This guide offers resources and examples to help you understand AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini, and provides practical ideas for using AI in lesson planning and assignment creation.
This is a fast-evolving area, and we've just launched this guide. We're committed to keeping it up-to-date, so please let us know if you spot any outdated information. As a new resource, we'd also love your feedback! Please email the CETL with any questions, suggestions, additions, or corrections. Your input is invaluable in helping us build and improve this guide. Thank you!
Email us here:
This guide has been adapted from the “AI Literacy in the Age of ChatGPT” by Nicole Hennig from the University of Arizona licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0.
Feel free to copy this guide, in part or in its entirety, in your own LibGuide.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.”
Remember, you'll always need to verify the information, because ChatGPT will sometimes make things ups (known as "hallucination.")
What is it good for?
What is it not so good for?
What is prompting?
Simply, it's what you type into the chat box.
Always verify the information it gives you.
Think of ChatGPT as your personal intern. They need very specific instructions, and they need you to verify the information.
ChatGPT sometimes makes things up. That's because it's designed to write in a way that sounds like human writing. It's not designed to know facts.
Tips for writing effective prompts
Examples
Or...
I didn't like any of those topics. Please give me 10 more.
The official term in the field of AI is "hallucination." This refers to the fact that it sometimes "makes stuff up." This is because these systems are probabilistic, not deterministic.
One area where ChatGPT usually gives fictional answers is when asked to create a list of sources. See the Twitter thread, "Why does chatGPT make up fake academic papers?" for a useful explanation of why this happens.
Since we've had many questions from students about this, we offer this FAQ:
I can’t find the citations that ChatGPT gave me. What should I do?
However, there is progress in making these systems more truthful by grounding them in external sources of knowledge. Some examples are Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity AI, which use internet search results to ground answers. However, the Internet sources used, could also contain misinformation or disinformation. But at least with Copilot and Perplexity you can link to the sources used to begin verification.
You can help students care about being transparent in their use. Discuss ChatGPT and create a policy for whether and how to use it.
Professor Ethan Mollick (Wharton School), recommends going beyond traditional citations. He asks his students to include an appendix to their papers, where they list each prompt they used in ChatGPT and discuss how they revised those prompts to get better output.
See: Mollick, Ethan R. and Mollick, Lilach, Using AI to Implement Effective Teaching Strategies in Classrooms: Five Strategies, Including Prompts (March 17, 2023).
Here are the guidelines for citing generative AI in MLA Style, APA Style, and Chicago Manual of Style.
It's also worth reading this advice, since some uses don't fit the standard way of citing:
Here are some statements from academic publishers about the use of generative AI.
AI use must be declared and clearly explained in publications such as research papers, just as we expect scholars to do with other software, tools and methodologies.
AI does not meet the Cambridge requirements for authorship, given the need for accountability. AI and LLM tools may not be listed as an author on any scholarly work published by Cambridge
Authors are accountable for the accuracy, integrity and originality of their research papers, including for any use of AI.
Any use of AI must not breach Cambridge’s plagiarism policy. Scholarly works must be the author’s own, and not present others’ ideas, data, words or other material without adequate citation and transparent referencing.
Please note, individual journals may have more specific requirements or guidelines for upholding this policy.
Other publishers are also coming out with statements like these.
The Culinary Institute of America | Conrad N. Hilton Library | 1946 Campus Drive | Hyde Park, NY 12538-1430
Telephone: 845-451-1747 | Email: library@culinary.edu