“It's a great place to start, a terrible place to finish!” (Library and Academic Skills team, 2023).
Think of Generative AI's as writing tools, not as a researching tools. Learning to write and format documents in formal and academic ways can be tricky so using a tool can be useful and effective way to visually see the process and structure required. The key to successfuly using a tool is to be able to identify when and how it should be used. See the page "Best Practise" for a useful flow diagram.
Ways to use Generative AI to support your academic learning,
- Mind Mapping – use it to spark ideas
- Outline for the essay – ask it for help planning the outline of an assignment
- Ask for explanations – explain or summarise a concept
- Writing suggestions – grammar suggestions or pivoting to formal tone
- Writing feedback – include the rubric and ask for any missing elements
Depending on the assignment, you may be asked to use or not use an AI tool depending on what that module is seeking to teach and assess your skills on. For example, if the assignment is to assess your essay outline skills then using an AI tool will not be useful is evidencing your own skills.
