is academic misconduct, so too is using AI for class assignments unless specifically allowed by your instructor. The Student Conduct Code at SF includes unauthorized use of AI as plagiarism:

Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, the use, by paraphrase or direct quotation, of the published or unpublished work of another person without full and clear acknowledgment. This applies to speech, electronic media and content generated by artificial intelligence.

Consequences of academic misconduct are listed in the conduct code, and can include failing an assignment, failing a course, or even expulsion

The use of AI tools that rewrite your drafts, such as the AI components of Grammarly, or that translate a paper into another language, such as DeepL Translate, may be considered academic misconduct as well. It is always best to double-check with your instructor about acceptable uses of AI in their class before using AI tools.

Currently, most generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Google Gemini) are prone to hallucinate information—that is, make information up. These tools work on probability so they provide information that seems probable but might not be correct. This means you should always double check information as well as any sources AI may provide.

The current iterations of AI are not good at:

• providing research, including quotes, facts, and resources
• providing information or citations for real sources
• summarizing entire scientific or academic papers to highlight the main points or findings of the author
• producing the sources it used to create its answer

AI can also sometimes provide only partial answers (omitting other relevant parts) and interpret your prompt in a different way than intended.

Always check with your professor about their AI policies before using it for any class assignment!

Although AI should not be used for the actual research or writing, there are some aspects of the research process that it can usually help with. However, please be sure to check with your instructor if you have any doubt about using AI as part of these steps!

Topics/Research Questions

One area that AI excels at is coming up with topic ideas and forming narrow research questions and theses. In this example, I prompted ChatGPT to provide five narrowed research questions on Prohibition in the United States:

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These are good starting points for me to focus my research, although I may wish to adjust the topics.

Keywords

Another option for AI use is brainstorming keywords for searching, although you will want to determine if those keywords are relevant to what you want to focus on. In this example, I prompted ChatGPT to provide keywords for a paper on the effects of nature on mental health:

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This list includes some words and terms I didn't know, such as biophilia (the love of living things) as well as some interesting ways to narrow down this topic.

Understanding Basic Concepts

Finally, AI tools could also be used to help understand some basic concepts, although you will want to fact-check this information with trusted external sources (just like with Wikipedia!). You will typically not want to use any information it generates as a source, but as a starting point to research these concepts elsewhere (like in book, the library databases, or trusted websites).

In this example, I asked Google Gemini to explain forest bathing.

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Because Google Gemini is a grounded LLM (i.e., able to search the internet), you can click the Google icon below a response to have it double-check the response and cross-reference it with sources.

Green highlighted text has a source attached to it; orange highlighted text cannot be verified and should be examined very carefully.

You might also be able to use AI tools for simple text editing (not text generation), although you should check with your instructor about this.

If an AI tool has provided a citation for a source, you should always verify that it exists, and you should also try to access the full resource for your research (it's never a good idea to rely on an external summary!). The following steps show you how to determine if an AI-generated source actually exists.

Books

Book citations usually format the title in italics and include a publisher.

There are two places you can search for a book title. First, you can search the title in the library catalog to see if it is a book that is part of Santa Fe College's library collection.

The other place to look is WorldCat, which is a 'super library catalog' of library collections across the United States and beyond.

If you find that the book exists in WorldCat but is not available at Santa Fe College, you can request the book via interlibrary loan, a free service where library staff try to retrieve the book for you from another library.

Articles

Article citations usually have the title of the article in normal text or in quotation marks. There will be an italicized journal title, and often volume, issue, and page numbers.

For articles, you can use Google Scholar to search the title of the article.

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In Google Scholar, click the three-line icon and choose Settings, then Library Links. Search for and check "Santa Fe College - Find it @ Santa Fe" to link Google Scholar search results to full text in the library databases. If there are no full text links for an article, you can request the article via interlibrary loan.

If there are no results, it is likely that the book/article does not exist, but you may reach out to a librarian for more options.

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