Use AI thoughtfully while researching and completing papers and course assignments.
AI FOR PAPERS & RESEARCH ASSIGNMENTS
Use AI to Support Your Research
Explore ways AI can support topic development, research questions, discovery, source evaluation, and other parts of the research and writing process—while keeping your own thinking and judgment at the center.
Before You Use AI for an Assignment
AI can support parts of the research and writing process, but your own thinking, evaluation, and decision-making remain essential. Use this guide to explore possibilities while following your instructor's expectations.
The library supports student learning and research by helping you explore tools and evaluate information. The university (IT/data security) provides guidance on UW-approved AI tools and responsible use.
This guide includes both UW-approved AI tools and public AI tools students commonly encounter. UW-approved tools are the best choice for university-related work. Public tools are included for awareness and optional exploration and do not imply university endorsement or requirement.
Protect your privacy: Do not enter private, identifying, or confidential information into any AI tool.
Follow course rules: Always follow your instructor's expectations and course policies.
No student should be required to create an account or use a non-university AI tool for a class. When in doubt, ask your instructor or the library.
Keep These in Mind
5 Things to Remember When Using AI
Use AI to support your thinking, not replace it.
AI can help you brainstorm ideas, explore topics, develop questions, or clarify confusing concepts. Your final work should reflect your own thinking, analysis, and voice.
Always fact-check and verify sources.
AI can provide inaccurate information and may generate citations or sources that do not exist. Verify important information using library databases, original sources, or other trusted resources.
Be transparent about how you used AI.
If AI use is allowed, be clear about how you used it—for example, brainstorming, developing questions, outlining, or reviewing your work. When in doubt, ask your instructor.
Keep yourself in the research and writing process.
Research and writing involve making decisions: which questions matter, which evidence is credible, how sources relate to one another, and what conclusions the evidence supports. AI can assist with parts of this process, but those intellectual decisions remain yours.
Know your instructor's expectations.
Acceptable AI use can vary by instructor and assignment. Check your syllabus and assignment instructions, and ask your instructor when expectations are unclear.
AI can suggest questions, sources, search terms, and explanations. You decide what to pursue and what to trust. This guide focuses on two important parts of that process: Discovery and Verification.
Discovery: Choose What to Investigate
Explore possible questions and research connected with your topic. AI can help surface possibilities; you decide which direction is worth investigating.
Your decision: What could I research, and what questions could I ask?
A broad topic is only a starting point. AI can help you explore several possible research questions and see what kinds of scholarly research might connect with them. The goal is not to have AI choose your topic or position. You decide what you want to investigate.
Why Consensus here? Consensus is especially useful during discovery because it can help you explore possible questions while connecting those questions with scholarly research, useful terminology, and studies you can investigate further.
Treat the questions, keywords, and research it surfaces as starting points. Read the original studies and verify that they actually support what you think they do.
Sample Prompt
Explore a Research Topic
Replace:[topic or issue] with something you are interested in researching.
PROMPT TO COPY
I'm writing a college research paper about [topic or issue]. Suggest 5 possible research questions that approach this topic from different perspectives.
The questions should be focused enough for a college research paper, require investigation and analysis rather than a simple factual or yes-or-no answer, and be answerable using credible sources.
For each question:
briefly explain what I would need to investigate;
suggest several useful keywords or search terms;
identify 1–2 scholarly articles or studies that could help me begin exploring the question.
Do not choose a question or position for me. I will evaluate the possibilities and decide which direction to pursue.
Your decision:
Which question interests you and seems workable for your assignment? Look at the suggested keywords and research as starting points, not a finished search. Choose a direction and begin exploring the literature.
Course Activities
Using This Guide in WRT 188 or WRT 288
If you are using this guide for WRT 188 or WRT 288, expand your course below and work through the steps alongside your course worksheet. Everyone else can continue to Bring Your Research Forward.
WRT 188 — Discovery Activities
COURSE STEP 1
Explore Possible Research Questions
Start with a topic or issue you are interested in. Use Consensus to explore several possible research directions before deciding what you want to investigate.
Replace:[topic or issue] with something you are interested in researching.
PROMPT TO COPY
I'm a college student in WRT 188 developing a research project about [topic or issue]. Suggest 5 possible research questions that approach this topic from different perspectives.
The questions should be focused enough for a college research paper, require investigation and analysis rather than a simple factual or yes-or-no answer, and be answerable using credible sources.
For each question:
briefly identify what I would need to investigate;
suggest useful keywords or search terms;
identify 1–2 scholarly articles or studies I could explore as a starting point.
Do not choose a question or position for me.
Your decision:
Look across the questions Consensus generated. Which question connects most closely with what you want to understand about your topic? Consider whether the question interests you, gives you something meaningful to investigate, and seems workable for the assignment. Choose one question and record it on your worksheet. Share your question here in this poll.
COURSE STEP 2
Identify Your Main Concepts
Look at the research question you chose. What are the 2–4 main ideas or concepts you would need to search for to investigate that question?
Think of concepts as the important ideas in your question rather than every word in the sentence.
Your turn:
Write down what you think are the 2–4 main concepts in your research question. There may be more than one reasonable way to identify them. Record your choices on your worksheet.
COURSE STEP 3
Expand Your Search Vocabulary
Now use Consensus to help you think of additional ways your concepts might be described. This gives you more possibilities to test as you begin searching.
Replace:[research question] and [my concepts] with the choices from your worksheet.
PROMPT TO COPY
My research question is:
[research question]
I identified these as the main concepts in my question:
[my 2–4 concepts]
Keep the concepts I identified and clearly distinguish them from your suggestions.
For each concept, suggest:
synonyms or alternative words;
related terms;
other terminology researchers might use when writing about this idea.
Organize the terms by concept so I can see which words belong together.
Then suggest 2–3 combinations of terms I could try when searching for sources. Treat these as possibilities for me to test, not as a final search strategy.
Your decision:
Review the suggestions and decide which terms actually fit what you mean. Record useful possibilities on your worksheet and test them as you search.
WRT 288 asks you to investigate a contemporary public issue from different perspectives. Start with an issue you are interested in, then use Consensus to explore possible directions.
Replace:[public issue or debate] with the issue you are considering.
PROMPT TO COPY
I'm a student in WRT 288: Advanced Writing / Connect. I'm researching [public issue or debate].
Generate possible research questions that examine this public issue from these four angles:
Economic: costs, benefits, employment, resources, access, or other economic impacts
Cultural: values, identities, beliefs, communities, experiences, or cultural differences
Technological: how technology contributes to, changes, or could address the issue
Environmental: sustainability, natural resources, environmental impacts, or effects on future generations
Give me 2 possible research questions for each angle. Each question should require research, analysis, and synthesis rather than a simple factual or yes-or-no answer.
For each question:
suggest several useful keywords or search terms;
identify 1–2 scholarly articles or studies that could help me begin exploring the question;
identify which broader WRT 288 question below it could help me investigate.
Broader WRT 288 questions:
How do people understand and engage in community life?
How do people understand and create a more sustainable world?
How do people understand and bridge cultural differences?
Do not choose a question or position for me. Present the questions by angle so I can compare possible directions. Prioritize questions connected with current and vigorous scholarly discussions.
Your decision:
Look across the possibilities. Which question best connects your interests with the goals of the assignment? You do not need to address every angle. Choose one question and record it on your worksheet.
COURSE STEP 2
Build Search Terms From Your Concepts
Before using this prompt: Look at the research question you selected and identify its 2–4 main concepts yourself. Record those concepts on your worksheet.
Replace:[research question] and [my concepts] with your choices.
PROMPT TO COPY
My research question is:
[research question]
I identified these as the main concepts or important ideas in my question:
[my 2–4 concepts]
Keep the concepts I identified and clearly distinguish them from your suggestions.
For each concept, suggest:
useful synonyms and alternative terms;
related terminology researchers may use;
broader terms that might expand my search;
narrower terms that might make my search more specific.
Organize the terms by concept so I can see which words belong together.
Then suggest 2–3 search combinations using these terms that I could test in Consensus and later in library databases.
Treat these as possibilities for me to evaluate and test, not as a final search strategy.
Your decision:
Decide which terms accurately represent what you want to investigate. Record useful possibilities on your worksheet, then test and revise those choices as you encounter scholarly research.
Other Helpful Discovery Tools
These tools can help you continue exploring scholarly research. Use them to identify promising literature, then read and evaluate the original sources before using them in your work.
Use it for: Finding scholarly articles and exploring connections among papers, authors, topics, and citations.
Best fit for: Assignments requiring scholarly sources, particularly when you already have a reasonably focused topic or research question.
Example Searches
social media adolescent mental health
food access community health outcomes
Librarian Tip: Discovery tools help you identify promising research. Retrieve and read the original source before using it as evidence in your paper. Check Polk Library databases for full-text access when needed.
Before moving on: Choose a working research question and identify promising sources to read and verify.
Verification: Decide What You Can Trust
Your decision: Is this information accurate, credible, and useful for my question?
Check that each source exists, read the original, and compare its findings with the AI's description. Verify important claims against the source itself. Then judge whether the evidence is relevant to your question and supports the claim you want to make.
Use it for: Practicing source analysis and comparing an AI-generated evaluation with your own evaluation. Be critical of the AI's analysis—your evaluation may be better.
ChatGPT can apply source-evaluation frameworks such as CRAAP or SIFT when prompted. You can then examine its reasoning, verify its claims, and compare its evaluation with your own.
Two approaches to evaluating information
CRAAP Test
SIFT Method
Helpful for evaluating many traditional information sources.
C — Currency
R — Relevance
A — Authority
A — Accuracy
P — Purpose
Useful when evaluating online and rapidly circulating information.
S — Stop
I — Investigate the Source
F — Find Better Coverage
T — Trace Claims, Quotes, and Media to the Original Context
Practice
Compare the AI's Evaluation With Your Own
Ask ChatGPT to apply the CRAAP or SIFT framework to a source you are evaluating.
Evaluate the source yourself rather than accepting the AI response.
Compare the two evaluations. Where do you agree? Where do you disagree? Did the AI make claims that need verification?
Takeaway
AI should not make the credibility decision for you. Use it as a way to practice and challenge your own evaluation.
Before moving on: Identify which sources and claims you can use, which need more checking, and where the evidence has limits.
Cite and Disclose AI Use When Required
Your decision: Does my AI use need to be cited or disclosed?
Start With Your Instructor's Requirements
Citation and disclosure expectations can vary by assignment, instructor, discipline, and citation style. Always follow your instructor's directions first.
Quick Examples: APA & MLA
If your instructor allows AI-generated material in your paper, pair the in-text citation with a full entry below. These hypothetical examples use a ChatGPT response to “Explain confirmation bias,” generated on October 1, 2026.
APA 7
In-text citation
(OpenAI, 2026)
References entry — specific chat
OpenAI. (2026, October 1). Explain confirmation bias [Generative AI chat]. ChatGPT. [Shared chat URL]
Make it yours: Replace the example title or prompt, date, model, and URL with your own details. The APA title is the chat's title; the MLA description identifies the prompt or generated content. Bracketed model and URL fields are placeholders; APA's [Generative AI chat] label stays.
Use a shareable chat link when appropriate, and check for private information before sharing. MLA permits the tool's general URL when a stable chat link is unavailable. For quotations, add a paragraph number or other locator when available. In your text, explain the prompt and how you used the response.
If material generated by an AI tool contributes to your submitted work, you may need to cite, acknowledge, or otherwise disclose that use. Examples can include:
Quoting AI-generated text.
Paraphrasing AI-generated material.
Using AI-generated content, examples, or structures in submitted work.
Using AI in a way your instructor or assignment requires you to disclose.
Brainstorming, question development, editing, or other uses may also have disclosure expectations depending on your instructor, assignment, discipline, or publication context.
When in doubt: ask your instructor and consult the current guidance for the citation style required by your course.
AI Disclosure Tool
Document How You Used AI
If you used generative AI during several parts of your research or writing process, you may need to explain what tool you used, what you used it for, and how it contributed to your work.
The Artificial Intelligence Disclosure (AID) Framework provides a standardized way to describe how generative AI contributed to research and writing. Its AID Statement Builder can help you create a concise disclosure statement describing your AI use.
You might document AI use for activities such as:
Brainstorming research questions or ideas
Developing an outline
Analyzing or synthesizing information
Editing, translation, readability, or organization
Creating visual elements such as tables, diagrams, images, or videos
This guide focuses on using AI for papers and research assignments. If you are conducting original research, a literature review, a capstone, faculty research, or other scholarly work, explore the AI Research Hub for more advanced guidance on using AI throughout the research process.
