Using AI for Research Writing

Appropriate Uses of AI for Research Writing

Identify types of sources

AI can help you identify different types of sources that you may not have thought of.  For example, if you ask AI to find types of sources that may yield information for your working thesis, it may identify government publications, non-profit or advocacy agencies, personal interviews, case studies, and more than the usual research journals that you think of when doing a research essay.  While scholarly journals are important, some topics may be enhanced by research from other types of sources.

Create a research question/Narrow a topic

AI is useful if you have a vague idea of a topic you want to write about, but don’t know where to begin.

You can ask it to create multiple, different research questions.  If you do this, make sure you are specific enough in your query so that you know the samples it provides will provide ideas that are related to and appropriate for the purpose of your assignment.

If you have a broad topic that you need to focus, ask AI to provide different ways to narrow that topic. Even if you don’t end up using what AI generates, at least you will get samples of how to narrow a broad topic so that you can start narrowing a topic in your own way.

Evaluate the strength of a working thesis or outline

AI can make suggestions as to how to strengthen or fill in gaps.  Realize, though, that AI doesn’t know your intentions or your assignment, so use its feedback judiciously.  Also realize that you may not want to feed your own work into AI since it will then become part of what AI searches and uses.

Define a term/Simplify Language

If you’re asked to develop a thesis on an issue and need examples of issues, ask AI.  AI can also define a concept such as “issue” in whatever context you’re comfortable with, such as defining an issue in terms of sports, or in terms of cooking, or in terms of getting packages from one location to another.

AI can also simplify ideas and terminology in a professional article to make it more understandable.  However, if you ask it to do this, make sure you have a web address for the article and that it’s something that you can legally and ethically ask for such as simplification of a creative commons or open access journal article.  The article should not be under any copyright other than creative commons.

Help with logical argument

AI can help you tailor your logical argument points to different audiences.  For example, if you have to present a proposal to a school group made up of parents, teachers, and administrators, you can ask what points might be most salient with each group.

You can engage in a dialogue with AI and ask it to question your logic and points, to point out lapses in logic and/or to help you understand counterarguments that you can then address in your analysis of an issue.

AI can also identify gaps, illogical statements, biases, and assumptions in your own argument.  Realize, though, that you may not want to feed your own work into AI since it will then become part of what AI searches and uses.

Inappropriate Uses of AI for Research Writing

Find Sources

While you can ask AI about types of sources to use, do not use it to find the actual sources.  AI often “hallucinates” which means that the sources it offers may not be real.  It may take more time tracking down and validating the sources AI offers than if you simply engaged in the research process yourself using your library’s databases.

There are also ethical issues associated with asking AI to find sources.  It may be pulling from information that’s not licensed by creative commons so may be breaking copyright law and offering you information to which you do not ethically have access.

Evaluate Sources

AI pulls information from whatever is online and from sources that have more online exposure.  So some of the summaries and conclusions it provides may be influenced by invalid sources who are not experts in a field.

Cite Sources

AI may cite sources incorrectly, even when prompted to use a certain citation style.  It’s better to use an established online tool to cite sources, such as Citationmachine.net, Bibme.org, Easybib.com, or Citefast.com.

Write Documents

Do not use AI to actually create an essay, research paper, proposal, or any other assignment or document. No matter what the quality of your prompt is, AI ultimately does not know the details and nuances of the situation you’re writing for.  It writes in a generic tone that may not be the way you would phrase information.

If you’re writing something that you then have to talk about or defend, you will not have put thought into the piece of writing if you rely on AI, so it will be much more difficult to respond. You’ll look as though you don’t know what you’re talking about (which may be true).

AI also has biases in terms of culture and language, since it pulls more information from English-speaking and dominant Western cultures.  It also may be biased since it pulls more information from topics that have had more online exposure.

Don’t assume that AI is a better writer than you are.  It produces text in a way that seems authoritative, but you are the ultimate authority when it comes to what you want to say and how to say it.

Develop Creative Ideas or Deep Analysis

AI itself says that it “generates responses by predicting patterns from existing writing. Because of this, its ideas are often predictable, conventional, or overly general.” (ChatGPT accessed 5/8/26)  In the same way, because AI pulls so much information together very quickly, it tends to simplify information and not deal well with nuanced analysis. 

Think Critically

AI does not support your own thinking or critical thinking.  Learning occurs when you have an experience or perform an action, link it to what you know, reflect on it, and then use that information to feed into your next experience (experiential learning cycle).  AI cannot help you make those learning connections in your brain; in fact it harms them, because it does not promote your own reflection, analysis, evaluation, problem-solving, and independent thought.  It’s o.k. to use AI as a tool to support your own thinking, as noted in the ways above, but it cannot replace your own thinking.