can chatgpt help write essays

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Should I Use ChatGPT to Write My Essays?

Everything high school and college students need to know about using — and not using — ChatGPT for writing essays.

Jessica A. Kent

ChatGPT is one of the most buzzworthy technologies today.

In addition to other generative artificial intelligence (AI) models, it is expected to change the world. In academia, students and professors are preparing for the ways that ChatGPT will shape education, and especially how it will impact a fundamental element of any course: the academic essay.

Students can use ChatGPT to generate full essays based on a few simple prompts. But can AI actually produce high quality work, or is the technology just not there yet to deliver on its promise? Students may also be asking themselves if they should use AI to write their essays for them and what they might be losing out on if they did.

AI is here to stay, and it can either be a help or a hindrance depending on how you use it. Read on to become better informed about what ChatGPT can and can’t do, how to use it responsibly to support your academic assignments, and the benefits of writing your own essays.

What is Generative AI?

Artificial intelligence isn’t a twenty-first century invention. Beginning in the 1950s, data scientists started programming computers to solve problems and understand spoken language. AI’s capabilities grew as computer speeds increased and today we use AI for data analysis, finding patterns, and providing insights on the data it collects.

But why the sudden popularity in recent applications like ChatGPT? This new generation of AI goes further than just data analysis. Instead, generative AI creates new content. It does this by analyzing large amounts of data — GPT-3 was trained on 45 terabytes of data, or a quarter of the Library of Congress — and then generating new content based on the patterns it sees in the original data.

It’s like the predictive text feature on your phone; as you start typing a new message, predictive text makes suggestions of what should come next based on data from past conversations. Similarly, ChatGPT creates new text based on past data. With the right prompts, ChatGPT can write marketing content, code, business forecasts, and even entire academic essays on any subject within seconds.

But is generative AI as revolutionary as people think it is, or is it lacking in real intelligence?

The Drawbacks of Generative AI

It seems simple. You’ve been assigned an essay to write for class. You go to ChatGPT and ask it to write a five-paragraph academic essay on the topic you’ve been assigned. You wait a few seconds and it generates the essay for you!

But ChatGPT is still in its early stages of development, and that essay is likely not as accurate or well-written as you’d expect it to be. Be aware of the drawbacks of having ChatGPT complete your assignments.

It’s not intelligence, it’s statistics

One of the misconceptions about AI is that it has a degree of human intelligence. However, its intelligence is actually statistical analysis, as it can only generate “original” content based on the patterns it sees in already existing data and work.

It “hallucinates”

Generative AI models often provide false information — so much so that there’s a term for it: “AI hallucination.” OpenAI even has a warning on its home screen , saying that “ChatGPT may produce inaccurate information about people, places, or facts.” This may be due to gaps in its data, or because it lacks the ability to verify what it’s generating. 

It doesn’t do research  

If you ask ChatGPT to find and cite sources for you, it will do so, but they could be inaccurate or even made up.

This is because AI doesn’t know how to look for relevant research that can be applied to your thesis. Instead, it generates content based on past content, so if a number of papers cite certain sources, it will generate new content that sounds like it’s a credible source — except it likely may not be.

There are data privacy concerns

When you input your data into a public generative AI model like ChatGPT, where does that data go and who has access to it? 

Prompting ChatGPT with original research should be a cause for concern — especially if you’re inputting study participants’ personal information into the third-party, public application. 

JPMorgan has restricted use of ChatGPT due to privacy concerns, Italy temporarily blocked ChatGPT in March 2023 after a data breach, and Security Intelligence advises that “if [a user’s] notes include sensitive data … it enters the chatbot library. The user no longer has control over the information.”

It is important to be aware of these issues and take steps to ensure that you’re using the technology responsibly and ethically. 

It skirts the plagiarism issue

AI creates content by drawing on a large library of information that’s already been created, but is it plagiarizing? Could there be instances where ChatGPT “borrows” from previous work and places it into your work without citing it? Schools and universities today are wrestling with this question of what’s plagiarism and what’s not when it comes to AI-generated work.

To demonstrate this, one Elon University professor gave his class an assignment: Ask ChatGPT to write an essay for you, and then grade it yourself. 

“Many students expressed shock and dismay upon learning the AI could fabricate bogus information,” he writes, adding that he expected some essays to contain errors, but all of them did. 

His students were disappointed that “major tech companies had pushed out AI technology without ensuring that the general population understands its drawbacks” and were concerned about how many embraced such a flawed tool.

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How to Use AI as a Tool to Support Your Work

As more students are discovering, generative AI models like ChatGPT just aren’t as advanced or intelligent as they may believe. While AI may be a poor option for writing your essay, it can be a great tool to support your work.

Generate ideas for essays

Have ChatGPT help you come up with ideas for essays. For example, input specific prompts, such as, “Please give me five ideas for essays I can write on topics related to WWII,” or “Please give me five ideas for essays I can write comparing characters in twentieth century novels.” Then, use what it provides as a starting point for your original research.

Generate outlines

You can also use ChatGPT to help you create an outline for an essay. Ask it, “Can you create an outline for a five paragraph essay based on the following topic” and it will create an outline with an introduction, body paragraphs, conclusion, and a suggested thesis statement. Then, you can expand upon the outline with your own research and original thought.

Generate titles for your essays

Titles should draw a reader into your essay, yet they’re often hard to get right. Have ChatGPT help you by prompting it with, “Can you suggest five titles that would be good for a college essay about [topic]?”

The Benefits of Writing Your Essays Yourself

Asking a robot to write your essays for you may seem like an easy way to get ahead in your studies or save some time on assignments. But, outsourcing your work to ChatGPT can negatively impact not just your grades, but your ability to communicate and think critically as well. It’s always the best approach to write your essays yourself.

Create your own ideas

Writing an essay yourself means that you’re developing your own thoughts, opinions, and questions about the subject matter, then testing, proving, and defending those thoughts. 

When you complete school and start your career, projects aren’t simply about getting a good grade or checking a box, but can instead affect the company you’re working for — or even impact society. Being able to think for yourself is necessary to create change and not just cross work off your to-do list.

Building a foundation of original thinking and ideas now will help you carve your unique career path in the future.

Develop your critical thinking and analysis skills

In order to test or examine your opinions or questions about a subject matter, you need to analyze a problem or text, and then use your critical thinking skills to determine the argument you want to make to support your thesis. Critical thinking and analysis skills aren’t just necessary in school — they’re skills you’ll apply throughout your career and your life.

Improve your research skills

Writing your own essays will train you in how to conduct research, including where to find sources, how to determine if they’re credible, and their relevance in supporting or refuting your argument. Knowing how to do research is another key skill required throughout a wide variety of professional fields.

Learn to be a great communicator

Writing an essay involves communicating an idea clearly to your audience, structuring an argument that a reader can follow, and making a conclusion that challenges them to think differently about a subject. Effective and clear communication is necessary in every industry.

Be impacted by what you’re learning about : 

Engaging with the topic, conducting your own research, and developing original arguments allows you to really learn about a subject you may not have encountered before. Maybe a simple essay assignment around a work of literature, historical time period, or scientific study will spark a passion that can lead you to a new major or career.

Resources to Improve Your Essay Writing Skills

While there are many rewards to writing your essays yourself, the act of writing an essay can still be challenging, and the process may come easier for some students than others. But essay writing is a skill that you can hone, and students at Harvard Summer School have access to a number of on-campus and online resources to assist them.

Students can start with the Harvard Summer School Writing Center , where writing tutors can offer you help and guidance on any writing assignment in one-on-one meetings. Tutors can help you strengthen your argument, clarify your ideas, improve the essay’s structure, and lead you through revisions. 

The Harvard libraries are a great place to conduct your research, and its librarians can help you define your essay topic, plan and execute a research strategy, and locate sources. 

Finally, review the “ The Harvard Guide to Using Sources ,” which can guide you on what to cite in your essay and how to do it. Be sure to review the “Tips For Avoiding Plagiarism” on the “ Resources to Support Academic Integrity ” webpage as well to help ensure your success.

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The Future of AI in the Classroom

ChatGPT and other generative AI models are here to stay, so it’s worthwhile to learn how you can leverage the technology responsibly and wisely so that it can be a tool to support your academic pursuits. However, nothing can replace the experience and achievement gained from communicating your own ideas and research in your own academic essays.

About the Author

Jessica A. Kent is a freelance writer based in Boston, Mass. and a Harvard Extension School alum. Her digital marketing content has been featured on Fast Company, Forbes, Nasdaq, and other industry websites; her essays and short stories have been featured in North American Review, Emerson Review, Writer’s Bone, and others.

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AI for Essays

How To Use ChatGPT To Write An Essay In 8 Simple Steps

Learn how to use ChatGPT to write an essay in 8 simple steps and transform your writing process effortlessly.

Sep 26, 2024

You’re staring at your blank document, cursor blinking impatiently, and the pressure’s building. Whether it’s a school essay or a project for work, finding a starting point can feel like an arduous task. That’s where ChatGPT, the best AI for writing essays , steps in. It can help you get past that daunting beginning and into the writing flow. But how exactly do you wield this powerful tool? This guide will guide you through the process, showing you how to write and research efficiently using AI. Otio's AI research and writing partner can be a game-changer. It streamlines the chaos of essay writing, making research and writing more accessible, faster, and more effective.

Table Of Contents

Can you use chatgpt to write an essay, 10 best chatgpt alternatives to write essays, limitations of chatgpt for writing essays, how to get chatgpt to rewrite an essay, 10 best chatgpt prompts for writing an essay, 11 tips on how to make chatgpt essay sound more human, supercharge your researching ability with otio — try otio for free today.

ChatGPT can indeed create essays from simple prompts , sparking curiosity about its ability to deliver quality content. Does AI live up to its promise, or is it still in its infancy? These are valid questions. While AI offers convenience, it can't replace the nuanced understanding and creativity that come with writing about what you know. ChatGPT is a tool, not a replacement for genuine engagement with your subject matter.

Should You Use AI to Write Your Essays?

The temptation to let AI do the heavy lifting is real, but what might you lose in the process? Learning and understanding the material is crucial. Writing essays helps you synthesize information and articulate your ideas. Trusting AI with this task can deprive you of these essential skills. Use AI to enhance your writing process, not to bypass it.

ChatGPT as an Essay Writing Assistant

While ChatGPT can generate essays , it works best as a writing assistant. It can help you brainstorm ideas, structure your essay, and refine your language. But it can't replace the depth of insight and critical thinking from engaging with your topic. Approach ChatGPT as a collaborator, not a ghostwriter, to get the most out of its capabilities.

Related Reading

• How to Get AI to Write an Essay • Best AI Writing Tools • How to Make ChatGPT Sound Human • AI Writing Prompts • Best AI for Essays • Best AI for Writing Essays

1. Streamline Research with Otio

Juggling content from all over the internet can be a hassle, especially when trying to piece together coherent arguments for an essay. Otio offers a lifeline by serving as a unified workspace for researchers. It lets you gather data from bookmarks, tweets, videos, and more. With its AI-powered notes and Q&A features, Otio helps you extract essential information and get to your first draft more quickly. You can chat with individual links or entire knowledge bases, just like you would with ChatGPT. 

Give Otio a try , and let it speed up your research process.

2. Find Fresh Ideas with ChatGPT

Need help with what to write about? ChatGPT can help. Just plug in a general or specific topic, and the AI will churn out engaging ideas in seconds. You’ll get multiple angles for your essay, unlocking perspectives you might not have considered. It’s like having a brainstorming session with a very well-read friend.

3. Generate Catchy Titles

Titles matter. They’re the first thing readers see, and ChatGPT can help you craft ones that grab attention. The AI writer comes up with catchy titles that fit your topic perfectly. Pick one, tweak it, or use it as inspiration to create your own.

4. Structure Your Thoughts with Outlines

While you shouldn’t rely on ChatGPT to write your essay, using it to create an outline is a smart move. ChatGPT pulls subheadings from similar articles online, giving you a solid framework. It helps you organize your thoughts and ensures you cover all the key points.

5. Optimize with Keywords

If you want your essay to rank on search engines, you need the right keywords. Enter your topic into ChatGPT, and it’ll spit out a list of relevant keywords in seconds. Keep asking for more until you’re satisfied. This way, you ensure your essay hits all the right notes for search engines.

6. Locate Trustworthy Sources

Finding reliable sources for your essay can be time-consuming. Let ChatGPT do the heavy lifting by asking it to find reputable sources for your topic. Just remember that ChatGPT’s information is current only until September 2021, so you might need to search for older sources manually.

7. Use Sample Essays for Inspiration

How do you start your essay? Ask ChatGPT to write a sample for you. While you shouldn’t use it verbatim, a sample essay can provide insight into structure and format. Use it as a jumping-off point to find the best angle for your topic.

8. Polish Your Draft with AI Assistance

When your essay is ready for editing, let ChatGPT help you polish it. Input your draft and ask the AI to adjust the tone, flow, or structure. Make sure to do a final read-through to ensure the content sounds human-written.

1. Otio: Your AI Research Assistant

Otio is designed to help students, researchers, and knowledge workers manage content overload. It offers an AI-native workspace that allows users to collect, extract, and create content efficiently.

2. Textero.AI: Your Academic Writing Partner

Textero.AI is a top-notch AI essay writing platform that helps students generate high-quality academic content , offering tools like an AI essay writer, outline generator, and research assistant.

Access to over 215 million research papers.

Highly customizable content generation settings.

Built-in plagiarism detector ensures originality.

It requires a minute to generate an entire essay.

The free version limits you to 550 AI words per day.

3. Frase.io: Optimize Your SEO Strategy

Frase.io is an innovative AI tool focused on content creation and SEO strategy. It offers in-depth content briefs and actionable insights to improve your online presence.

Built-in paraphrasing tool with multiple styles.

Generates sections or fragments of copy tailored to your needs.

It is easy to share documents without third-party apps.

A monthly subscription of $35 is required to generate over 4,000 words.

Does not offer a truly free version.

4. Jasper: Your AI Writing Buddy

Jasper is like having a writing buddy who makes essay writing less of a chore, offering user-friendly features and a natural writing style that sounds human.

Easy to use with tons of templates.

Writes like a human, not a robot.

Responsive customer support.

It can be pricey.

Sometimes, it requires guidance.

5. Rytr: Affordable AI Writing

Rytr is an all-in-one AI writing platform that helps you create high-quality essays quickly and affordably, with features like tone selection and a built-in plagiarism checker.

Clean and intuitive interface.

One of the most affordable AI writing tools.

Free version available for testing.

I need help with repetitiveness in long-form content.

6. Article Forge: Specialization in Article Writing

Article Forge uses AI to write complete articles with just a few keywords, targeting article writers to maximize effectiveness and reduce writing time.

Simple interface.

10,000 words of paraphrasing for free.

Limited control over the rewriting process.

Often paraphrases generic content.

7. Editpad: Best Free AI Essay Writer

Editpad is celebrated for its user-friendly interface and robust writing assistance capabilities, providing essential tools like grammar checks and stylistic suggestions.

Produces texts in less than a minute.

Plagiarism checker detects copied content.

Texts are generic, with no option to provide instructions.

AI-produced texts may get flagged by checkers.

8. EssayBuilder.AI: Quick Essay Generation

EssayBuilder.AI is an online platform that allows users to generate essays quickly, offering high customization for generated content.

Access to over 12 essay types and tones.

Easy to use with customizable prompt options.

Generates essays quickly and consistently.

Content can need more depth , especially in academic research.

The free version does not allow scholarly sources or citations.

9. WordSmith: Insightful Narrative Generation

Wordsmith is a natural language generation tool that turns data into an insightful narrative, making it a versatile content creation solution.

Generates various types of content.

Supports over 50 languages.

Offers comprehensive templates.

Limited free plan with only 200 words.

No browser extensions for enhanced usability.

10. WriteSonic: All-in-One AI Writing Tool

WriteSonic is a one-stop shop for AI writing tools, offering everything from a paraphrasing tool to an essay generator, making it a versatile choice.

Wide range of features.

Affordable pricing.

Easy-to-use interface.

Some features need to be more polished.

Output quality can vary.

ChatGPT: Just Numbers, Not Brains

One common misconception is that AI possesses human-like intelligence. This is far from the truth. ChatGPT is math-based, using statistical patterns from existing data to generate text. It doesn’t understand or think like humans do, and that’s a crucial distinction.

Beware of AI Hallucinations

AI models can spit out false information, a phenomenon called "AI hallucination." OpenAI even warns users that ChatGPT might produce incorrect facts. This can occur because the AI cannot verify the accuracy of what it’s generating. It’s a reminder always to double-check what an AI tells you.

It's Not Your Research Assistant

When you ask ChatGPT to find sources, be cautious. It can provide citations that seem credible but might be inaccurate or even fake. This happens because the AI doesn’t truly understand how to conduct research—it merely mimics patterns from existing content. So, always verify sources independently.

Mind the Data Privacy Risks

You might wonder about data privacy when you input information into a public AI like ChatGPT. Using the tool for sensitive data poses risks, as seen when JPMorgan restricted its use, and Italy temporarily banned it following a data breach. Always be mindful of what you share.

The Plagiarism Puzzle

AI generates content by drawing from a vast library of pre-existing work. This raises the question: is it plagiarizing? As schools and universities grapple with this issue, it becomes clear that AI-generated work might unintentionally borrow without proper citation. An Elon University professor found that essays generated by ChatGPT often contained errors, leading to student disappointment in the technology’s reliability.

Want a more reliable AI research and writing partner than ChatGPT? Otio can help. This tool offers an AI-native workspace where researchers can collect data, extract key insights, and create draft outputs more efficiently. Let Otio be your AI research and writing partner —try Otio for free today!

If you want to have ChatGPT rewrite sections of your essay, it’s all about the prompt. You can get fresh sentences that fit your style by asking it to “ Reword” or “Rephrase ,” followed by the text you want to change. This way, you can blend new phrasing with your original work. Try focusing on just a few sentences that catch your eye. Then, replace your original sentences with these new ones.

Give examples of the new trends in Healthcare that can be exciting research topics for a research paper. 

Analyze if there are any gaps in the study of [Insert Topic name] and suggest potential research topics . 

Recommend topics to study [Insert topic name] using quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. 

Analyze whether the scope of the topic [Insert topic name] is broad enough and recommend related issues on which I can write. 

Compare the following topics and help me decide which is better, based on which topics have greater scope and relevance: 1) [Insert Topic 1 title] 2) [Insert Topic 2 title] 3) [Insert Topic 3 Name] 

Give 10 titles for the following topic based on the following topic idea and research purpose- [Insert data about the topic idea and research purpose] 

Provide 10 title suggestions based on the research purpose and findings: [Insert data about the research statement and conclusions ]. 

Give 5 alternatives for the following title without changing the meaning- [Insert the title]. 

Provide 5 title suggestions on the topic [Insert topic name] and include the keyword [Insert keyword] in all title suggestions. 

Analyze the following abstract and provide 10 title alternatives for the research paper based on the abstract- [Insert data about the abstract]. 

Let Otio be your AI research and writing partner — try Otio for free today!

1. Create, Collect, and Catalog with Otio

Juggling content overload can feel like drowning in an ocean of information with nothing to hold on to. Otio changes the game by offering an AI-native workspace that simplifies your workflow. It allows you to gather data from diverse sources like bookmarks, tweets, or YouTube videos. You can extract critical insights with AI-generated notes and then use AI-assisted writing features to turn these notes into drafts. 

Otio becomes your research and writing partner , helping you quickly move from a reading list to a first draft. Try Otio for free—you won't look back.

2. Give ChatGPT a Persona to Play

ChatGPT can adopt a specific persona in your prompts, adjusting its writing style and tone based on that character. The more detailed, the better—include a name, age range, personality traits, and other biographical info. This practice is beneficial for making ChatGPT sound more on-brand, like a human copywriter. If you have a brand persona set up, simply plug it into your prompts, and the AI-generated responses will write in an ideal tone for that reader.

3. Don’t Settle for the First Draft

The first or third draft from ChatGPT might have yet to be cut. ChatGPT will churn out shallow content that needs more depth and emotion with your input. This is why the content feels somewhat ‘off.’ 

You need to add more layers to the articles, the social media content, and the advertising copy. Add case studies, your experiences, and your opinions. Add stories. This is what pulls people in. This is what will help convert your clients and your client’s clients.

4. Teach ChatGPT Your Writing Style

Show ChatGPT samples of your existing texts. This lets the AI writer identify and replicate recurring themes in your tone, vocabulary, and sentence structure. Plug in one of your text samples and tell ChatGPT to mimic these factors in your prompts. Ideally, your text sample should be around 500 words. This gives the AI language model enough room to identify patterns in your text and replicate them more accurately. If the AI writer can sound like you, it will create more human-like output.

5. Short and Sweet: Vary Sentence Length

ChatGPT tends to write long sentences with lots of commas. Break this habit by asking it to vary the length of your sentences. Effective human content features a mix of short and long sentences. A good three-word sentence sitting alone in its paragraph packs a punch. To ensure ChatGPT sounds more human, just ask it to vary the length of your sentences to ensure a more human-like output.

6. Know Your Audience

Specifying your target audience in your prompts gives the language model further context on what style and tone it should adopt. You can also couple it with the personas I showed above. For example, “The audience who will read this are tech-savvy young adults aged 20-35, primarily based in urban areas who enjoy gaming and digital media. They are looking for efficient ways to balance work and personal life through productivity hacks.”

7. Customized Outlines: Plan Your Work, Work Your Plan

Outlines help plan your main discussion points ahead of time and ensure your content provides in-depth coverage of the topic. They prevent you from veering off subject during the writing process. Having AI writers generate content based on existing outlines can ensure that your output provides valuable information and not generic material. Be cautious; asking AI copywriting tools like ChatGPT to build an outline on a particular topic will likely lead to vague structures and discussion points.

8. Detailed Prompts: Be Specific, Be Human

AI-generated responses depend on your instructions—vague input equals vague output. Be as specific as possible when asking ChatGPT to write content. Instruct it to expand on each heading and bullet point within your outline. Instruct the AI generator to stick to a specific word count—it might go above it, but it's a simple trick to avoid excessive fluff. If you want to generate longer content, ask extra questions about your topic and add the answers if they make sense.

9. Humanize AI Content

AI-generated content needs a human touch . Spot complex language and rewrite it to make your content sound more human. Here’s a list of words and phrases AI tools like to use: "In today's digital age," "in this fast-paced era," "delve into," "embark on a journey," "elevate," "evoke," "unlock," "in conclusion," "in summary." Rewrite passive sentences into active voice. For example: Passive voice: "The article was edited by him." Active voice: "He edited the article."

10. Add Experience, Stats, and Examples

Google prioritizes content that demonstrates Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust. AI-generated texts cannot fulfill these criteria alone—they need a personal touch. Complement AI text with personal stories, examples, and insights about a specific topic. For more technical content, back up your statements with relevant statistics or case studies. Simply saying, "People spend a significant amount of time on social media daily," isn't good enough. Including statistics to back the AI tool's statements can help solidify your point.

11. Format and Fact-Check: Make It Look Good, Get It Right

No one likes to read through huge blocks of text. Break up AI-generated content into multiple paragraphs to keep your blog's structure neat and easy to read. Fact-checking your AI content is necessary, or you may risk hindering your overall reputation and credibility. Do your research before you generate the article. This will help you familiarize yourself with the topic, making it easier to spot potential errors. Link your content to reputable sources to let readers fact-check the information themselves.

• WriteCream • QuillBot Alternatives • The Good AI • Undetectable AI Alternative • Jasper Alternatives • SudoWrite Alternative • EduWriter.ai • Copy AI Alternatives

Finding relevant data sources can be overwhelming. Otio tackles this by integrating bookmarks, tweets, videos, and more into one cohesive workspace. This isn’t just about gathering information; it’s about transforming chaos into clarity. Consider having a tool to help you smoothly transition from browsing to creating meaningful work. Otio allows you to do just that. It’s about creating a space where you can easily navigate the content that matters most to you without getting bogged down by the noise.

Extract Key Insights Effortlessly

Once you’ve gathered your sources, Otio steps in to help extract the information you need . It uses AI to generate detailed notes, providing essential takeaways from each source. This isn’t just about saving you time; it’s about enhancing your understanding and enabling you to engage more deeply with the material. Whether working with a dense academic paper or a lengthy YouTube video, Otio helps you distill complex information into digestible insights.

Transform Your Research into Written Work

Otio doesn’t just stop at collecting and extracting information; it also assists you in creating your final output. With its AI-assisted writing tools, you can draft essays and research papers more efficiently. This is where the true power of Otio comes into play . It’s not just about helping you understand your sources; it’s about empowering you to communicate your ideas effectively. Whether you’re working on a school assignment or a professional project, Otio can help you craft a compelling narrative that captures the essence of your research.

Engage with Your Sources Like Never Before

One of Otio's standout features is its chat functionality. You can have real-time conversations with individual links or entire knowledge bases, just like you would with a human expert. This is a game-changer when it comes to understanding complex topics. Instead of getting stuck on a difficult concept, you can ask Otio for clarification and get instant feedback. This enhances your comprehension and fosters a more interactive and engaging learning experience.

Experience the Benefits of AI-Enhanced Research

Otio is more than just a tool; it’s a partner in your research journey. By leveraging the power of AI , it helps you streamline your workflow and produce higher-quality work in less time. This is particularly valuable in today’s fast-paced world, where processing information quickly and efficiently is more important than ever. With Otio, you can stay ahead of the curve and confidently achieve your goals.

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5 ways ChatGPT can help you write an essay

ChatGPT  is capable of doing many different things very well. One of the biggest standout features is its ability to compose all sorts of text within seconds, including songs, poems, bedtime stories, and  essays . 

The chatbot's writing abilities are not only fun to experiment with but can help provide assistance with everyday tasks. Whether you are a student, a working professional, or just trying to get stuff done, we constantly take time to compose emails, texts, reports, and more. ChatGPT can help you claim some of that time back by helping you brainstorm and even compose any text you need. 

How to use ChatGPT to write: Code | Excel formulas | Resumes  | Cover letters  

Contrary to popular belief, ChatGPT can do much more than write an essay for you from scratch (which would be considered plagiarism). A more useful way to use the chatbot is to have it guide your writing process. 

Below, we show you how to use ChatGPT for both writing and assisting and include some other helpful writing tips. 

How ChatGPT can help you write an essay

If you are looking to use ChatGPT to support or replace your writing, here are five different techniques to explore. 

It is also worth noting before you get started that other AI chatbots can output the same results as ChatGPT or are even better, depending on your needs. For example,  Copilot , Perplexity , and Gemini also have access to the internet and include footnotes linking back to the original source for all of their responses, making the chatbots solid alternatives if you rather skip out on ChatGPT. 

Also:  The best AI chatbots of 2024: ChatGPT and alternatives

Regardless of which AI chatbot you pick, you can use the tips below to get the most out of your prompts and AI assistance.

1. Use ChatGPT to generate essay ideas

Before you start writing an essay, you need to flesh out the idea. When professors assign essays, they generally give students a prompt that gives them leeway for their own self-expression and analysis. 

As a result, students have the task of finding the angle to approach the essay on their own. If you have written an essay recently, you know that finding the angle is often the trickiest part -- and this is where ChatGPT can help. 

Also: How do AI checkers actually work?

All you need to do is input the assignment topic, include as much detail as you'd like -- such as what you're thinking about covering -- and let ChatGPT do the rest. For example, based on a paper prompt I had in college, I asked:

Can you help me come up with a topic idea for this assignment, "You will write a research paper or case study on a leadership topic of your choice." I would like it to include Blake and Mouton's Managerial Leadership Grid and possibly a historical figure. 

Within seconds, the chatbot produced a response that provided me with the title of the essay, options of historical figures on which to focus my article, insight into what information I could include in my paper, and specific examples of a case study I could use. 

2. Use the chatbot to create an outline

Once you have a solid topic, it's time to start brainstorming what you actually want to include in the essay. To facilitate the writing process, I always create an outline, including all the different points I want to touch upon in my essay. However, the outline-writing process is usually tedious. 

With ChatGPT, all you have to do is ask it to write the outline for you. 

Using the topic that ChatGPT helped me generate in step one, I asked the chatbot to write me an outline by saying: 

Can you create an outline for a paper, "Examining the Leadership Style of Abraham Lincoln through Blake and Mouton's Managerial Leadership Grid."

Also: How my 4 favorite AI tools help me get more done at work

After a few seconds, the chatbot produced a holistic outline divided into seven sections, with three points under each section. 

This outline is thorough and can be condensed for a shorter essay or elaborated on for a longer paper. If you don't like something or want to tweak the outline further, you can do so either manually or with more instructions to ChatGPT. 

If you want ChatGPT to include links and sources throughout, you can ask it to and it will regenerate the answer using its web-browsing feature , further expediting your essay-writing process. 

3. Use ChatGPT to find sources

Now that you know exactly what you want to write, it's time to find reputable sources for your information. If you don't know where to start, you can ask ChatGPT.

All you need to do is ask the AI to find sources for your essay topic. The biggest thing to remember is to include the type of source you want, whether it be web pages, books, PDFs, research, papers, etc. 

Also:   How to make ChatGPT provide sources and citations

The specifics are necessary because when you specify web pages, ChatGPT will activate the web browsing feature and include web links in its article. If you use a very general prompt, however, it will likely default to generating its answer from its database, which isn't up to date. 

For example, I asked the following: 

"Examining the Leadership Style of Abraham Lincoln through Blake and Mouton's Managerial Leadership Grid."

The chatbot outputs links, accessible right at the top of the answer under the drop-down that says "Searched # of sites." Then, within the response, it will answer your prompt conversationally, also including sources with site names and links in parathesis. 

4. Use ChatGPT to write an essay

It is worth noting that if you take the text directly from the chatbot and submit it, your work could be considered plagiarism since it is not your original work. As with any information taken from another source, text generated by an AI should be identified and credited to the chatbot in your work.

In most educational institutions, the penalties for plagiarism are severe, ranging from a failing grade to expulsion from the school. A better use of ChatGPT's writing features would be to create a sample essay to guide your writing. 

Also:  ChatGPT vs. Microsoft Copilot vs. Gemini: Which is the best AI chatbot?

If you still want ChatGPT to create an essay from scratch, enter the topic and the desired length. For example, I input the following text: 

Can you write a five-paragraph essay on the topic, "Examining the Leadership Style of Abraham Lincoln through Blake and Mouton's Managerial Leadership Grid."

Within seconds, the chatbot gave the exact output I required: a coherent, five-paragraph essay on the topic. You could then use that text to guide your own writing. 

At this point, it's worth remembering how tools like ChatGPT work : they put words together in a form that they think is statistically valid, but they don't know if what they are saying is true or accurate. 

As a result, the output you receive might include invented facts, details, or other oddities. The output might be a useful starting point for your own work but don't expect it to be entirely accurate, and always double-check the content. 

5. Use ChatGPT to co-edit your essay

Once you've written your own essay, you can use ChatGPT's advanced writing capabilities to edit the piece for you. 

You can simply tell the chatbot what you want it to edit. For example, I asked ChatGPT to edit our five-paragraph essay for structure and grammar, but other options could have included flow, tone, and more. 

Also:  How to use ChatGPT to make charts and tables

Once you ask the tool to edit your essay, it will prompt you to paste your text into the chatbot. ChatGPT will then output your essay with corrections made. This feature is particularly useful because ChatGPT edits your essay more thoroughly than a basic proofreading tool, as it goes beyond simply checking spelling. 

You can also co-edit with the chatbot, asking it to review a specific paragraph or sentence and rewrite or fix the text for clarity. Personally, I find this feature very helpful. 

How to use ChatGPT to optimize your resume

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Student Opinion

Should Students Let ChatGPT Help Them Write Their College Essays?

If so, how? Tell us what you are thinking, and what practical and ethical questions these new A.I. tools raise for you.

Natasha Singer

Hey, ChatGPT, can you help me write my college admissions essays?

Absolutely! Please provide me with the essay prompts and any relevant information about yourself, your experiences, and your goals.

By Katherine Schulten

Teachers: We also have a lesson plan that accompanies this Student Opinion forum.

Are you working on a college application essay? Have you sought help from an adult? How about from an A.I. chatbot like ChatGPT or Bard? Were either useful? If so, how?

The New York Times recently published two articles about the questions these new tools are raising for the college process. One explores how A.I. chatbots are upending essay-writing. The other details what happened when a reporter fed application questions from Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Dartmouth to different bots.

Here’s how the first article, “ Ban or Embrace? Colleges Wrestle With A.I.-Generated Admissions Essays ,” explains what’s going on:

The personal essay has long been a staple of the application process at elite colleges, not to mention a bane for generations of high school students. Admissions officers have often employed applicants’ essays as a lens into their unique character, pluck, potential and ability to handle adversity. As a result, some former students say they felt tremendous pressure to develop, or at least concoct, a singular personal writing voice. But new A.I. tools threaten to recast the college application essay as a kind of generic cake mix, which high school students may simply lard or spice up to reflect their own tastes, interests and experiences — casting doubt on the legitimacy of applicants’ writing samples as authentic, individualized admissions yardsticks.

The piece continues:

Some teachers said they were troubled by the idea of students using A.I. tools to produce college essay themes and texts for deeper reasons: Outsourcing writing to bots could hinder students from developing important critical thinking and storytelling skills. “Part of the process of the college essay is finding your writing voice through all of that drafting and revising,” said Susan Barber, an Advanced Placement English literature teacher at Midtown High School, a public school in Atlanta. “And I think that’s something that ChatGPT would be robbing them of.” In August, Ms. Barber assigned her 12th-grade students to write college essays. This week, she held class discussions about ChatGPT, cautioning students that using A.I. chatbots to generate ideas or writing could make their college essays sound too generic. She advised them to focus more on their personal views and voices. Other educators said they hoped the A.I. tools might have a democratizing effect. Wealthier high school students, these experts noted, often have access to resources — alumni parents, family friends, paid writing coaches — to help them brainstorm, draft and edit their college admissions essays. ChatGPT could play a similar role for students who lack such resources, they said, especially those at large high schools where overworked college counselors have little time for individualized essay coaching.

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5 Ways ChatGPT Can Improve, Not Replace, Your Writing

It's been quite a year for ChatGPT, with the large language model (LLM) now taking exams, churning out content , searching the web, writing code, and more. The AI chatbot can produce its own stories , though whether they're any good is another matter.

If you're in any way involved in the business of writing, then tools like ChatGPT have the potential to complete up-end the way you work—but at this stage, it's not inevitable that journalists, authors, and copywriters will be replaced by generative AI bots.

What we can say with certainty is that ChatGPT is a reliable writing assistant, provided you use it in the right way. If you have to put words in order as part of your job, here's how ChatGPT might be able to take your writing to the next level—at least until it replaces you, anyway.

Using a thesaurus as a writer isn't particularly frowned on; using ChatGPT to come up with the right word or phrase shouldn’t be either. You can use the bot to look for variations on a particular word, or get even more specific and say you want alternatives that are less or more formal, longer or shorter, and so on.

Where ChatGPT really comes in handy is when you're reaching for a word and you're not even sure it exists: Ask about "a word that means a sense of melancholy but in particular one that comes and goes and doesn't seem to have a single cause" and you'll get back "ennui" as a suggestion (or at least we did).

If you have characters talking, you might even ask about words or phrases that would typically be said by someone from a particular region, of a particular age, or with particular character traits. This being ChatGPT, you can always ask for more suggestions.

ChatGPT is never short of ideas.

Whatever you might think about the quality and character of ChatGPT's prose, it's hard to deny that it's quite good at coming up with ideas . If your powers of imagination have hit a wall then you can turn to ChatGPT for some inspiration about plot points, character motivations, the settings of scenes, and so on.

This can be anything from the broad to the detailed. Maybe you need ideas about what to write a novel or an article about—where it's set, what the context is, and what the theme is. If you're a short story writer, perhaps you could challenge yourself to write five tales inspired by ideas from ChatGPT.

Alternatively, you might need inspiration for something very precise, whether that's what happens next in a scene or how to summarize an essay. At whatever point in the process you get writer's block, then ChatGPT might be one way of working through it.

Writing is often about a lot more than putting words down in order. You'll regularly have to look up facts, figures, trends, history, and more to make sure that everything is accurate (unless your next literary work is entirely inside a fantasy world that you're imagining yourself).

ChatGPT can sometimes have the edge over conventional search engines when it comes to knowing what food people might have eaten in a certain year in a certain part of the world, or what the procedure is for a particular type of crime. Whereas Google might give you SEO-packed spam sites with conflicting answers, ChatGPT will actually return something coherent.

That said, we know that LLMs have a tendency to “hallucinate” and present inaccurate information—so you should always double-check what ChatGPT tells you with a second source to make sure you're not getting something wildly wrong.

Getting fictional character and place names right can be a challenge, especially when they're important to the plot. A name has to have the right vibe and the right connotations, and if you get it wrong it really sticks out on the page.

ChatGPT can come up with an unlimited number of names for people and places in your next work of fiction, and it can be a lot of fun playing around with this too. The more detail you give about a person or a place, the better—maybe you want a name that really reflects a character trait for example, or a geographical feature.

The elements of human creation and curation aren't really replaced, because you're still weighing up which names work and which don't, and picking the right one—but getting ChatGPT on the job can save you a lot of brainstorming time.

Get your names right with ChatGPT.

With a bit of cutting and pasting, you can quickly get ChatGPT to review your writing as well: It'll attempt to tell you if there's anything that doesn't make sense, if your sentences are too long, or if your prose is too lengthy.

From spotting spelling and grammar mistakes to recognizing a tone that's too formal, ChatGPT has plenty to offer as an editor and critic. Just remember that this is an LLM, after all, and it doesn't actually “know” anything—try to keep a reasonable balance between accepting ChatGPT's suggestions and giving it too much control.

If you're sharing your work with ChatGPT, you can also ask it for better ways to phrase something, or suggestions on how to change the tone—though this gets into the area of having the bot actually do your writing for you, which all genuine writers would want to avoid.

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February 10, 2023

How ChatGPT Can Improve Education, Not Threaten It

A professor explains why he is allowing students to incorporate ChatGPT into their writing process instead of banning the new technology

By John Villasenor

Jeff Pachoud/Getty Images

To read the news, the sanctity of everything from college application essays to graduate school tests to medical licensing exams is imperiled by easy access to advanced artificial intelligence like ChatGPT, the AI chatbot that can produce remarkably clear, long-form answers to complex questions. Educators in particular worry about students turning to ChatGPT to help them complete assignments. One proposed solution is to roll back the clock to the 20th century, making students write exam essays using pen and paper, without the use of any Internet-connected electronic devices. The University of California, Los Angeles, where I teach, is considering making it an honor code violation to use ChatGPT for taking an exam or writing a paper.

That’s the wrong approach. This semester, I am telling the students in my class at the UCLA School of Law that they are free to use ChatGPT in their writing assignments. The time when a person had to be a good writer to produce good writing ended in late 2022, and we need to adapt. Rather than banning students from using labor-saving and time-saving AI writing tools, we should teach students to use them ethically and productively.

To remain competitive throughout their careers, students need to learn how to prompt an AI writing tool to elicit worthwhile output and know how to evaluate its quality, accuracy and originality. They need to learn to compose well-organized, coherent essays involving a mix of AI-generated text and traditional writing. As professionals working into the 2060s and beyond, they will need to learn how to engage productively with AI systems, using them to both complement and enhance human creativity with the extraordinary power promised by mid-21st-century AI.

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In addition to the sound pedagogical reasons for treating ChatGPT as an opportunity and not a threat, there are practical ones as well. It simply isn’t feasible to effectively ban access to this technology. Honor code or not, many students will be unable to resist the temptation to seek AI assistance with their writing. And how would an educational institution enforce a ChatGPT ban? While there are tools aimed at detecting text produced by AI, future versions of AI will get better at emulating human writing—including to the point of emulating the style of the particular person who is using it. In the resulting arms race, the AI writing tools will always be one step ahead of the tools to detect AI text.

Enforcement of a ChatGPT ban would also inevitably produce the injustice of false positives and false negatives. Some students who use ChatGPT despite a ban would, through luck or thanks to careful-enough editing of AI-generated text, avoid having their writing flagged as AI-assisted. Worse, some students would be falsely accused of using ChatGPT, triggering enormous stress and potentially leading to punishment for a wrong they did not commit.

And what of the argument that learning to write well provides benefits that go well beyond writing? Writing a good essay from scratch requires careful, often painstaking, thought about organization, flow and communication. Learning to write without AI does indeed promote focused, disciplined thinking. But learning to successfully combine unassisted and AI-assisted writing to create truly good essays also requires these qualities.

Writing is a craft worthy of enormous respect, one which few of us ever master. But most students don’t aspire to become professional writers. Instead, they are preparing for careers where they will write to further goals beyond the production of writing. As we do today, they will write to communicate, explain, convince, memorialize, request and persuade. AI writing tools, when properly used, will help them do those things better.

When I was a middle and high school student in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I was told that professional success required good “penmanship” and the ability to perform long division by hand. By the time I entered the professional workforce in the late 1980s, technology advances had rendered those skills obsolete. Education culture can be very slow to change, as evidenced by the fact that many schools today still force children to learn long division—a task they will never have to perform anywhere outside of school. With AI writing, educators should stay ahead of the technology curve, as opposed to lagging decades behind it.

The upshot: I am helping my students to prepare for a future in which AI is simply another technology tool as opposed to a novelty. I am also telling them that they are solely and fully responsible for the writing they turn in bearing their name. If it’s factually inaccurate, that’s on them. If it’s badly organized, that’s on them. If it’s stylistically or logically inconsistent, that’s on them. If it’s partially plagiarized, that means that they have committed plagiarism.

In short, I’m encouraging my students to become responsible, aware users of the AI technologies that will play a profoundly important role over the course of their careers. The AI writing, so to speak, is on the wall.

This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily those of  Scientific American.

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Can You Use ChatGPT for Your College Essay?

College Admissions , College Essays

ChatGPT has become a popular topic of conversation since its official launch in November 2022. The artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot can be used for all sorts of things, like having conversations, answering questions, and even crafting complete pieces of writing.

If you’re applying for college, you might be wondering about ChatGPT college admissions’ potential.  Should you use a ChatGPT college essay in your application ?

By the time you finish reading this article, you’ll know much more about ChatGPT, including how students can use it responsibly and if it’s a good idea to use ChatGPT on college essays . We’ll answer all your questions, like:

• What is ChatGPT and why are schools talking about it?
• What are the good and bad aspects of ChatGPT?
• Should you use ChatGPT for college essays and applications?
• Can colleges detect ChatGPT?
• Are there other tools and strategies that students can use, instead?

We’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s get started!

Schools and colleges are worried about how new AI technology affects how students learn. (Don't worry. Robots aren't replacing your teachers...yet.)

What Is ChatGPT and Why Are Schools Talking About It?

ChatGPT (short for “Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer”) is a chatbot created by OpenAI , an artificial intelligence research company. ChatGPT can be used for various tasks, like having human-like conversations, answering questions, giving recommendations, translating words and phrases—and writing things like essays. 

In order to do this, ChatGPT uses a neural network that’s been trained on thousands of resources to predict relationships between words. When you give ChatGPT a task, it uses that knowledge base to interpret your input or query. It then analyzes its data banks to predict the combinations of words that will best answer your question. 

So while ChatGPT might seem like it’s thinking, it’s actually pulling information from hundreds of thousands of resources , then answering your questions by looking for patterns in that data and predicting which words come next.  

Why Schools Are Concerned About ChatGPT

Unsurprisingly, schools are worried about ChatGPT and its misuse, especially in terms of academic dishonesty and plagiarism . Most schools, including colleges, require students’ work to be 100% their own. That’s because taking someone else’s ideas and passing them off as your own is stealing someone else’s intellectual property and misrepresenting your skills. 

The problem with ChatGPT from schools’ perspective is that it does the writing and research for you, then gives you the final product. In other words, you’re not doing the work it takes to complete an assignment when you’re using ChatGPT , which falls under schools’ plagiarism and dishonesty policies.  

Colleges are also concerned with how ChatGPT will negatively affect students’ critical thinking, research, and writing skills . Essays and other writing assignments are used to measure students’ mastery of the material, and if students submit ChatGPT college essays, teachers will just be giving feedback on an AI’s writing…which doesn’t help the student learn and grow. 

Beyond that, knowing how to write well is an important skill people need to be successful throughout life. Schools believe that if students rely on ChatGPT to write their essays, they’re doing more than just plagiarizing—they’re impacting their ability to succeed in their future careers. 

Many Schools Have Already Banned ChatGPT

Schools have responded surprisingly quickly to AI use, including ChatGPT. Worries about academic dishonesty, plagiarism, and mis/disinformation have led many high schools and colleges to ban the use of ChatGPT . Some schools have begun using AI-detection software for assignment submissions, and some have gone so far as to block students from using ChatGPT on their internet networks. 

It’s likely that schools will begin revising their academic honesty and plagiarism policies to address the use of AI tools like ChatGPT. You’ll want to stay up-to-date with your schools’ policies. 

ChatGPT is pretty amazing...but it's not a great tool for writing college essays. Here's why.

ChatGPT: College Admissions and Entrance Essays

College admissions essays—also called personal statements—ask students to explore important events, experiences, and ideas from their lives. A great entrance essay will explain what makes you you !  

ChatGPT is a machine that doesn’t know and can’t understand your experiences. That means using ChatGPT to write your admissions essays isn’t just unethical. It actually puts you at a disadvantage because ChatGPT can’t adequately showcase what it means to be you. 

Let’s take a look at four ways ChatGPT negatively impacts college admissions essays.

#1: ChatGPT Lacks Insight

We recommend students use u nexpected or slightly unusual topics because they help admissions committees learn more about you and what makes you unique. The chat bot doesn’t know any of that, so nothing ChatGPT writes can’t accurately reflect your experience, passions, or goals for the future. 

Because ChatGPT will make guesses about who you are, it won’t be able to share what makes you unique in a way that resonates with readers. And since that’s what admissions counselors care about, a ChatGPT college essay could negatively impact an otherwise strong application.  

#2: ChatGPT Might Plagiarize 

Writing about experiences that many other people have had isn’t a very strong approach to take for entrance essays . After all, you don’t want to blend in—you want to stand out! 

If you write your essay yourself and include key details about your past experiences and future goals, there’s little risk that you’ll write the same essay as someone else. But if you use ChatGPT—who’s to say someone else won’t, too? Since ChatGPT uses predictive guesses to write essays, there’s a good chance the text it uses in your essay already appeared in someone else’s.  

Additionally, ChatGPT learns from every single interaction it has. So even if your essay isn’t plagiarized, it’s now in the system. That means the next person who uses ChatGPT to write their essay may end up with yours. You’ll still be on the hook for submitting a ChatGPT college essay, and someone else will be in trouble, too.

#3: ChatGPT Doesn’t Understand Emotion 

Keep in mind that ChatGPT can’t experience or imitate emotions, and so its writing samples lack, well, a human touch ! 

A great entrance essay will explore experiences or topics you’re genuinely excited about or proud of . This is your chance to show your chosen schools what you’ve accomplished and how you’ll continue growing and learning, and an essay without emotion would be odd considering that these should be real, lived experiences and passions you have!

#4: ChatGPT Produced Mediocre Results

If you’re still curious what would happen if you submitted a ChatGPT college essay with your application, you’re in luck. Both Business Insider and Forbes asked ChatGPT to write a couple of college entrance essays, and then they sent them to college admissions readers to get their thoughts. 

The readers agreed that the essays would probably pass as being written by real students—assuming admissions committees didn’t use AI detection software—but that they both were about what a “very mediocre, perhaps even a middle school, student would produce.” The admissions professionals agreed that the essays probably wouldn’t perform very well with entrance committees, especially at more selective schools.  

That’s not exactly the reaction you want when an admission committee reads your application materials! So, when it comes to ChatGPT college admissions, it’s best to steer clear and write your admission materials by yourself. 

Can Colleges Detect ChatGPT?

We’ve already explained why it’s not a great idea to use ChatGPT to write your college essays and applications , but you may still be wondering: can colleges detect ChatGPT? 

In short, yes, they can! 

Software Can Detect ChatGPT

As technology improves and increases the risk of academic dishonesty, plagiarism, and mis/disinformation, software that can detect such technology is improving, too. For instance, OpenAI, the same company that built ChatGPT, is working on a text classifier that can tell the difference between AI-written text and human-written text .  

Turnitin, one of the most popular plagiarism detectors used by high schools and universities, also recently developed the AI Innovation Lab —a detection software designed to flag submissions that have used AI tools like ChatGPT. Turnitin says that this tool works with 98% confidence in detecting AI writing. 

Plagiarism and AI companies aren’t the only ones interested in AI-detection software. A 22-year old computer science student at Princeton created an app to detect ChatGPT writing, called Zero GPT. This software works by measuring the complexity of ideas and variety of sentence structures.  

Human Readers Can Detect ChatGPT 

It’s also worth keeping in mind that teachers can spot the use of ChatGPT themselves , even if it isn’t confirmed by a software detector. For example, if you’ve turned in one or two essays to your teacher already, they’re probably familiar with your unique writing style. If you submit a college essay draft essay that uses totally different vocabulary, sentence structures, and figures of speech, your teacher will likely take note.

Additionally , admissions committees and readers may be able to spot ChatGPT writing, too. ChatGPT (and AI writing, in general) uses more simplistic sentence structures with less variation, so that could make it easier to tell if you’ve submitted a ChatGPT college essay. These professionals also read thousands of essays every year, which means they know what a typical essay reads like. You want your college essay to catch their attention…but not because you used AI software! 

If you use ChatGPT responsibly, you can be as happy as these kids.

Pros and Cons of ChatGPT: College Admissions Edition

ChatGPT is a brand new technology, which means we’re still learning about the ways it can benefit us. It’s important to think about the pros and the cons to any new tool …and that includes artificial intelligence!

Let’s look at some of the good—and not-so-good—aspects of ChatGPT below. 

ChatGPT: The Good

It may seem like we’re focused on just the negatives of using ChatGPT in this article, but we’re willing to admit that the chatbot isn’t all bad. In fact, it can be a very useful tool for learning if used responsibly !

Like we already mentioned, students shouldn’t use ChatGPT to write entire essays or assignments. They can use it, though, as a learning tool alongside their own critical thinking and writing skills.

Students can use ChatGPT responsibly to:

• Learn more about a topic . It’s a great place to get started for general knowledge and ideas about most subjects.
• Find reputable and relevant sources on a topic. Students can ask ChatGPT for names and information about leading scholars, relevant websites and databases, and more. 
• Brainstorm ideas for assignments. Students can share the ideas they already have with ChatGPT, and in return, the chatbot can suggest ideas for further exploration and even organization of their points.
• Check work (that they’ve written themselves!) for errors or cla rity. This is similar to how spell- and grammar-checking software is used. ChatGPT may be even better than some competitors for this, because students can actually ask ChatGPT to explain the errors and their solutions—not just to fix them. 

Before you use ChatGPT—even for the tasks mentioned above—you should talk to your teacher or school about their AI and academic dishonesty policies. It’s also a good idea to include an acknowledgement that you used ChatGPT with an explanation of its use. 

This guy made some bad decisions using ChatGPT. Don't be this guy.

ChatGPT: The Bad

The first model of ChatGPT (GPT-3.5) was formally introduced to the public in November 2022, and the newer model (GPT-4) in March 2023. So, it’s still very new and there’s a lot of room for improvement .  

There are many misconceptions about ChatGPT. One of the most extreme is that the AI is all-knowing and can make its own decisions. Another is that ChatGPT is a search engine that, when asked a question, can just surf the web for timely, relevant resources and give you all of that information. Both of these beliefs are incorrect because ChatGPT is limited to the information it’s been given by OpenAI . 

Remember how the ‘PT’ in ChatGPT stands for “Pre-trained”? That means that every time OpenAI gives ChatGPT an update, it’s given more information to work with (and so it has more information to share with you). In other words, it’s “trained” on information so it can give you the most accurate and relevant responses possible—but that information can be limited and biased . Ultimately, humans at OpenAI decide what pieces of information to share with ChatGPT, so it’s only as accurate and reliable as the sources it has access to.

For example, if you were to ask ChatGPT-3.5 what notable headlines made the news last week, it would respond that it doesn’t have access to that information because its most recent update was in September 2021!

You’re probably already familiar with how easy it can be to come across misinformation, misleading and untrue information on the internet. Since ChatGPT can’t tell the difference between what is true and what isn’t, it’s up to the humans at OpenAI to make sure only accurate and true information is given to the chatbot . This leaves room for human error , and users of ChatGPT have to keep that in mind when using and learning from the chatbot.

These are just the most obvious problems with ChatGPT. Some other problems with the chatbot include:

• A lack of common sense. ChatGPT can create seemingly sensical responses to many questions and topics, but it doesn’t have common sense or complete background knowledge.
• A lack of empathy. ChatGPT doesn’t have emotions, so it can’t understand them, either. 
• An inability to make decisions or problem solve . While the chatbot can complete basic tasks like answering questions or giving recommendations, it can’t solve complex tasks. 

While there are some great uses for ChatGPT, it’s certainly not without its flaws.

Our bootcamp can help you put together amazing college essays that help you get into your dream schools—no AI necessary.

What Other Tools and Strategies Can Help Students Besides ChatGPT?

While it’s not a good idea to use ChatGPT for college admissions materials, it’s not the only tool available to help students with college essays and assignments.

One of the best strategies students can use to write good essays is to make sure they give themselves plenty of time for the assignment. The writing process includes much more than just drafting! Having time to brainstorm ideas, write out a draft, revise it for clarity and completeness, and polish it makes for a much stronger essay. 

Teachers are another great resource students can use, especially for college application essays. Asking a teacher (or two!) for feedback can really help students improve the focus, clarity, and correctness of an essay. It’s also a more interactive way to learn—being able to sit down with a teacher to talk about their feedback can be much more engaging than using other tools.

Using expert resources during the essay writing process can make a big difference, too. Our article outlines a complete list of strategies for students writing college admission essays. It breaks down what the Common Application essay is, gives tips for choosing the best essay topic, offers strategies for staying focused and being specific, and more.

You can also get help from people who know the college admissions process best, like former admissions counselors. PrepScholar’s Admissions Bootcamp guides you through the entire application process , and you’ll get insider tips and tricks from real-life admissions counselors that’ll make your applications stand out. Even better, our bootcamp includes step-by-step essay writing guidance, so you can get the help you need to make sure your essay is perfect.

If you’re hoping for more technological help, Grammarly is another AI tool that can check writing for correctness. It can correct things like misused and misspelled words and grammar mistakes, and it can improve your tone and style. 

It’s also widely available across multiple platforms through a Windows desktop app, an Android and iOS app, and a Google Chrome extension. And since Grammarly just checks your writing without doing any of the work for you, it’s totally safe to use on your college essays. 

The Bottom Line: ChatGPT College Admissions and Essays

ChatGPT will continue to be a popular discussion topic as it continues evolving. You can expect your chosen schools to address ChatGPT and other AI tools in their academic honesty and plagiarism policies in the near future—and maybe even to restrict or ban the use of the chatbot for school admissions and assignments.

As AI continues transforming, so will AI-detection. The goal is to make sure that AI is used responsibly by students so that they’re avoiding plagiarism and building their research, writing, and critical thinking skills. There are some great uses for ChatGPT when used responsibly, but you should always check with your teachers and schools beforehand.

ChatGPT’s “bad” aspects still need improving, and that’s going to take some time.Be aware that the chatbot isn’t even close to perfect, and it needs to be fact-checked just like other sources of information.

Similarly to other school assignments, don’t submit a ChatGPT college essay for college applications, either. College entrance essays should outline unique and interesting personal experiences and ideas, and those can only come from you.  

Just because ChatGPT isn’t a good idea doesn’t mean there aren’t resources to help you put together a great college essay. There are many other tools and strategies you can use instead of ChatGPT , many of which have been around for longer and offer better feedback. 

What’s Next?

Ready to write your college essays the old-fashioned way? Start here with our comprehensive guide to the admissions essays.  

Most students have to submit essays as part of their Common Application . Here's a complete breakdown of the Common App prompts —and how to answer them.

The most common type of essay answers the "why this college?" prompt. We've got an expert breakdown that shows you how to write a killer response , step by step. 

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Ashley Sufflé Robinson has a Ph.D. in 19th Century English Literature. As a content writer for PrepScholar, Ashley is passionate about giving college-bound students the in-depth information they need to get into the school of their dreams.

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ChatGPT can write your essays, but should you use it?

Published on March 12, 2023

With the rising popularity of online writing tools, you may be wondering: can I use ChatGPT to write my essays? If you’ve never used the chatbot, it can generate several paragraphs of text within a matter of seconds. That’s certainly faster than any human can type, but there are many limitations to using it too. Here’s everything you need to know about how ChatGPT fares at writing essays and whether you should use it.

ChatGPT can write essays, but it isn't always the best choice as it suffers from a few technical limitations. Additionally, you may want to avoid using it if your work will be graded or judged in any capacity.

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Can ChatGPT write student essays?

Can professors tell if you use chatgpt.

• Should you use ChatGPT to write an essay?

How to use ChatGPT to write an essay

Yes, ChatGPT can write you an essay as it has been trained on a wide range of text. However, there are some downsides to using it for that purpose. For one, it lacks logical reasoning and critical thinking, qualities that are critical to writing an essay.

Generally speaking, writing an essay involves researching the topic, structuring your thoughts in a way that makes logical sense, and writing it in a convincing manner. ChatGPT can help you with each of these stages separately. However, it cannot fully replace a human presenting their own knowledge and opinion in an essay.

As for the actual writing part, ChatGPT can indeed generate an essay that looks and sounds like a human wrote it. However, the output is usually verbose and a bit simplistic, making it stand out in a professional setting. There are ways around this, however, as we’ll discuss in a later section. Some may also argue it’s unethical to use AI-generated text in essays as it doesn’t represent your views and thoughts.

So can you use ChatGPT to write essays responsibly? Absolutely — you can use it to detect spelling and grammatical mistakes in your own text. Likewise, ChatGPT can help with brainstorming new ideas or finding key points and angles.

For example, I asked ChatGPT to provide some potential angles on an essay titled “The negative effects of social media on society”. It told me that I could discuss how social media impacts mental health, aids the spread of misinformation and enables echo chambers. Finally, I requested ChatGPT to provide an outline that takes those points into consideration, which gave me a starting point for the essay.

Yes, teachers and professors now have access to online tools that can detect AI-generated text. Chatbots like ChatGPT work by using a machine learning-based model to predict future words using statistical probability. Humans, on the other hand, tend to piece together words much more randomly. So with a little bit of knowledge about how ChatGPT works, it’s not hard to weed out AI-generated text.

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, already has an AI classifier that detects whether or not a certain piece of text was written by a computer. Likewise, GPTZero provides professors with plagiarism scores for text. It also highlights sentences that it suspects have been written by an AI. These tools become increasingly accurate as the length of the text increases, so it’s harder to evade detection if you’re using ChatGPT to write longer essays.

Should I use ChatGPT to write an essay?

Generally speaking, you should not use ChatGPT to write an essay for school for the simple reason that you cannot pass off someone else’s work as yours. Moreover, many educational institutions have strict policies against plagiarism. Using ChatGPT to write an essay may be viewed as a breach of academic integrity. Some boards, including New York City’s public schools, have explicitly banned ChatGPT on student networks and devices for this very reason.

If you writing a research paper, you’ll also need to properly cite your sources. And as you may already know, ChatGPT cannot provide citations or links to external sources as it doesn’t have access to the internet. In fact, that’s one of the major differences between ChatGPT and Bing Chat — the latter provides sources for factual statements. Unfortunately, the latter’s Creative only includes a handful of sources — not enough to use in a professional piece of literature.

Without citations, you also cannot guarantee the accuracy of ChatGPT’s responses. That’s likely not a problem if you’re writing an essay on a well-known concept. However, the chatbot can quickly go off the rails when it’s writing about obscure topics.

ChatGPT’s underlying GPT-3 language model was only trained on a limited number of text samples. That likely didn’t include organic chemistry, regional laws, and philosophical debates to name a few. In other words, it might not fare well in a liberal arts setting. ChatGPT will rarely turn you down if you force it to write about something it doesn’t know much about, but it will likely respond with fictional or made-up information.

If you want ChatGPT to write a high-quality essay, you’ll need to provide a clear input prompt. If you provide a single keyword, like “global warming”, you’ll get a generic output. To avoid this, you can offer more specific terms and topics that you need to be included in your essay. For example, you could use the prompt “Write an essay on global warming and its effects on Australian wildfires” to add some context.

In case you’ve never used ChatGPT before, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use it:

• Go to the ChatGPT website .
• Click Sign up and create a new account with your email address.
• Once logged in, you’ll see a text box at the bottom of the page. This is where you enter your prompts.
• From this point, you can ask ChatGPT to write an essay on just about any subject you can think of. Remember to be as specific as possible. If you need to include certain ideas, specify them in the input prompt.

With longer essays, you might run into ChatGPT’s hidden character limit before it can generate the whole text. If that happens, simply ask the chatbot to continue from where it left off. Alternatively, you can ask ChatGPT to write an outline for your essay before generating it one section at a time.

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Almost nobody is using chatgpt to write academic science papers (yet).

1. Introduction

2. experimental procedures, 2.1. testing the model, 2.2. detecting chatgpt in the wild, 2.3. validation, 4. discussion, 5. conclusions, supplementary materials, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.

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Desaire, H.; Isom, M.; Hua, D. Almost Nobody Is Using ChatGPT to Write Academic Science Papers (Yet). Big Data Cogn. Comput. 2024 , 8 , 133. https://doi.org/10.3390/bdcc8100133

Desaire H, Isom M, Hua D. Almost Nobody Is Using ChatGPT to Write Academic Science Papers (Yet). Big Data and Cognitive Computing . 2024; 8(10):133. https://doi.org/10.3390/bdcc8100133

Desaire, Heather, Madeline Isom, and David Hua. 2024. "Almost Nobody Is Using ChatGPT to Write Academic Science Papers (Yet)" Big Data and Cognitive Computing 8, no. 10: 133. https://doi.org/10.3390/bdcc8100133

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• NEWS EXPLAINER
• 09 December 2022

AI bot ChatGPT writes smart essays — should professors worry?

• Chris Stokel-Walker

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Between overwork, underpayment and the pressure to publish, academics have plenty to worry about. Now there’s a fresh concern: ChatGPT , an artificial intelligence (AI) powered chatbot that creates surprisingly intelligent-sounding text in response to user prompts, including homework assignments and exam-style questions. The replies are so lucid, well-researched and decently referenced that some academics are calling the bot the death knell for conventional forms of educational assessment. How worried should professors and lecturers be?

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-04397-7

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• DOI: 10.52208/klasikal.v6i2.1152
• Corpus ID: 272590383

EXPLORING STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES IN WRITING THESIS PROPOSAL WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF CHATGPT

• Erni Triyanti , Rafi'ah Nur , +2 authors Siti Hajar Larekeng
• Published in Klasikal: Journal of… 14 August 2024
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• How to Write an Essay with ChatGPT | Tips & Examples

How to Write an Essay with ChatGPT | Tips & Examples

Published on 26 June 2023 by Koen Driessen .

Passing off AI-generated text as your own work is widely considered plagiarism. However, when used correctly, generative AI tools like ChatGPT can legitimately help guide your writing process.

These tools are especially helpful in the preparation and revision stages of your essay writing.

You can use ChatGPT to:

• Write a research question
• Develop an outline
• Find relevant source information
• Summarise or paraphrase text
• Get feedback

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Writing a research question, developing an outline, finding source recommendations, summarising/paraphrasing text, getting feedback, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions.

You can use ChatGPT to brainstorm potential research questions or to narrow down your thesis statement . Begin by inputting a description of the research topic or assigned question. Then include a prompt like “Write 3 possible research questions on this topic”.

You can make the prompt as specific as you like. For example, you can include the writing level (e.g., high school essay, college essay), perspective (e.g., first person) and the type of essay you intend to write (e.g., argumentative , descriptive , expository , or narrative ).

You can also mention any facts or viewpoints you’ve gathered that should be incorporated into the output.

If the output doesn’t suit your topic, you can click “Regenerate response” to have the tool generate a new response. You can do this as many times as you like, and you can try making your prompt more specific if you struggle to get the results you want.

Example: Using ChatGPT to write a research question

• Generate three possible research questions for an argumentative high school essay on the following topic: “The long-term impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
• To what extent has the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated existing social inequalities and what measures can be taken to address these disparities in the long term?
• How has the Covid-19 pandemic transformed education systems, and what are the potential long-term implications for students’ learning outcomes and educational equity?
• What lessons can be learned from the Covid-19 pandemic to enhance global preparedness and response to future public health crises, and how can these lessons be effectively implemented in the long term?
• Based on the second question, develop three further research questions with a specific focus on distance learning.
• What are the long-term effects of widespread adoption of distance learning during the Covid-19 pandemic on students’ academic performance, motivation, and overall educational outcomes?
• How has the shift to distance learning impacted the social and emotional well-being of students, and what strategies can be implemented to address any negative consequences in the long term?
• What are the key factors that contribute to the success of distance learning programs, and how can educational institutions and policymakers ensure equitable access to quality education in the long term, especially for marginalized and underserved student populations?

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Once you’ve decided on a research question, you can use ChatGPT to develop an essay outline . This can help keep you on track by giving you a clear idea of what topics you want to discuss and in what order.

Do this by prompting ChatGPT to create an outline for a specific research question, mentioning any topics or points you want to discuss. You can also mention the writing level and the intended length of your essay so that the tool generates an appropriate outline.

You can then refine this by further prompting ChatGPT or editing the outline manually until it meets your requirements.

Examples: Using ChatGPT to generate an essay outline

• Develop an outline for an argumentative high school essay with the following research question: “What are the long-term effects of widespread adoption of distance learning during the Covid-19 pandemic on students’ academic performance and overall educational outcomes?”The essay will be about 4 pages long.
• Background information on the Covid-19 pandemic and the shift to distance learning
• Thesis statement: The widespread adoption of distance learning during the Covid-19 pandemic has had both positive and negative long-term effects on students’ academic performance and overall educational outcomes.
• Increased flexibility and personalized learning opportunities
• Access to a wider range of resources and educational materials
• Development of self-directed learning skills
• Critiques and limitations of previous studies
• Lack of face-to-face interaction and reduced social engagement
• Increased potential for distractions and lack of structure
• Technological barriers and unequal access to resources
• Examination of studies and data on academic achievement during distance learning
• Analysis of long-term effects on educational attainment and future opportunities
• Discussion of potential implications for college admissions and career readiness
• Strategies for promoting student engagement and motivation in distance learning
• Importance of teacher-student communication and support
• Addressing technological disparities and ensuring equitable access to resources
• Recap of the main points discussed
• Emphasize the need for further research and long-term planning to optimize distance learning experiences
• Restate the thesis and provide a final thought on the potential long-term effects of distance learning on students’ academic performance and overall educational outcomes

Once you know the scope of your essay, you can find relevant primary and secondary sources to support your argument.

However, we don’t recommend prompting ChatGPT to generate a list of sources as it occasionally makes mistakes (like listing nonexistent sources). Instead, it’s a good idea to use ChatGPT to get suggestions for the types of sources relevant to your essay and track them down using a credible research database or your institution’s library.

When you have found relevant sources, use a specialised tool like the Scribbr Citation Generator to cite them in your essay.

Example: Using ChatGPT to find sources

• What types of sources can I use to write an essay on the following research question?”What are the long-term effects of widespread adoption of distance learning during the Covid-19 pandemic on students’ academic performance and overall educational outcomes?”
• Academic Journals and Research Articles: Look for scholarly articles and research studies published in peer-reviewed academic journals. These sources often provide in-depth analysis, empirical evidence, and statistical data on the long-term effects of distance learning.
• Educational and Government Reports: Reports published by educational institutions, government agencies, or educational organizations can offer valuable insights into the impact of distance learning on academic performance and educational outcomes. These reports may include surveys, case studies, and data analysis specific to the Covid-19 pandemic and distance learning.
• Official Websites and Publications: Explore the official websites of educational institutions, education ministries, or educational technology companies. They often publish articles, white papers, or research findings related to distance learning and its effects on students’ academic performance.
• Expert Interviews or Opinion Pieces: Seek out interviews or opinion pieces from experts in the field of education, distance learning, or pedagogy. These sources can provide valuable perspectives and insights on the long-term effects of distance learning on students’ educational outcomes.
• Online Databases and Digital Libraries: Utilize online databases and digital libraries such as JSTOR, Google Scholar, or academic databases provided by your educational institution. These platforms offer a wide range of scholarly articles, research papers, and publications that can support your arguments.
• Surveys and Studies Conducted by Educational Institutions: Some schools or universities may have conducted their own surveys or studies to evaluate the impact of distance learning on students. Check if your educational institution has published any research findings or survey results that are relevant to your topic.

During your writing process, you can use ChatGPT as a summarising tool to condense text to its essential ideas or as a paraphraser to rephrase text in clear, accessible language. Using ChatGPT in these ways can help you to understand complex material, express your own ideas more clearly, and avoid repetition.

Simply input the relevant text and prompt the tool to summarise or paraphrase it. Alternatively, you can use Scribbr’s free text summariser and Scribbr’s free paraphrasing tool , which are specifically designed for these purposes.

Example: Using ChatGPT to summarise/paraphrase

• Paraphrase the following text using clear language:”Engaging in an extensive examination of the intricate interplay between remote instructional methods and academic achievement necessitates consideration of diverse factors, including the pedagogical efficacy of virtual platforms, the socioemotional ramifications of reduced face-to-face interactions, the equitable accessibility of technological resources, and the potential long-lasting implications for students’ educational trajectories and future opportunities.”
• To thoroughly explore the connection between remote teaching methods and academic success, it is crucial to take into account various factors. These factors include evaluating how well virtual platforms support effective teaching, understanding the impact of limited in-person interactions on students’ emotional well-being, ensuring fair access to technology resources, and recognizing the potential long-term effects on students’ educational paths and future prospects.

Once you’ve written your essay, you can prompt ChatGPT to provide feedback and recommend improvements.

You can indicate how the tool should provide feedback (e.g., “Act like a university professor examining papers”) and include the specific points you want to receive feedback on (e.g., consistency of tone, clarity of argument, appropriateness of evidence).

While this is not an adequate substitute for an experienced academic supervisor, it can help you with quick preliminary feedback.

You can also use ChatGPT to check grammar mistakes. However, ChatGPT sometimes misses errors and on rare occasions may even introduce new grammatical mistakes. We suggest using a tool like Scribbr’s free grammar checker , which is designed specifically for this purpose. Or, for more in-depth feedback, try Scribbr’s proofreading and editing service .

Example: Using ChatGPT for feedback

• Feedback the above text with regard to consistency of tone, clarity of argument, appropriateness of evidence, and coherence of structure.
• Clarity of Argument: The argument could be further clarified by explicitly connecting the discussed factors to their impact on academic performance. For example, explicitly stating how the proficiency of virtual platforms and equitable access to technology affect academic performance would strengthen the clarity of the argument.
• Appropriateness of Evidence: The evidence provided is generally appropriate and relevant. To enhance the strength of the evidence, consider incorporating specific examples, research studies, or statistics that directly support the discussed factors and their impact on academic performance. This would provide stronger evidence for the claims made.
• Coherence of Structure: The structure of the text is coherent, with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing different factors, and a conclusion. To improve coherence, consider adding transitional phrases or sentences at the beginning or end of paragraphs to facilitate the smooth flow of ideas between paragraphs. This would enhance the overall structure and make it easier for the reader to follow the argument.

Overall, the text demonstrates a consistent tone, a clear argument, appropriate evidence, and a coherent structure. Clarifying the argument by explicitly connecting the factors to their impact, incorporating stronger evidence, and adding transitional phrases for better coherence would further enhance the text’s effectiveness. Note Passing off AI-generated text as your own work is generally considered plagiarism (or at least academic dishonesty ) and may result in an automatic fail and other negative consequences . AI detectors may be used to detect this offence.

If you want more tips on using AI tools , understanding plagiarism , and citing sources , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations, examples, and formats.

• Citing ChatGPT
• Best grammar checker
• Best paraphrasing tool
• ChatGPT in your studies
• Is ChatGPT trustworthy?
• Types of plagiarism
• Self-plagiarism
• Avoiding plagiarism
• Academic integrity
• Best plagiarism checker

Citing sources

• Citation styles
• In-text citation
• Citation examples
• Annotated bibliography

Yes, you can use ChatGPT to summarise text . This can help you understand complex information more easily, summarise the central argument of your own paper, or clarify your research question.

You can also use Scribbr’s free text summariser , which is designed specifically for this purpose.

Yes, you can use ChatGPT to paraphrase text to help you express your ideas more clearly, explore different ways of phrasing your arguments, and avoid repetition.

However, it’s not specifically designed for this purpose. We recommend using a specialised tool like Scribbr’s free paraphrasing tool , which will provide a smoother user experience.

Using AI writing tools (like ChatGPT ) to write your essay is usually considered plagiarism and may result in penalisation, unless it is allowed by your university. Text generated by AI tools is based on existing texts and therefore cannot provide unique insights. Furthermore, these outputs sometimes contain factual inaccuracies or grammar mistakes.

However, AI writing tools can be used effectively as a source of feedback and inspiration for your writing (e.g., to generate research questions ). Other AI tools, like grammar checkers, can help identify and eliminate grammar and punctuation mistakes to enhance your writing.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

Driessen, K. (2023, June 26). How to Write an Essay with ChatGPT | Tips & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 15 October 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/using-ai-tools/chatgpt-essays/

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• Knowledge Base

Using AI tools

How to use ChatGPT in your studies

Translated on February 13, 2023 by Tegan George. Originally published by Tobias Solis

ChatGPT is a chatbot developed by OpenAI in November of 2022. Chatbots are computer programs that simulate human interactions via artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP). ChatGPT has quickly become popular with students due to its ability to help answer many academic questions.

You can use ChatGPT in the following areas of your studies:

• Exam preparation
• Homework assignments
• Getting a simple topic explained
• Academic writing

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Table of contents

Chatgpt for exam preparation, using chatgpt for homework assignments, chatgpt for explaining simple topics, chatgpt for academic writing, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about chatgpt.

You can use ChatGPT to prepare for exams by creating:

• easy-to-understand summaries
• multiple choice questions

How to create easy-to-understand summaries

ChatGPT can help you summarize or paraphrase text in an easy-to-understand way. This can simplify and rephrase complicated topics to help you understand them in layman’s terms.

Simply copy the text into the chat section by section and ask it to summarize/paraphrase.

Alternatively, you can use Scribbr’s free text summarizer  and  Scribbr’s free paraphrasing tool , which are specifically designed for these purposes.

Input: Please summarize the following text in a way that is easy to understand:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

Multiple-choice questions

You can use ChatGPT to create multiple-choice questions for your study material. This can help you test your level of knowledge.

To do this, ask ChatGPT to create multiple-choice questions for a block of text.

ChatGPT result: Here is a practice test with 4 multiple-choice questions about A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, along with their answers:

Who is the protagonist in A Tale of Two Cities?

a) Charles Darnay b) Sydney Carton c) Charles Dickens d) Jarvis Lorry

What is the central theme of A Tale of Two Cities?

a) Love b) Redemption c) The French Revolution d) Poverty

Who is the villain in A Tale of Two Cities?

a) Charles Darnay b) Sydney Carton c) Madame Defarge d) Jarvis Lorry

What is the setting of A Tale of Two Cities?

a) England b) France c) America d) Australia

Check for common mistakes

Use the best grammar checker available to check for common mistakes in your text.

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You can also use ChatGPT to help you with your homework, for topics such as:

• Computer science
• Business administration

To do this, generate first draft solutions for the tasks given to you, and then improve them.

ChatGPT for computer science homework

For example, you can work on tasks from technical courses, such as computer science.

ChatGPT result: Here is one way to write a program in Python to calculate the sum of all numbers from 1 to N:

n = int(input(“Enter a positive integer: “)) sum = 0 for i in range(1, n+1): sum += i print(“The sum of all numbers from 1 to”, n, “is”, sum)

In this program, the user is prompted to enter a positive integer n. The variable sum is initialized to 0 and then we use a for loop to iterate from 1 to n (inclusive), adding each number to the sum. Finally, the result is printed to the screen.

ChatGPT for homework in business administration

You can also request assistance on your coursework related to economics or business administration.

Please solve the following task: The following data is given for planning the ordering policy of a material type in an industrial company:

Planning period: 180 days Total requirement: 30,000 ME Cost price: 30 GE/MU Order cost rate: 200 GE Storage cost rate: 1.50 GE/ME (related to the planning period) Interest rate: 5% (related to the planning period)

Determine the optimal order quantity, the optimal order frequency and storage range as well as the costs resulting from the optimal ordering policy as the sum of order costs and storage costs (including capital commitment costs).*

ChatGPT result:

The optimal order quantity, order frequency, and storage range can be determined using the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) model. The EOQ model balances the trade-off between ordering costs and holding costs.

Ordering costs are the costs incurred each time an order is placed, and holding costs are the costs associated with holding inventory in stock over the planning period.

The EOQ model is calculated using the following formula:

EOQ = √(2DS/H)

Where: D = Total requirement (30,000 ME) S = Order cost rate (200 GE) H = Holding cost rate (1.5 GE/ME)

Plugging in the values: EOQ = √(2 * 30,000 * 200 / 1.5) = √(12,000,000) = 3464.16 ME

The optimal order quantity is approximately 3464.16 ME.

The order frequency can be calculated as the total requirement divided by the EOQ: Order frequency = Total requirement / EOQ = 30,000 / 3464.16 = 8.68 orders

The optimal order frequency is approximately 8.68 orders.

The storage range can be calculated as the EOQ divided by 2: Storage range = EOQ / 2 = 3464.16 / 2 = 1732.08 ME

The optimal storage range is approximately 1732.08 ME.

The costs resulting from the optimal ordering policy can be calculated as the sum of the order costs and holding costs.

Order costs = Order frequency * Order cost rate = 8.68 * 200 = 1736 GE Holding costs = (EOQ / 2) * Holding cost rate * planning period = (3464.16 / 2) * 1.5 * 180 = 126,601.76 GE Capital commitment costs = (EOQ / 2) * Interest rate * Cost price = (3464.16 / 2) * 0.05 * 30 = 523.25 GE Total costs = Order costs + Holding costs + Capital commitment costs = 1736 + 126,601.76 + 523.25 = 127,861.01 GE

*This task was taken from a document published by Prof. Dr. Kay Blaufus.

Note that ChatGPT sometimes makes mistakes, and it is always best to double-check if something it presents to you is correct.

You can get explanations on simple or definitional topics from your studies from ChatGPT as well.

Input: chemistry What are the main concepts of thermodynamics and their applications?

Input: English What is a phrasal verb and how is it used?

Input: history How has European colonial rule evolved throughout history?

Input: computer science How do operating systems work and what are their main uses?

Input: philosophy What are the most important concepts in the history of philosophy and how are they relevant in today’s world?

Input: psychology What is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and how is it used?

You can also use ChatGPT to help you organize your academic essays and theses or dissertations . It can help to optimize your writing process in the following areas:

• development of your research question
• creating your research paper outline
• generating ideas for your literature review
• providing suggestions for rewriting or revising your text
• providing feedback on your writing
• proofreading your writing for spelling or grammar errors (you can also use a more specialized tool like Scribbr’s free grammar checker )

To learn more about how to use AI tools effectively, see our AI writing resources page.

If you want more tips on using AI tools , understanding plagiarism , and citing sources , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations, examples, and formats.

• Citing ChatGPT
• Best grammar checker
• Best paraphrasing tool
• ChatGPT in your studies
• Deep learning
• Types of plagiarism
• Self-plagiarism
• Avoiding plagiarism
• Academic integrity
• Best plagiarism checker

Citing sources

• Citation styles
• In-text citation
• Citation examples
• Annotated bibliography

You should not trust ChatGPT’s results unconditionally. While you can use ChatGPT during your studies to clarify questions, you should always double-check the answers you receive against other credible sources , as it doesn’t always give correct information. Don’t cite ChatGPT as a source of factual information.

Yes, ChatGPT is able to create code in different programming languages like Python, Java and C++.

There are several ways you can use ChatGPT in your studies , such as if programming is part of your bachelor’s or master’s degree.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

George, T. (2023, February 13). How to use ChatGPT in your studies. Scribbr. Retrieved October 15, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/ai-tools/using-chatgpt-in-your-studies/

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How Career Centers Can Use ChatGPT to Help Students Create ATS-Friendly Resumes (With Prompts)

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Artificial intelligence is making its mark in career services, and ChatGPT is one of the tools leading the way. But how can it help your career center assist job seekers in crafting resumes that not only look great but also pass through Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) ?

This guide walks you through practical ways to use ChatGPT, complete with prompts and tips, to streamline the resume-writing process while ensuring each resume is tailored, impactful, and ATS-friendly.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is an AI-powered language model developed by OpenAI that can generate human-like text based on the prompts it receives. Think of it as a virtual writing assistant that can help with everything from drafting emails to crafting resumes. For career centers, ChatGPT can be a game-changer in creating resumes that resonate with employers and get past ATS filters.

However, ChatGPT isn’t about replacing the valuable personal touch you bring to career coaching—it’s about enhancing it. By handling some of the more tedious aspects of resume writing, ChatGPT frees you up to focus on what really matters: helping job seekers present their best selves to potential employers.

Why Should Career Centers Use ChatGPT for Resume Writing?

ChatGPT offers practical tools that streamline your services, improve resume quality, and support more successful job placements.

• Streamline Your Workflow Without Losing Quality Handling a large number of resumes can be time-consuming. With ChatGPT, your team can generate resumes quickly, giving them more time to focus on personalized career counseling.
• Personalize Support for Diverse Needs No two job seekers are the same. Whether working with recent graduates, career changers, or alumni, your team can use ChatGPT to help craft resumes that highlight each individual’s strengths.
• Adaptable Tools for Every Sector Whether your students want to pursue a career in Finance, Communications or the Sciences, ChatGPT’s flexibility allows it to meet the unique challenges of their industry, helping job seekers stand out in competitive markets.
• Stay Ahead with Market Insights The job market changes rapidly, and staying informed is key. ChatGPT keeps your team up-to-date with the latest trends, ensuring the support you provide is always relevant and effective.

How to Use ChatGPT to Write a Standout Resume

Helping students create a resume that truly stands out can be tough. It’s not just about listing skills—it’s about crafting a story that resonates with employers and gets them through the hurdles of ATS systems.

ChatGPT can make this process smoother, turning the daunting, time-consuming task of resume writing into something straightforward and effective.

Once ChatGPT has helped generate the resume sections, you can streamline the process further by using Jobscan’s resume builder. It formats resumes professionally, ensuring they meet ATS standards. Download the final version as a PDF at no cost, ready for your clients’ job applications.

1. Start with Understanding the Job Seeker’s Goals

Before putting pen to paper, it’s essential to understand what the job seeker is aiming for. ChatGPT can help by gathering the necessary information upfront.

Prompt Example: “I’m working with a student who is a recent graduate in computer science looking to start a career in software development. What information do you need to start creating their resume?”

Career Coach Tip: Encourage students to provide detailed information about their career goals, relevant skills , and any specific industries or roles they’re targeting. This sets the foundation for a well-tailored resume.

2. Craft a Strong Resume Headline

The resume headline is a one-liner that immediately tells employers what the job seeker brings to the table. It’s the first thing they’ll notice after the contact information, so it needs to be punchy and relevant.

Prompt Example: “Create a resume headline for a marketing professional with 5 years of experience, specializing in digital marketing and SEO, targeting a digital marketing manager role.”

Career Coach Tip: The headline should be concise and specific, summarizing the student’s expertise and the role they’re aiming for.

3. Write a Compelling Resume Summary

The resume summary is an elevator pitch. It’s a brief overview of the job seeker’s skills, experience, and what makes them a great fit for the role.

Prompt Example: “Write a resume summary for a project manager with 8 years of experience in the tech industry, highlighting their skills in cross-functional team leadership and project delivery.”

Career Coach Tip: Encourage your students to personalize the summary by including unique achievements or goals that align with the job they’re applying for.

4. Develop a Strong Work Experience Section

The work experience section is the heart of the resume. It’s where job seekers can showcase what they’ve accomplished in previous roles, with a focus on measurable achievements.

Prompt Example: “Help me write the work experience section for a software engineer with these job details: Software Engineer, XYZ Corp, June 2018 – Present, responsible for backend development, led a team to reduce system downtime by 20%, and improved API response times by 30%.”

Tip: Emphasize the importance of quantifiable results. Employers want to see how the job seeker’s contributions made a difference in their previous roles.

5. Highlight Resume Accomplishments

Accomplishments give the resume its edge. They provide tangible proof of the job seeker’s impact in their previous roles.

Prompt Example: “Write resume accomplishments with measurements based on the following responsibilities: managed a customer support team, increased customer satisfaction by 25%, and reduced average response time by 15%.”

Career Coach Tip: Make sure the job seeker edits the generated accomplishments to accurately reflect their achievements. Authenticity is key.

Copy the output generated by ChatGPT into Jobscan’s resume builder under the work experience or resume summary sections. This will ensure that the content is clearly presented and aligns with the overall structure of the resume, making it easier for employers to recognize key achievements.

6. Optimize for ATS with Targeted Keywords

To get past ATS, resumes need to include the right keywords that match the job description. ChatGPT can suggest these keywords, helping job seekers tailor their resumes for each application.

Prompt Example: “What keywords should be included in a resume for a data analyst position based on this job description?”

Career Coach Tip: Encourage students to integrate keywords naturally into their resumes. Overloading a resume with keywords can make it sound robotic and hard to read. Make sure to verify with Jobscan if those keywords match the job description of the position they are applying for!

How to Use ChatGPT to Create Industry-Specific Resumes

Different industries often require different approaches to resume writing. ChatGPT can help tailor resumes to meet the specific demands and expectations of various fields.

Industry-Specific Prompts:

• Tech Industry: “Create a resume for a software engineer focusing on skills like coding, problem-solving, and agile methodologies.”
• Healthcare Industry: “Generate a resume for a registered nurse with experience in patient care, medical documentation, and team collaboration.”
• Education Sector: “Help me write a resume for a high school teacher emphasizing classroom management, curriculum development, and student engagement.”

Career Coach Tip: Encourage job seekers to highlight industry-specific certifications, skills, and experiences that align with the expectations of their target field.

While ChatGPT provides a great starting point, Jobscan’s Power Edit is specifically designed for creating professional, ATS-compatible resumes tailored to specific job roles. It’s a more targeted tool for organizations aiming to enhance their clients’ job search success.

Using ChatGPT to Create Multilingual Resumes

For job seekers looking for opportunities in international markets, or for organizations working with multilingual communities, ChatGPT can assist in translating resumes into different languages.

Prompts for Multilingual Resumes:

• Creating a Resume in Spanish: “Translate my resume into Spanish, focusing on my experience in international sales and marketing.”
• Adapting for Cultural Contexts: “Create a resume for a French-speaking market, ensuring it aligns with cultural expectations in terms of format and content.”

Tip: Ensure that translations maintain the original resume’s intent and accurately reflect the job seeker’s qualifications.

Best Practices for Using ChatGPT in Career Centers

Maximize ChatGPT’s potential while steering clear of common pitfalls.

1) Use ChatGPT as a Starting Point, Not the Final Product The content ChatGPT generates is a foundation. The real value comes when job seekers refine and personalize it to make it their own.

2) Educate Job Seekers on ATS Many job seekers aren’t aware of how ATS works. Use ChatGPT as a teaching tool to explain the importance of keywords, formatting, and how these systems filter resumes.

3) Encourage Continuous Improvement ChatGPT can help with initial drafts, but the best resumes come from multiple revisions. Encourage job seekers to keep refining their resumes until they’re polished and ready.

4) Balance Keywords with Readability It’s crucial to find a balance between ATS compliance and readability. Overloading a resume with keywords can make it difficult to read and less effective.

More Ways Career Centers Can Utilize ChatGPT

1. Write Cover Letters That Stand Out Cover letters might get overlooked, but they’re your job seekers’ chance to go beyond the resume and really connect with employers. With ChatGPT, you can help craft cover letters that not only complement the resume but also make a strong case for why they’re the right fit for the job.

Prompt Example: “Write a cover letter for a candidate applying for a project management position, focusing on their ability to lead cross-functional teams and deliver projects on time.”

Career Coach Tip: Encourage students to inject some personality into their cover letters. A little enthusiasm can go a long way in making a strong impression.

Elevate your job seekers’ applications with cover letters that truly stand out. Jobscan’s   cover letter generator crafts personalized, ATS-friendly cover letters using the job seeker’s resume and the actual job listing—no generic templates, just targeted, compelling content that grabs employers’ attention.

2. Optimize LinkedIn Profiles A well-crafted LinkedIn profile can set job seekers apart—ChatGPT helps create content that captures attention and draws in recruiters.

Prompt Example: “Create a LinkedIn summary for a software engineer specializing in machine learning and AI applications.”

Career Coach Tip: Remind students that LinkedIn is more than just an online resume—it’s a platform to showcase their personality and career aspirations.

3. Ensure ATS Compliance with ChatGPT If a resume can’t pass ATS, it’s as good as unseen—ChatGPT helps optimize keywords and formatting to improve a resume’s chances of making it through these systems.

Prompt Example: “What keywords should be included in a resume for a financial analyst role?”

Career Coach Tip: Make sure students understand that while keywords are important, they need to be integrated naturally into the resume.

Do’s and Don’ts for Using ChatGPT in Resume Writing

• Personalize the Content: Customize ChatGPT’s output to reflect the job seeker’s unique experiences and voice.
• Highlight Measurable Achievements: Use action-oriented language to showcase specific results, like “increased sales by 20%.”
• Incorporate Relevant Keywords: Ensure the resume includes industry-specific keywords that align with the job description.
• Use ChatGPT as a Starting Point: Treat AI-generated content as a draft that needs refining and personalization.
• Educate on ATS Compliance: Make sure job seekers understand how to optimize their resumes for ATS systems.
• Overload with Keywords: Avoid stuffing the resume with keywords, which can make it hard to read and less effective.
• Rely Solely on ChatGPT: Balance AI-generated content with the job seeker’s personal input to ensure authenticity.
• Ignore the Job Description: Tailor the resume specifically to the job being applied for, rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach.
• Skip Proofreading: Even with AI assistance, always manually check for errors or awkward phrasing.
• Overlook the Human Element: Ensure the resume reflects the job seeker’s personality, especially in roles where cultural fit is important.

How to Use ChatGPT to Review and Update Resumes

Refreshing a stale resume can be tough, but ChatGPT simplifies the process, ensuring it’s sharp, current, aligned with their career goals, and ready to impress.

1. Refresh Your Resume with Impactful Language

A little polish can turn a good resume into a great one, with more impactful language highlighting key accomplishments.

Prompt Example: “Help me rewrite the work experience section of my resume to include more impactful language. I was responsible for leading a team of sales representatives, which resulted in a 15% increase in overall sales.”

Career Coach Tip: Encourage students to use this prompt to breathe new life into outdated descriptions, making their contributions stand out more clearly.

2. Add New Skills to Stay Current

As industries evolve, so do the skills required to succeed. ChatGPT can suggest new skills to add to a resume based on the job seeker’s current role, industry, and the positions they’re targeting.

Prompt Example: “Suggest new skills for my resume. I have been working as a project manager in the tech industry for the past 8 years, and I’m now looking to move into a senior management role.”

Career Coach Tip: Advise students to regularly update their skills section to reflect any new competencies they’ve acquired, keeping their resumes relevant and competitive.

3. Proofread and Edit Your Resume

For a flawless finish, let ChatGPT catch any errors and smooth out awkward phrasing and inconsistencies in resumes.

Prompt Example: “Proofread my resume for any grammar, spelling, or punctuation errors. Here’s the content: [paste resume text].”

Career Coach Tip: While ChatGPT can help with editing, remind students that it’s up to them to ensure that all information is accurate and reflects their true experience.

4. Update Your Resume for a Career Change

Transitioning to a new career can be challenging, but ChatGPT can help by emphasizing transferable skills and tailoring the resume to the new industry .

Prompt Example: “Help me create a career change resume. I have 10 years of experience in education and am looking to transition into corporate training. My key skills include curriculum development, public speaking, and team leadership. Please tailor my resume to highlight these transferable skills for a role as a corporate trainer.”

Career Coach Tip: Ensure that the resume highlights how students’ previous experience can be an asset in their new career path.

ChatGPT is an advanced AI language model that can assist in generating professional and tailored resumes. For career centers, ChatGPT can streamline the resume creation process by offering customizable prompts that produce content aligned with industry standards, making it easier for job seekers to create resumes that stand out.

Yes, ChatGPT can help generate resumes that are optimized for Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). By including relevant keywords and proper formatting, ChatGPT ensures that resumes have a higher chance of passing through ATS filters and getting noticed by employers.

Career centers can use ChatGPT to assist job seekers by creating resumes, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles tailored to specific industries and job roles. ChatGPT helps save time while ensuring that each document is professionally crafted and aligned with the latest industry trends.

Absolutely. ChatGPT can highlight transferable skills and relevant experiences, helping career changers position themselves effectively in a new industry. By tailoring the resume to the new role, ChatGPT ensures that the job seeker’s previous experience is presented as an asset.

While ChatGPT provides a solid foundation, it’s important to review and edit the output to ensure accuracy. Career centers should encourage job seekers to personalize the content, verify all information, and ensure that the resume reflects their true skills and experiences.

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