AI Research Paper Instructions
Welcome to The AI Research Paper.
The goal of this paper is to write a properly sourced research paper using AI. You will be writing a paper based on the topic of your choosing as long as it pertains to anthropology.
We are going to use the assistance of text generative AI to complete a research paper. This assignment will be divided into two parts. The first part is worth 40% of your grade. In this part you will be asked a series of questions to help set your paper up. Please make sure you provide detailed and thought-out answers. The second part of this assignment (worth 60% of your grade) is actually completing the paper. You will upload the paper in PDF format in the link provided.
Format
Your submitted paper will be in Chicago Style. It will be in Times New Roman (or something similar). It will be double spaced. Your final paper will be between 1200 and 2000 words (not counting the works cited page).
Citation and Sources
You have to use peer-reviewed sources as references for your topic. AI will help you do this.
Common misconceptions of acceptable sources:
It ends in a .edu. This does not make it an academic source. I suggest you look at who wrote whatever you are reading and see if they have published.
The Smithsonian, National Geographic are also not allowed.
In-text citation: This is a concept that eludes most people. If you are using an idea that is not common knowledge you need to provide an in-text citation. When you are paraphrasing one of your sources, you need to cite. When you quote, you need to cite. When in doubt, cite. Not citing is called plagiarism.
Frequently asked questions about sources:
Once I have my academic sources can I use other non-academic ones? – Yes, you may. But do not lean too much on them for the content of your paper or your grade will suffer.
Can I use our textbook or lecture notes? – Yes, but same as above, do not make them your primary sources.
How about if I find an academic book? – This is a gray area. Some books are acceptable, some are not. You can email me with the book information if you want to double and make sure it’s a valid source.
Articles are asking for money to access them; do I need to pay? No! You can access any article through the school library for free!
Citing and quoting: Your paper should be in your own words (remember to still cite). You are welcome to use quotes, but do NOT make your paper quote-heavy.
To complete this assignment, you are going to use an AI text generator. A couple of free options are Chat GPT 3 or Perplexity. You are welcome to use other ones as well. If you do use another AI, let me know which.
This is the first part of your paper. Please take time to answer all of the questions in detail.
Questions
1. Ask your AI to give you five topics you can write about in about anthropology. Tailor the question to you and your interests. For example, if you are a fan of fashion, you may want to ask for prompts relating to anthropology and fashion. Make sure you are being specific. Let the AI know you need topics for a research paper. You may find that you are going to need to ask a follow up question to get better topics. Or you may decide to restart and ask a different question.
What questions did you ask (copy and paste below)? Let me know if you asked a follow up question. Or if you modified your original question.
2. What were the topics the AI generator provided for you (copy and paste below)?
3. Which topic are you going to pick and why?
4.Now ask for it to find four peer-reviewed sources on your topic. This question may be as easy as, ‘find me four peer reviewed sources on the third topic.
5. Do these sources relate to the topic you would like to write about? If they do not, you may need to start over with a new topic or question.
6. Please pick three out of the four sources and locate the actual articles using our library’s database. Read the abstracts of these articles. Do these articles relate to the topic you would like to write about? If they do, download the articles. You may not find any of these and you may have to find your own sources. That is totally fine.
7. Ask AI to create an outline for a research paper based on the topic you picked. Play around with the wording on this question. Tailor your question to what you want. Copy and paste the outline here
8. Does this outline work for you? Are you going to delete any sections? If you are adjusting the outline please copy and paste the new revised version here. Provide a brief description about what adjustments you made and why.
Now time to write your paper by filling in the outline with your own words. Do not use AI for this (I will be checking). You are going to actually have to write using the outline as a structure. Upload your final paper using the separate link provided in this same module. Your paper is going to be in Chicago Style format. Please make sure you are providing in-text citations as well as a reference page.
