how can i use chatgpt to write an essay

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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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How ChatGPT (and other AI chatbots) can help you write an essay

ChatGPT  is capable of doing many different things very well, with one of the biggest standout features being 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 getting stuff done, we constantly take time out of our day to compose emails, texts, posts, and more. ChatGPT can help you claim some of that time back by helping you brainstorm and then 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 just 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 to do both the writing and assisting, as well as 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.

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

For example,  Copilot  has access to the internet, and as a result, it can source its answers from recent information and current events. Copilot also includes footnotes linking back to the original source for all of its responses, making the chatbot a more valuable tool if you're writing a paper on a more recent event, or if you want to verify your sources.

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

1. Use ChatGPT to generate essay ideas

Before you can even get started 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: ChatGPT vs. Copilot: Which AI chatbot is better for you?

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. 

Also: I'm a ChatGPT pro but this quick course taught me new tricks, and you can take it for free

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

Also: Thanks to my 5 favorite AI tools, I'm working smarter now

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 Winston Churchill through Blake and Mouton's Managerial Leadership Grid."

After a couple of seconds, the chatbot produced a holistic outline divided into seven different sections, with three different 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. 

As mentioned before, since Copilot is connected to the internet, if you use Copilot to produce the outline, it will even include links and sources throughout, 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 to get your information. If you don't know where to start, you can just ask ChatGPT. 

Also: How to make ChatGPT provide sources and citations

All you need to do is ask the AI to find sources for your essay topic. For example, I asked the following: 

Can you help me find sources for a paper, "Examining the Leadership Style of Winston Churchill through Blake and Mouton's Managerial Leadership Grid."

The chatbot output seven sources, with a bullet point for each that explained what the source was and why it could be useful. 

Also:   How to use ChatGPT to make charts and tables

The one caveat you will want to be aware of when using ChatGPT for sources is that it does not have access to information after 2021, so it will not be able to suggest the freshest sources. If you want up-to-date information, you can always use Copilot. 

Another perk of using Copilot is that it automatically links to sources in its answers. 

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 a form of plagiarism since it is not your original work. As with any information taken from another source, text generated by an AI should be clearly identified and credited in your work.

Also: ChatGPT will now remember its past conversations with you (if you want it to)

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 use it to create a sample essay to guide your writing. 

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

Can you write a five-paragraph essay on the topic, "Examining the Leadership Style of Winston Churchill 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. 

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

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: AI meets AR as ChatGPT is now available on the Apple Vision Pro

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 take a look at a specific paragraph or sentence, and asking it to rewrite or fix the text for clarity. Personally, I find this feature very helpful. 

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How to Use ChatGPT for Research and Essays

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These Features Make the ChatGPT Desktop App Better Than the Website

Microsoft can't make copilot succeed without convincing windows 10 users, if you notice suspicious account activity, your password was probably leaked on telegram.

For better or worse, OpenAI’s ChatGPT has become a big part of our lives. It’s become integral to gathering information, researching topics, and creating written works. And frankly, not using it might put you at a disadvantage academically.

However, this AI is not flawless; there is a method to use it to help with your essays and research. Using it the right way will help you avoid plagiarism issues or inaccurate information. Here, we’ll show you how to use ChatGPT to write an essay ethically, so it comes out as a quality, factual, and original piece.

1. Draw Your Outline Without ChatGPT

Assuming you already have an idea for your project, the first thing you should do before you hop on ChatGPT’s website is to prepare your thesis and outline without using AI. It’s a vital step to making sure the core of your essay actually comes from you.

If you use ChatGPT to prompt an outline for you, it could promote idea laziness, and you will find ChatGPT’s suggestions may have replaced the ones you could have produced on your own. So, get a piece of paper or a blank word processor page and create an outline for your essay.

Also, ChatGPT will avoid controversial topics—even in an outline. Therefore, you might find yourself with an outline missing vital pieces of historical sections if you rely on it. This bias is one of the major problems with OpenAI’s ChatGPT .

2. Prompt ChatGPT to Draw a Parallel Outline

Before you begin this section, if this is your first time using ChatGPT, you should read our guide on how to use ChatGPT . It will help you with creating an account and defining its capabilities. Once that’s out of the way, you can move on to the next step.

Now that you have an original outline, it doesn’t matter how basic it looks; you can use ChatGPT to create another outline. Craft a prompt with this template:

ChatGPT’s result is far more detailed than our outline. Here, you should adopt the parts of ChatGPT’s outline you would like to integrate into your own. Combine the best of the two and flesh out an outline that will guide you best as you write.

3. Create a ChatGPT Prompt for Each Section

Now that you have an outline with sections, you can begin to hack away at it section by section. Start with your introduction, where you will include your thesis statement. Ask ChatGPT to create multiple thesis statements on your idea, and choose the one that best encapsulates the major point you’re trying to communicate in your essay.

You can do something similar for all the other sections as well. Tell the AI to generate written pieces on your section topics. Don’t forget to add that it communicates the point in the tone you want. In most cases, essays should sound academic. Therefore, our prompt for each section looked like this:

Do not just copy and paste the information it generates; the next step is a vital second part of this methodology.

4. Confirm the Information With a Reputable Source

As you begin to write, you must check if the information you’re getting from ChatGPT is indeed correct. You must do this because ChatGPT occasionally hallucinates , coming up with its own facts and making up sources when you ask it to direct you to where it got its information. In some cases, it blatantly refuses to tell you at all where it got its data.

The free version of ChatGPT is not actively connected to the internet and cannot fetch information after September 2021. If you need this functionality, then it could be time to upgrade to ChatGPT Plus —especially if this is a tool you will be using heavily for work or school.

The bottom line is that you should use a reputable source (such as a book from an authority or an official website) to support every important statement you put down. You can also learn how to use Google to fact-check information .

5. Use ChatGPT for Examples and Breakdowns

It’s counterproductive to write about ideas that you don’t even understand yourself. When you reach a part of your essay that you don’t properly understand, you should go to ChatGPT and have it broken down for you.

That’s really the one thing you can count on ChatGPT to do in this process. It has good skill in crafting useful examples and explaining complicated ideas in a form you can easily understand. A popular way of phrasing a prompt to make ChatGPT explain something complicated is adding “explain like I’m five” to your prompt.

Here we used ChatGPT to break down hip and elbow dysplasia conditions in a way that is easier to understand. And it used analogies like jigsaw puzzles to paint a clearer image of what it might look like.

6. Write the Essay Yourself

As we’ve stated earlier, under no condition should you ask ChatGPT to write your whole essay for you. Not only is that lazy and deceitful, but it could also open you up to plagiarism and submitting incorrect information.

Ensure that every line in your essay is typed with your hands. Besides, if you’re writing an academic essay where you must cite sources, you will still need to corroborate all the points you’ve made with a corresponding authority. That means you’ll have to go and fact-check everything ChatGPT has written and find a corroborating source.

This could even take more time than just writing it yourself because the AI could have hallucinated some of its facts, leading you on a wild goose chase as you try to find a citation for something that doesn’t exist.

Lastly, ChatGPT doesn’t match the nuanced knowledge of a human professional in heavily specialized fields or journals that need up-to-date information. Reading a book or article by an expert, internalizing it, and writing it in your own words will give you far better results than relying on ChatGPT.

7. Polish the Style and Citation With ChatGPT

After writing, you can paste portions of your essay and ask ChatGPT to shorten, lengthen, or optimize the style. ChatGPT is good at mimicking popular styles, and you can use that to your advantage. If you want your writing to sound a little more professional, it can help rephrase it.

If you’re having trouble with citation styles and how to integrate them into your essay, you can present your essay to ChatGPT, give it your sources, and ask it to weld them together for you.

ChatGPT Is a Tool, Not a Solution

You can’t “ChatGPT” away academic or professional work; you must use it the same way you would use a tool. Take a calculator, for instance; it doesn’t replace the mathematician but improves the mathematician. You should use ChatGPT the same way a mathematician will use a calculator: for the boring, repetitive, rote work.

Let the ideas and story come from you and your experiences. And if you want to keep using ChatGPT as a student, make sure you know what you shouldn't do.

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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.

By Michael Sawh

By Nena Farrell

By Simon Hill

By Parker Hall

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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How to Get ChatGPT to Write an Essay: Prompts, Outlines, & More

Last Updated: June 2, 2024 Fact Checked

Getting ChatGPT to Write the Essay

Using ai to help you write, expert interview.

This article was written by Bryce Warwick, JD and by wikiHow staff writer, Nicole Levine, MFA . Bryce Warwick is currently the President of Warwick Strategies, an organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area offering premium, personalized private tutoring for the GMAT, LSAT and GRE. Bryce has a JD from the George Washington University Law School. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 49,016 times.

Are you curious about using ChatGPT to write an essay? While most instructors have tools that make it easy to detect AI-written essays, there are ways you can use OpenAI's ChatGPT to write papers without worrying about plagiarism or getting caught. In addition to writing essays for you, ChatGPT can also help you come up with topics, write outlines, find sources, check your grammar, and even format your citations. This wikiHow article will teach you the best ways to use ChatGPT to write essays, including helpful example prompts that will generate impressive papers.

Things You Should Know

• To have ChatGPT write an essay, tell it your topic, word count, type of essay, and facts or viewpoints to include.
• ChatGPT is also useful for generating essay topics, writing outlines, and checking grammar.
• Because ChatGPT can make mistakes and trigger AI-detection alarms, it's better to use AI to assist with writing than have it do the writing.

• Before using the OpenAI's ChatGPT to write your essay, make sure you understand your instructor's policies on AI tools. Using ChatGPT may be against the rules, and it's easy for instructors to detect AI-written essays.
• While you can use ChatGPT to write a polished-looking essay, there are drawbacks. Most importantly, ChatGPT cannot verify facts or provide references. This means that essays created by ChatGPT may contain made-up facts and biased content. [1] X Research source It's best to use ChatGPT for inspiration and examples instead of having it write the essay for you.

• The topic you want to write about.
• Essay length, such as word or page count. Whether you're writing an essay for a class, college application, or even a cover letter , you'll want to tell ChatGPT how much to write.
• Other assignment details, such as type of essay (e.g., personal, book report, etc.) and points to mention.
• If you're writing an argumentative or persuasive essay , know the stance you want to take so ChatGPT can argue your point.
• If you have notes on the topic that you want to include, you can also provide those to ChatGPT.
• When you plan an essay, think of a thesis, a topic sentence, a body paragraph, and the examples you expect to present in each paragraph.
• It can be like an outline and not an extensive sentence-by-sentence structure. It should be a good overview of how the points relate.

• "Write a 2000-word college essay that covers different approaches to gun violence prevention in the United States. Include facts about gun laws and give ideas on how to improve them."
• This prompt not only tells ChatGPT the topic, length, and grade level, but also that the essay is personal. ChatGPT will write the essay in the first-person point of view.
• "Write a 4-page college application essay about an obstacle I have overcome. I am applying to the Geography program and want to be a cartographer. The obstacle is that I have dyslexia. Explain that I have always loved maps, and that having dyslexia makes me better at making them."

Tyrone Showers

Be specific when using ChatGPT. Clear and concise prompts outlining your exact needs help ChatGPT tailor its response. Specify the desired outcome (e.g., creative writing, informative summary, functional resume), any length constraints (word or character count), and the preferred emotional tone (formal, humorous, etc.)

• In our essay about gun control, ChatGPT did not mention school shootings. If we want to discuss this topic in the essay, we can use the prompt, "Discuss school shootings in the essay."
• Let's say we review our college entrance essay and realize that we forgot to mention that we grew up without parents. Add to the essay by saying, "Mention that my parents died when I was young."
• In the Israel-Palestine essay, ChatGPT explored two options for peace: A 2-state solution and a bi-state solution. If you'd rather the essay focus on a single option, ask ChatGPT to remove one. For example, "Change my essay so that it focuses on a bi-state solution."

Pay close attention to the content ChatGPT generates. If you use ChatGPT often, you'll start noticing its patterns, like its tendency to begin articles with phrases like "in today's digital world." Once you spot patterns, you can refine your prompts to steer ChatGPT in a better direction and avoid repetitive content.

• "Give me ideas for an essay about the Israel-Palestine conflict."
• "Ideas for a persuasive essay about a current event."
• "Give me a list of argumentative essay topics about COVID-19 for a Political Science 101 class."

• "Create an outline for an argumentative essay called "The Impact of COVID-19 on the Economy."
• "Write an outline for an essay about positive uses of AI chatbots in schools."
• "Create an outline for a short 2-page essay on disinformation in the 2016 election."

• "Find peer-reviewed sources for advances in using MRNA vaccines for cancer."
• "Give me a list of sources from academic journals about Black feminism in the movie Black Panther."
• "Give me sources for an essay on current efforts to ban children's books in US libraries."

• "Write a 4-page college paper about how global warming is changing the automotive industry in the United States."
• "Write a 750-word personal college entrance essay about how my experience with homelessness as a child has made me more resilient."
• You can even refer to the outline you created with ChatGPT, as the AI bot can reference up to 3000 words from the current conversation. For example: "Write a 1000 word argumentative essay called 'The Impact of COVID-19 on the United States Economy' using the outline you provided. Argue that the government should take more action to support businesses affected by the pandemic."

• One way to do this is to paste a list of the sources you've used, including URLs, book titles, authors, pages, publishers, and other details, into ChatGPT along with the instruction "Create an MLA Works Cited page for these sources."
• You can also ask ChatGPT to provide a list of sources, and then build a Works Cited or References page that includes those sources. You can then replace sources you didn't use with the sources you did use.

Expert Q&A

• Because it's easy for teachers, hiring managers, and college admissions offices to spot AI-written essays, it's best to use your ChatGPT-written essay as a guide to write your own essay. Using the structure and ideas from ChatGPT, write an essay in the same format, but using your own words. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Always double-check the facts in your essay, and make sure facts are backed up with legitimate sources. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• If you see an error that says ChatGPT is at capacity , wait a few moments and try again. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• Using ChatGPT to write or assist with your essay may be against your instructor's rules. Make sure you understand the consequences of using ChatGPT to write or assist with your essay. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
• ChatGPT-written essays may include factual inaccuracies, outdated information, and inadequate detail. [3] X Research source Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about completing school assignments, check out our in-depth interview with Bryce Warwick, JD .

• ↑ https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6783457-what-is-chatgpt
• ↑ https://platform.openai.com/examples/default-essay-outline
• ↑ https://www.ipl.org/div/chatgpt/

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• Writing Tips

How to Write Your Essay Using ChatGPT

• 5-minute read
• 2nd May 2023

It’s tempting, isn’t it? You’ve read about and probably also witnessed how quickly ChatGPT can knock up text, seemingly in any genre or style and of any length, in less time than it takes you to make a cup of tea. However, getting ChatGPT to write your essay for you would be plagiarism . Universities and colleges are alive to the issue, and you may face serious academic penalties if you’re found to have used AI in that way.

So that’s that, right? Not necessarily.

This post is not about how to get ChatGPT to write your essay . It’s about how you can use the tool to help yourself write an essay .

What Is ChatGPT?

Let’s start with the basics. ChatGPT is one of several chatbots that can answer questions in a conversational style, as if the answer were coming from a human. It provides answers based on information it receives in development and in response to prompts you provide.

In that respect, like a human, ChatGPT is limited by the information it has. Where it lacks the information, it has a tendency to fill the gaps regardless . This action is dangerous if you’re relying on the accuracy of the information, and it’s another good reason you should not get ChatGPT to write your essay for you.

How Can You Use ChatGPT to Help With Your Essay?

Forget about the much talked-about writing skills of ChatGPT – writing is your thing here. Instead, think of ChatGPT as your assistant. Here are some ideas for how you can make it work for you.

Essay Prompts

If your task is to come up with your own essay topic but you find yourself staring at a blank page, you can use ChatGPT for inspiration. Your prompt could look something like this:

ChatGPT can offer several ideas. The choice of which one to write about (and you may, of course, still come up with one of your own) will be up to you, based on what interests you and the topic’s potential for in-depth analysis.

Essay Outlines

Having decided on your essay topic – or perhaps you’ve already been given one by your instructor – you may be struggling to figure out how to structure the essay. You can use ChatGPT to suggest an outline. Your prompt can be along these lines:

Just as you should not use ChatGPT to write an essay for you, you should not use it to research one – that’s your job.

If, however, you’re struggling to understand a particular extract, you can ask ChatGPT to summarize it or explain it in simpler terms.

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That said, you can’t rely on ChatGPT to be factually accurate in the information it provides, even when you think the information would be in its database, as we discovered in another post. Indeed, when we asked ChatGPT whether we should fact-check its information, the response was:

An appropriate use of ChatGPT for research would be to ask for academic resources for further reading on a particular topic. The advantage of doing this is that, in going on to locate and read the suggested resources, you will have checked that they exist and that the content is relevant and accurately set out in your essay.

Instead of researching the topic as a whole, you could use ChatGPT to generate suggestions for the occasional snippet of information, like this:

Before deciding which of its suggestions – if any – to include, you should ask ChatGPT for the source of the fact or statistic so you can check it and provide the necessary citation.

Referencing

Even reading the word above has probably made you groan. As if writing the essay isn’t hard enough, you then have to not only list all the sources you used, but also make sure that you’ve formatted them in a particular style. Here’s where you can use ChatGPT. We have a separate post dealing specifically with this topic, but in brief, you can ask something like this:

Where information is missing, as in the example above, ChatGPT will likely fill in the gaps. In such cases, you’ll have to ensure that the information it fills in is correct.

Proofreading

After finishing the writing and referencing, you’d be well advised to proofread your work, but you’re not always the best person to do so – you’d be tired and would likely read only what you expect to see. At least as a first step, you can copy and paste your essay into ChatGPT and ask it something like this:

You’ve got the message that you can’t just ask ChatGPT to write your essay, right? But in some areas, ChatGPT can help you write your essay, providing, as with any tool, you use it carefully and are alert to the risks.

We should point out that universities and colleges have different attitudes toward using AI – including whether you need to cite its use in your reference list – so always check what’s acceptable.

After using ChatGPT to help with your work, you can always ask our experts to look over it to check your references and/or improve your grammar, spelling, and tone. We’re available 24/7, and you can even try our services for free .

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• CAREER COLUMN
• 08 April 2024

Three ways ChatGPT helps me in my academic writing

• Dritjon Gruda 0

Dritjon Gruda is an invited associate professor of organizational behavior at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Lisbon, the Católica Porto Business School and the Research Centre in Management and Economics.

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Confession time: I use generative artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the debate over whether chatbots are positive or negative forces in academia, I use these tools almost daily to refine the phrasing in papers that I’ve written, and to seek an alternative assessment of work I’ve been asked to evaluate, as either a reviewer or an editor. AI even helped me to refine this article.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01042-3

This is an article from the Nature Careers Community, a place for Nature readers to share their professional experiences and advice. Guest posts are encouraged .

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How to Use ChatGPT to Write Essays That Impress

Step 1: Use ChatGPT to Find and Refine Essay Topics

• Log into the service and type the following prompt into ChatGPT:

• As you can see, ChatGPT gave several good ideas for our essay. If you want to refine the idea further, you can ask the chatbot to cut out some parts of the idea and replace them. Or, you can ask for more context in certain parts. Example – “Expand more on topic number 5 and what it means.”

Step 2: Ask ChatGPT to Construct an Outline

• With the same chat open, type out “ Give me an essay outline for <selected topic>. Make sure to keep it structured as I’ll use it to write my essay .” In this case, I will use topic number 2 since it aligns with what I had in mind.

• As you can see above, we now have a structured outline for our essay. We can use this to write our essay or have ChatGPT do that job. Nonetheless, it’s a good starting point. As always, you can have the AI chatbot cut out parts of the outline or specifically add new ones depending on your requirement.

Step 3: Get ChatGPT to Cite Sources for Your Essay

Even though we have the idea and the outline, we will need to do our research for proof supporting our essay. Thankfully, ChatGPT can be of some help here. Since the chatbot is adept at moderate research, users can get a general idea of where to look for gathering information. Let’s begin doing that.

• Let’s begin asking ChatGPT for sources. With the same chat open, type in the following prompt:

• Now we have a list of 10 sources we can reference from. However, you can also see that ChatGPT mentions the year 2021 in some of them. Therefore, it’s best to use these websites but navigate to the latest pages pertaining to your essay for research. This applies to every topic, so always do it. Also, chatbots like ChatGPT have a habit of hallucinating and making up information, so do be careful.

Step 4: Have ChatGPT Write the Essay

• In the same chat, type the following prompt – “With the topic and outline available to you, generate a 700-word essay. Make sure to keep it structured and concise yet informational. Also, keep in mind my target audience is <Insert target audience> so cater to that accordingly.”
• In the middle of the essay, ChatGPT might stop and not answer. Simply type “ Continue ,” and it will finish the rest of the essay.

Step 5: Edit the Essay with ChatGPT

No matter if you have used ChatGPT to draft a complete essay or have written one yourself, you can use this step to make ChatGPT your co-editor and grammar checker. While your essay might need an initial look from a human, you can definitely use the bot to hash out the tone and add little details.

• Either open up the same chat or have your essay already in the clipboard. With that done, type out the following prompt:

Step 6: Export the Essay for Submission

However, for those who want to export the essay into a more aesthetic format, we have just the thing for you. There is no shortage of best ChatGPT Chrome extensions on the internet right now. We have one such selection linked in our list that can export selective chats onto beautiful image formats if you want to show off your essay. Check it out and let us know how you liked it.

Bonus: ChatGPT and AI Apps to Write Essays

1. writesonic.

Ryter is another helpful AI writing assistant that not only helps with essays but all types of articles. The service is powered by a language model that gives it intelligence. Rytr comes with 40+ different use cases and 20+ writing tones for all types of written material. For those who don’t want to stick to English, it even comes with support for 30+ languages.

Upanishad Sharma

Combining his love for Literature and Tech, Upanishad dived into the world of technology journalism with fire. Now he writes about anything and everything while keeping a keen eye on his first love of gaming. Often found chronically walking around the office.

Im student i want to become financially independent woman in life so I want esay essay write

I am housewife and I want easy essay I want to change my life my husband was job less and I want to work online part time job plz help I am enter pass

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How to Ethically Use ChatGPT to Write an Essay

You’re here because you want to know how to get ChatGPT to write an essay for you, and I’m here to say you shouldn’t do that outright—but there are ways you can get ChatGPT or other AI services to help with your paper. To put it plainly, ChatGPT can absolutely write a paper for you, but you need to be careful that it matches up with the specific instructions your professor gave you and that it’s not going to get you in trouble for cheating. I won’t proselytize about how getting AI to write your essay is wrong and deprives you of the opportunity to learn, but I will warn you that there are pros and cons to doing it—and to avoid trouble, you may still have to do some work. 

If you want ChatGPT to write your whole essay…

If you’re in a time crunch and really want AI to produce a full paper, it can be done. You’ll enter the essay prompt into ChatGPT and give clear instructions. However, ChatGPT may say no to certain requests. For instance, I inputted, “Write me a 1,500-word essay on the role of aqueducts in ancient Rome’s success as an empire using six outside sources cited in MLA.” The AI refused, then told me it could write an outline and give me the six sources it used for my own research. It did that, which was helpful, but it did not write the whole paper as requested. 

I tried again, thinking maybe its aversion was to my request for an essay: “Write 1,500 words on the role of aqueducts in ancient Rome’s success as an empire using six outside sources cited in MLA.” The software told me doing that would be “too lengthy,” then regurgitated the outline and source suggestions from before. 

Ultimately, I had success working in chunks. I asked for a 100-word introduction to an essay on the topic and for ChatGPT to tell me its sources. Sure enough, I got the introduction, plus the sources it used. You could theoretically go chunk by chunk, asking the AI to create an intro, body paragraphs, and conclusion. You’ll still have to add in your citations manually, but it will give them to you. 

Don’t have ChatGPT write the whole paper, though

Here’s the thing: While you can find a workaround to get ChatGPT to write a whole paper, you’re already still going to be doing the work of adding in citations—and you could easily get busted. Teachers can use free software to detect AI in writing and some of them are even getting crafty, inserting unrelated prompts in white text to catch you copying and pasting the instructions into ChatGPT. For instance, if your professor wants an essay on the decline of local news funding over the last 10 years, they might add white text that says something like, “Include two sentences on Madonna’s impact on popular culture.” You might not notice that when you copy and paste it into ChatGPT and if you don’t read over the work the AI spits back out, you’ll turn in something that inexplicably references the Queen of Pop and your professor will know what you did right away. Even if your professor isn't using tricks like that (and a lot of them are, according to their own posts on social media), a quick scan of your work for words you wouldn't normally use could signal to them that it's time to run your paper through an AI checker.

How to use ChatGPT for help writing a school paper

Your best bet is still to write the paper yourself using ChatGPT’s help, which will still shave a lot of time off your researching and brainstorming process. Where AI really shines when it comes to essays is in creating outlines, as shown above with that Roman aqueducts example. While it wouldn’t generate the whole paper, ChatGPT did provide me with nine different subcategories for exploration, from “historical context of ancient Rome” to “agricultural expansion and economic growth” and “military advantage.” Each of those subcategories came with bullet points of what should be touched on in their associated paragraph, plus ChatGPT pointed out which sources could be used to gather the information. If I followed the outline to the T, I’d easily have a six- or seven-page paper and never have to brainstorm or labor over where I was going with it. Put simply, you should rely on ChatGPT for outlines if you’re struggling to come up with ideas or just don’t have the time to structure a whole paper. 

If you end up asking the software to write a few paragraphs, you can—and should —rewrite them. That will take a little time, yes, but rewriting the paragraphs in your own words will help you look less suspicious and will also teach you about what you’re writing about—and that can only benefit you if your teacher asks a follow-up question or puts some of the content on an upcoming test. 

In conclusion, can you make ChatGPT write an essay? Yes, if you’re patient. Should you make ChatGPT write an essay? No, you should not. 

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 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. 

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.

JUMP TO KEY SECTIONS

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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How to use Chat GPT to Write an Essay

Florencia basavilbaso.

• Best Apps And Tools , Writing Tips

Content Writer At Gradehacker

• February, 2023

If you want to speed up the essay-writing process with AI, here you’ll learn which are the basic tips you need to know to write an essay with Chat GPT.

How to Write an Essay With Chat GPT

To write an essay with Chat GPT, these are the four basic tips you need to know:

• Edit and refine the generated text
• Write a clear and concise prompt
• Take time to learn about Chat GPT
• Add your own thoughts to make it personal

Having problems to write your essay?

If Chat GPT isn’t enough and you need help with a last-minute paper, we are here to help you!

Having problems writing?

By now, you’ve probably heard about Chat GPT; an amazing AI that can (almost) write original content as if it was a real human being. So, now you are wondering how to use Chat GPT to write an essay. 

For that, we created this blog to guide you through each step so you can take all the benefits this platform has for you and use it in your favor.

Here at Gradehacker , we’ve been years dedicated to helping and improving non-traditional student’s life in multiple ways! Besides assisting them with their classes and essays , we are the most trusted resource for valuable information and tips that can change the way you work!

And today, we introduce you to Chat GPT !

This AI can help you write a college essay quickly and efficiently. If you want to know how to use chat GPT to write an essay, learn what are its pros and cons, and incorporate the best tips to change how you approach your essays, you are in the right place! 

Let’s start!

What is Chat GPT?

First, we’ll address some basics here. Let’s talk about what this platform is and what it can do for you!

ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is a natural language processing technology that uses artificial intelligence to generate text based on a prompt. It can be used to generate ideas, structure sentences, and even create entire essays.

This computer program was created by the artificial intelligence research laboratory OpenAI and launched on November 30, 2022. It is still a pretty new platform and has a lot to improve, but it also has several advantages that can do more good than bad for you!

It is free to the public, but we recommend taking advantage of their free service as long as you can because it was created with the intention of monetizing the service in the future.

Meaning, Chat GPT won’t continue being free for too long.

Another interesting fact is that the service works best in English but is also able to function in some other languages.

What Can You Use Chat GPT For?

So, after reading what Chat GPT is, you are probably wondering what you can use it for.

Programs like this one which can generate text based on a prompt, are good for:

• When you want to save time and don't feel inspired to write
• Don't know how to continue what you started
• Getting ideas
• Start a project

We always recommend checking and editing the text because it’s not always accurate , and the information is often wrong, especially when it comes to dates, rates, or anything very specific.

But of course, there are other ways you can use Chat GPT. 

It can help you create a title for your essay topics, text for an announcement or copywriting, an article, or what you came for: an essay!

And that leads us to the main question: how do we use it?

How to Use Chat GPT to Write an Essay

If this AI is appropriately used, it can become the saver you’ve been yearning for. 

In short, to write an essay with Chat GPT, you need to follow this process:

2) Put a command 

3) Change the command until you get the desired outcome

Now let’s see how it works.

To start, let’s go to Chat GPT website and press where it says “ Try Chat GPT “

Once we log in, at the bottom of the page you’ll find a text box where you will need to write a command. This could be the title of the essay, a topic sentence, or even a few keywords. 

After providing the prompt, Chat GPT will generate text based on it.

The text will come out as a number of items containing specific ideas about the topic we asked for.  

Then, as a new command, you can ask Chat GPT to expand on the previous information.

Because Chat GPT remembers the previous information generated, you can also ask it to write more information from a specific item. In order to do that, you can go where you wrote your first command and, this time, put something like: “write essay line (or paragraph) about (item number).” 

You can also command multiple things at once , for example: “write an essay introduction with heading about item 7,”  or you can even command to do it for every item.

You can then edit and refine the generated text to make your essay unique and give it a personal touch as it would be with human writing.

Do you need a step-by-step tutorial on how to write an essay with Chat GPT?

If you want to use Chat GPT to write an entire essay from scratch , you can read our entire experience or check out our videos!

Pros and Cons of Using Chat GPT

As with any technology, there are both advantages and disadvantages to using Chat GPT.

Pros of Chat GPT

On the plus side, we can say that:

• It is much faster than traditional writing methods, and it can save you time and effort when writing an essay
• It can help you come up with ideas to get started on a project and structure your essay in a more organized way
• Reduces the need for research , as it can generate text based on the prompt without any additional input.
• It can provide you with information that is relevant to your topic
• It can help you refine and edit your text to make it unique

Cons of Chat GPT

But we know that Chat GPT is not perfect, so on the downside, it is essential to note that:

• Sometimes it can generate text that is not accurate , has incorrect premises, and is irrelevant to the prompt
• It can be challenging to use if you are not familiar with natural language processing technology
• You may have difficulty editing and refining the generated text to make it unique and personal
• It could end up being time-consuming if you don't know how to use the platform correctly
• Because it is trained on data, it may contain inherent biases, and this can be reflected in the outputted text

It is important to be aware of the potential for bias when using Chat GPT to generate essays , as this could lead to inaccurate or offensive results.

Also, be aware of the possibility of plagiarism when using it, as this could lead to serious consequences. Taking the time to check for plagiarism before submitting a written essay is essential to ensure its originality and accuracy.

And to save yourself from falling into those situations, be sure to read our blog post on how to avoid unintentional plagiarism.

How to Avoid Plagiarism When Using Chat GPT

To avoid plagiarism when using Chat GPT to write an essay, it is critical to double-check any generated content before submitting it. Using a reliable plagiarism checker is also helpful to ensure the content is entirely original.

These are some plagiarism software you can use:

If you want to know how these platforms work, check our video, where we’ll show you what they do, why they’re useful, and why they’re better than the rest.

Chat GPT Plus

One of the biggest problems with Chat GPT is that it might not always be available to use.

Many times, when we go to the website, what can happen is that there are a lot of people using it, which will create high traffic. When that happens, it will appear on the screen a text that says:

“ChatGPT is at capacity right now. Get notified when we’re back .” 

There, you can click on get notified, put your email address, and wait until the traffic slows down.

But if you don’t want to deal with waiting to be notified, there is an alternative choice: subscribe to  Chat GPT Plus.

By subscribing, you’ll gain:

• Access to ChatGPT at all times, even during the busiest periods
• Faster response times
• Priority access to new features and improvements

The subscription has a price of $20 per month and is only available for customers in the United States.

Having doubts on how we can help you?

Get in touch with us!

Tips for Using Chat GPT

If you decide to use Chat GPT to write your essay, there are a few tips that can help you get the most out of it.

• Provide a clear and concise prompt: This will help Chat GPT generate the most accurate and relevant text.
• Edit, add your own thoughts, and refine the generated text to make it unique and personal
• If you are not familiar with natural language processing technology, take some time to learn about it before using Chat GPT

These tips will make a difference in your work, especially for those long essays where you need to do a lot of research. 

Knowing how to write a research paper or an argumentative essay is highly necessary and essential for a college student, even if you have Chat GPT helping you throughout the process, so in case you are unsure or need to refresh that, check out our video about it! 

Make Your Writing Stand Out When Using Chat GPT to Write an Essay

With our tips and guidance on how to make your essays stand out when using Chat GPT and the potential pitfalls to avoid, you’ll be in a great position to produce high-quality essays.

On the other side, you may like to know that here at Gradehacker, we offer college essays , classes and degree help services to help students like you reach their highest potential.

To check more helpful information, check our blogs:

What You Need For Your College Research Paper Outline

5 Common Essay Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Best AI to Write Essays

Best Apps For Writing 2024 | Boost Your Writing Skills

How Much Does it Cost to Write My Essay?

Write an Essay From Scratch With Chat GPT: Step-by-Step Tutorial

Florencia Basavilbaso is a content creator passioned for writing, music, films, and the arts. At Gradehacker, she helps to improve non-traditional students life’s by finding and providing the most useful information, so they can always progress. You can find her on LinkedIn .

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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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I used ChatGPT to polish my essay, what are the consequences?

I used ChatGPT to polish my essay, now I’m freaking out.

As above, in Feb I had to write a reflective piece about 1000 words for university. The essay was based on my real experiences and reflection. I wrote the essay myself then fed it into ChatGPT with prompts like “ revise this to make it more professional.” And the output it gave looked much better than my original writing, but did not change my original meanings, and I used the chatgpt output pretty much word for word as the essay I submitted. The essay might not be marked until July/August. At the time my intention was not to cheat, I thought it was like using a better version of Grammarly. Especially because I am not a native speaker and have always struggled with writing. Fast forward to today, I realised what I did was shady, put my essay into multiple AI detectors and got picked up as AI written by some. I looked up my university’s policy about AI (published after I submitted the essay), which states you have to openly disclose any use of CharGPT or it will count as contract cheating. I have been living in pure fear the last couple of weeks and it’s ruining my life. I am in my last year of a professional program which means it will attract more severe penalties. I have immense regret for putting my education and career at risk for something so stupid. I also wish the university had talked to us about AI directly early on. In fact, to this day, I have received no information about AI from any faculty member. If I had known this was contract cheating I would never have done it.

I have had no previous experience with academic misconduct, and I have no idea what to expect.

• generative-ai

• 3 Assuming the instructor does not detect the source, I'm kind of curious if you will get a good mark on your essay. I have seen a lot of results from ChatGPT that are not what I would call high quality. It seem to be grabbing things from the net based on keywords (or whatever the correct term is for key phrases) rather than a true understanding. –  Boba Fit Commented Apr 6, 2023 at 19:23
• I doubt it. Reading back at the essay I submitted now, I realised I could have done a better job myself. –  LonelyStudent Commented Apr 6, 2023 at 19:42
• 3 They'll use ChatGPT to score it :) More seriously, I wouldn't worry too much about it, because you're right that people use things like Grammarly also. Also, people show their essays to others for feedback all the time. My impression is that since you actually wrote the essay and used ChatGPT as a tool, that's different from just asking ChatGPT to write the whole essay for you. But it's better to err on the side of caution in the future. –  cgb5436 Commented Apr 6, 2023 at 19:54
• After this I think I have PTSD from chatgpt and certainly will not being using AI for any future writings. –  LonelyStudent Commented Apr 6, 2023 at 20:07
• " I thought it was like using a better version of Grammarly." You are correct. The issue is that the policies are making a bit fuss about chatGPT and the likes. Just retire from the prize, you do not need to provide a motivation but you can always provide it if you feel like, maybe you can write an essay on why you equated chatGPT as Grammarly on steroids to motivate your dropping out of the competition. –  EarlGrey Commented Apr 26, 2023 at 19:52

4 Answers 4

The consequences for any sort of cheating/misconduct are determined by your institution. Generally, I'd expect more leniency for first offenses and more leniency for things in a "gray area" versus clear violations.

It would seem extremely unfair to me to apply a policy published after your submission, and if you were accused under that policy this seems like a straightforward defense. There is certainly some level of novelty to these tools for everyone involved, and likely to be some growing pains associated with that.

It's possible a strict interpretation would find you have violated some already existing policies, with the new policy only meant to clarify. It could be argued that, especially if you are expected to be graded on things like the language used, you have not submitted work that reflects your own writing abilities. You've also violated any terms of using ChatGPT that require disclosure/attribution.

I don't know what academic system you are in where assignments are graded so long after they are submitted. Possibly you could in the meantime write a proper version of your original script without ChatGPT, confess to having violated a policy before it was a clear policy, and ask that your new submission be accepted. If it were me responsible for assigning a grade, I'd find this to be honest and commendable, but I can't have any idea what the attitude will be at your institution. As BobaFit alludes to in a comment, many people find that ChatGPT's idea of "professional" or good writing really...isn't, so it's also quite possible that the version you've submitted will not get a better grade than what you could have produced yourself, even with your low confidence in your writing.

• Thank you for your comment. The reason why it takes so long is because it wasn’t actually an assignment, it was an application for a prize I was eligible to apply due to good academic standings (how ironic, I know), and we won’t find out who gets the prize until much later. The “policy” about the definition of contract cheating re involving a third party has always been around, but correlating using AI to contract cheating was only published on my University’s website couple of days ago. –  LonelyStudent Commented Apr 6, 2023 at 19:47
• 1 @LonelyStudent If you're feeling so much stress about it, can you simply withdraw your name from consideration for the prize? –  Bryan Krause ♦ Commented Apr 6, 2023 at 19:56
• I actually really want to withdraw my name but do not know how to. I emailed the person who sent out the invitations to apply weeks ago asking when we might find out the results but got no response. There’s no clear procedures on how to withdraw, and I’m worried if I ask to withdraw now it will look suspicious. I don’t think I will get the prize and I certainly hope I don’t, due to the essay being mediocre and off topic. –  LonelyStudent Commented Apr 6, 2023 at 20:03
• 2 @LonelyStudent I think it's really probably not a big deal. You could email them and say "there's a new policy that makes clear that disclosure of ChatGPT usage is required, you had used ChatGPT previously to edit your submission, even though the policy was posted after your submission you feel most comfortable if your name is withdrawn from consideration". They might thank you for your honesty and withdraw your name, they might say oh it really doesn't matter, I think it's extremely unlikely there would be any other consequence. It's not worth anyone's time and you haven't benefitted. –  Bryan Krause ♦ Commented Apr 6, 2023 at 20:11
• Thank you for your time and valuable advice. I think I will write an email to formally ask for my application to be withdrawn, but I don’t feel comfortable admitting using ChatGPT as the reason as I feel embarrassed and worry that it will attract unwanted attention . However, if they raise the suspicion of using AI I will be honest and admit. –  LonelyStudent Commented Apr 6, 2023 at 21:33

Earlier in the year, I wrote a policy thought on conversational AI (ChatGPT . I refer to this as in my view, your use of ChatGPT us what I thought it could be. An assistive tool rather than a replacement tool.

You indicated that you used ChatGPT to polish up your essay. Although you did not say to what degree this polishing up is. What is instructive is that you're not saying you wrote your essay with ChatGPT: in essence, it was not written by ChatGPT from ground up.

In the circumstances, I'll strongly iterate that

• you send a follow-up declaration email: indicating that ChatGPT was used as a consulted tool to polish your essay.
• you could even send through a supplemented copy of your essay (unofficially, as the submitted essay remains the official), along with your declarative email. The supplementary will be in two parts. The first is the exact same copy you submitted. The second part (more of appendix), will succinctly outline how ChatGPT was used or consulted.

PS: I took note of

I looked up my university’s policy about AI (published after I submitted the essay), which states you have to openly disclose any use of CharGPT or it will count as contract cheating.

By sending the declarative email, you are infact (proactively) aligning to the university's policy. The policy came after you've submitted. You've now sighted it and acting on it.

My view about conversation AI like ChatGPT is that it should not be banned outrightly. It should be encouraged as part of learning processes: as learning scaffolding.

[Extract from my policy thought on ChatGPT ]

• Students must disclose their ChatGPT search terms (keywords)
• Students must include their ChatGPT result verbatim as an appendix
• Students must write their own assignment/assessment submission
• Students must show their creativity, their critical thinking and cognitive skills in their writing
• It is a crime or punishable offence to use tools to paraphrase ChatGPT results.
• Students must show their own originality .
• For computing-based assignments/assessments, students must fully comment on their work: introduction/summary, each line of code, and each function/class

• 1 Thank you for your advice. Unfortunately I cleared ChatGPT history so I don’t have access to the conversations anymore. As this essay wasn’t an assignment but a application for a prize, my plan is to consult with the student advocate first and then send a formal email acknowledging the use of ChatGPT and ask for my application to be withdrawn. –  LonelyStudent Commented Apr 9, 2023 at 7:07
• 1 Do you still have a copy of the essay that you originally wrote? –  Neithea Commented Apr 9, 2023 at 9:52
• I used google doc, which has version histories, but it did not save every single edit so I only have the first half of the essay I originally wrote –  LonelyStudent Commented Apr 9, 2023 at 10:35
• I would imagine it won’t be too difficult to argue the essay was originally written by me since it was based on personal experiences, which AI can’t do –  LonelyStudent Commented Apr 9, 2023 at 10:37

If we don't know where you study and we don't know the internal regulations, we can't answer this question. Each university deals with this according to its own regulations, so it would probably be best to contact your own study department or someone who understands these regulations and consult them.

From a professional point of view, I would recommend developing your own methodology for recognizing the veracity of chatGPT responses. ChatGPT is not an AI that has logical intelligence, so its answers may be wrong. ChatGPT is a chatbot that synthesizes some text (probabilistically, I guess) from bibliographic sources provided to it during learning. The output is then sorted - the developers assign points to the individual outputs (so, for example, expressive answers are pushed to the back). However, this mechanism cannot check for itself if, for example, there are things that contradict each other in its answer. It is developed to synthesize text, answer, and speak. It can be worse with the truth of the lyrics.

The correctness of the answer also depends on the accuracy of the question. When you ask a question that is not in direct line with the answer (even if it seems like it is), the chatbot will answer it, but in reality, it is not an answer to your question. It is best to play with it a little to see what answers different chatGPT contexts offer to the same question asked in different ways and how the bot answers conflicting questions or situations that occurred after the last update.

With the above two paragraphs, I want to tell you that after using chatbots, for example in the direction of deepening information, you need to be careful about them not to ruin your knowledge.

Disclose to your lecturer, and seek to remedy the problem

Since your essay has not yet been assessed, and the university itself has not detected the use of ChatGPT, I recommend that you approach them and advise your use of this facility for "polishing", let them know that you are worried that this may not be allowable, and ask them if they would prefer for you to resubmit the earlier version of your essay prior to adding this "polish".

If you were the one to make this approach (as opposed to having the university detect it and raise it with you) then that is much less likely to be interpreted as cheating. Moreover, even if your previous submission were to be regarded as a breach of academic rules, if you were to take the initiative to bring this to the attention of the university and offer to resubmit, that would be a heavily mitigating factor. The likely outcome is that your lecturer will counsel you on what is and is not allowed, and will want you to submit the pre-ChatGPT version of your essay.

Assuming you still have your pre-ChatGPT draft, I recommend that you immediately write to your lecturer to disclose the problem and seek a solution. Here is an example of the kind of thing I have in mind:

Dear Professor ... I am writing in relation to my essay I submitted in February, which I understand is due to be assessed soon. I am writing to disclose that for this essay I constructed an initial draft that I wrote myself, but then I used ChatGPT to polish the prose for the essay, and took substantive changes from this source. The essay presently does not cite ChatGPT as a source. It has come to my attention that this might not be allowed under university rules, and so I would like to find out (a) if use of ChatGPT for this purpose is allowed; (b) if and how I am supposed to cite ChatGPT as a source; and (c) if not allowed at all, what I should do to go about remedying this error. In case it is not allowable to use ChatGPT for revisions of the essay, I have retained the previous draft of my essay prior to use of ChatGPT and would be happy to submit that version in lieu of the presently submitted version. If use of ChatGPT is allowable with attribution, then I would like to revise my essay to make the required attribution. Please accept my sincere apologies if I have done the wrong thing here, and for any inconvenience it has caused. I would appreciate if you could advise me on what you would like me to do with my essay in order to make sure it is compliant with university rules. ...

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Easy AI Checker

Easy Checker for AI and ChatGPT writing

How To Use ChatGPT To Write An Essay: Step-by-Step Guide

ChatGPT comes from OpenAI and can write text like a human can. It can create articles, poems, scripts, and write code too. But we must not forget that ChatGPT is only a tool and not the same as human thinking.

The OpenAI has skills that cannot be denied, but they have limits. It does not truly understand like people do and cannot think critically. The things it makes are great, but people should check the facts and make edits to make them true.

We must use AI like ChatGPT responsibly because of moral questions. ChatGPT can help a lot with being creative and learning. But copying others’ work without saying is a big problem.

Users need to be clear they have used AI to create content and must say where the information came from. Also, we need to fix bias in the data it learns from so it does not spread wrong ideas or stereotypes.

Using ChatGPT for essay writing

To start with ChatGPT, make an account and pick a platform. First, register on OpenAI’s website or enter if you have an account.

Pick the OpenAI API or a tool like ChatGPT playground based on your needs. Each option has benefits. The OpenAI API gives more advanced options, and the online tools are easy and quick.

Making the thesis statement

A good thesis statement is important for your essay. Put your main ideas into ChatGPT. You might type in words like “impact,” “solutions,” and “global responsibility” if you write about climate change.

ChatGPT will give you different thesis statement choices. Make these better to fit what you need. Make sure the thesis statement matches your essay’s argument and is simple and clear.

Writing the introduction

Begin your essay with important background details. It helps your readers understand the topic. Ask ChatGPT broad questions to create a complete background section.

Then, ask ChatGPT for a captivating first sentence. ChatGPT can suggest interesting ideas. You should make sure the opening shows your unique style.

Writing body paragraphs

Your essay’s main parts are the body paragraphs. Tell ChatGPT your main ideas for these parts. This keeps your essay clear and well-connected. Give ChatGPT details to talk about your important points. This makes ChatGPT’s help more fitting and full.

Ensure that your writing has a good flow. Your task is to connect every part with your essay’s big idea.

Creating a strong conclusion

ChatGPT can sum up your essay’s key points. But a powerful ending needs your personal input. Your last paragraph is a chance to make a strong impact on your reader.

Repeat your main argument and show why it matters. Or, you could ask a big question or suggest an action. This makes your reader think more about your topic. A good ending should be deep and stay with the reader.

Editing and refining the generated essay

After ChatGPT writes your essay, you need to make it clear and logical. Check that your ideas are presented well. Read the essay slowly. Make sure it all connects well. Look at each sentence in a paragraph and see if it makes sense after the one before. You will find places that are not clear or not smooth. Then, fix these spots.

Get rid of extra words and use the same style in the whole essay. Good editing makes your essay much better. It makes your argument stronger and clearer.

You must check your essay for spelling mistakes and other small errors. These errors can make people not trust what you write. They can stop people from understanding your ideas. Use a tool like Grammarly to help you. But you should also read your essay yourself because some mistakes the programs do not find.

Watch out for commas and full stops in the wrong places. They can change what you mean by accident. Be careful when making sure the subject and verb agree.

Improving the essay with personal input

Add your own stories and thoughts to make your essay better. When you talk about your own life, it makes your essay special. It helps people feel like they are part of the story.

For instance, if you are writing about the environment, talk about what you see where you live. It helps people understand big ideas by showing them real examples.

In order to enhance your writing one step further, use the tool Easy AI Checker . This will detect AI-generated text automatically and fix that by humanizing it, making the job easier for you.

Bring your own view into your essay to make it stand out. Do not just repeat information that is easy to find. Use ChatGPT to think of new ideas. Then, add your own thoughts. Your own stories and ideas will make your writing interesting. People will like your writing more if it is different.

Finalizing the Essay

When you are done writing your essay, how it looks is very important. Follow the rules your teacher or the place you are writing for has given you. Use the right style, like MLA or APA. Your essay should look good. Check the font, the spaces, and how your paragraphs are set up.

You must always say where your information comes from. This shows that your essay is trustworthy. Use the right way to write your sources. Make sure your list of sources is right and complete. Mistakes in your sources can make people not believe your essay.

Check your essay not just for small mistakes but also to improve your points and flow. Read it out loud to find parts that sound odd.

Change the words that you use too much to keep the reader interested. Your first and last parts are very important to get the reader’s attention and to finish well. Use grammar tools and your own judgment to find errors.

Using ChatGPT to write essays has many good points. It helps you come up with ideas and gives you a structure. ChatGPT can give new views on your topic, which can make you more creative.

It also writes paragraphs fast, which saves you time. ChatGPT works with many different subjects. This helps students and people at work. With Easy AI Checker, writers can make their essays better and more interesting.

But remember, your own ideas are still important. They add details and feelings that a machine cannot. Make sure your essay sounds like you. Keep its meaning true to your thoughts. Also, be careful when using AI.

Use ChatGPT in the right way, and make sure your work is your own. Say when you have used ChatGPT to be clear and honest. Understanding the limits of AI and valuing human input will help make essay writing fair and moral.

More From Forbes

7 chatgpt prompts to improve your writing.

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Photo by NICOLAS MAETERLINCK/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images

On writing , author David Sedaris once said, “You need to do the best that you can do, and then you need to take the best that you can do and you need to rewrite it, and rewrite it, and rewrite it.” That’s the dynamic essence of the writing process. Writers refine their drafts, just like they continually refine their craft. I didn’t study writing or literature, so I was intimidated when I began contributing to major publications. But my confidence grew with each byline, and I began to find my voice.

While ChatGPT can be an impressive imitator, it can never generate your unique voice and perspective. It can, however, be a powerful tool for improving your writing, whether you’re penning business articles or important emails. It all starts with the right prompts.

Here are seven that you can use to level up your writing skills.

Automate Your Busywork

There are no shortcuts to becoming a better writer. The prolific author Stephen King once said, “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” That said, you can use AI tools to eliminate some of the tedious tasks involved in writing and leave more time for honing your craft. Here are some prompts to delegate your writing “busywork” to ChatGPT.

1. Generating Ideas And Topics

AI shouldn’t do your writing for you. It lacks the necessary human context and isn’t immune to errors. But it can be a powerful writing partner. As Wharton professor Christian Terwiesch (who challenged ChatGPT to come up with product ideas and compared those ideas to student ideas —ChatGPT won), has said , “Everybody should be using ChatGPT to help them generate ideas.” At worst, you reject all of them. At best, you enrich your pool of ideas.

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Here is a prompt you can use to help get the idea wheels turning:

"I'm an [role/title] writing for [outlet description] targeting [target audience]. Can you suggest some fresh and engaging topics that would appeal to this audience?"

If you’d like ideas related to a certain topic or tailored to a specific style (e.g., a “hot take” versus a personal essay), remember: the more context you provide, the more concise the results.

2. Editing For Grammar And Style

Whether you’re sending an email or publishing an article on a high-traffic website, typos are an embarrassing—and avoidable—faux pas. In today’s world, where internet content exists in perpetuity, anything attached to your name should be error-free. ChatGPT can be a near-instantaneous proofreader. Test out the following prompt:

"Can you proofread this [content] for grammar, punctuation, and style consistency? The intended audience is [audience/recipient]. Please provide a list of any suggested improvements.”

3. Hitting The Right Tone

Spelling and grammar are a crucial part of editing, but they’re relatively objective. Perfecting the tone is more subjective and sometimes more challenging—but just as crucial.

The proper tone can ensure that your text is engaging. It can foster trust and understanding with colleagues and business partners. It can persuade your audience to get on board with your viewpoint. Writing that misses the mark on tone, however, can cause misunderstandings, hurt feelings, damage your credibility, and lose your reader’s interest.

With that in mind, here’s a prompt that can help you achieve the right tone in your writing:

"Can you help me rewrite this [content] for [audience], ensuring it maintains a [describe the desired tone]?

Add context to make ChatGPT’s reply more helpful. For example, if your content should show sensitivity to a certain issue or audience, add it to the prompt.

4. Adding Data And Research

One lesson I’ve learned from contributing to Forbes and other widely-read publications is that my word alone is rarely enough. I can share my personal experiences, but research and data can strengthen any piece of writing.

Instead of researching the traditional way—reviewing your writing and identifying facts that need outside sourcing, then Googling for relevant insight—ChatGPT can speed up the process, leaving you more time to polish those personal anecdotes. Try this prompt:

"I’m writing [describe the content and subject matter] for [target audience] and want to include relevant data and research. Can you review the following text and provide researched-backed statistics and insights on this topic?"

Importantly, always check the sources that ChatGPT generates. It will almost certainly come up with helpful results but they’re not always accurate—that’s where you, human editor, come into play.

Refine Your Craft

To continually improve your writing skills, you can take a page from the habits of professional writers. The following prompts can help you develop practices to become a stronger writer.

5. Daily Writing Prompts

I’ve written before about my morning pages . It’s a great way to clear my head before the day begins and to practice fluidly translating my thoughts into words on paper. If a blank page feels intimidating, writing prompts are a great way to get started. ChatGPT can generate writing prompts in an instant. You can keep it general:

“Can you suggest a couple of writing prompts that I can use to practice the craft of writing?”

Or, if you have a goal in mind, add more context. For example:

“I'm trying to improve engagement with my readers. Can you generate a couple of writing prompts to practice writing engaging content?”

6. Experiment With Different Styles And Voices

If you call your grandmother on the telephone, I’d bet your voice and speaking style sound vastly different from when you’re chatting with your best friend. Writing is the same.

ChatGPT can help you practice toggling between different styles and voices, and in doing so, help you find yours. You can ask ChatGPT for writing prompts to practice a certain style. For example:

“Can you generate three short exercises to help me practice writing in different voices and styles?”

ChatGPT will not only generate exercises, it will also break down the structure and elements of different writing styles and specify the tone.

Or, you can submit text to ChatGPT and ask it to analyze the style and voice. Try this prompt:

“Can you analyze the voice and style of the following text: [insert text].”

I used this prompt to assess the introduction to one of my recent Forbes stories, and ChatGPT said it was “Conversational and Relatable,” “Encouraging and Reassuring,” and “Informative and Practical”—encouraging feedback from my AI editor.

7. Rewrite, Rewrite, Rewrite

In A Moveable Feast , Ernest Hemingway wrote, “The only kind of writing is rewriting.”

If you want to become a writer, you have to embrace rewriting, whether you’re retyping every word or pouring over (and over) a Google Doc draft. Here are a couple of prompts you can use so that ChatGPT can assist in the rewriting process, one excerpt at a time:

“Rewrite this paragraph in the style of [Ernest Hemingway or any other author]."

“Rewrite this introduction so that it sounds like a story in [publication]”

“Rewrite this email so that it will resonate with [audience].”

“Rewrite this paragraph for clarity and concision.”

Importantly, ChatGPT only does part of the work. It falls to the writer to analyze the results, apply those lessons in future drafts, and, of course, to keep writing.

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What is ChatGPT?

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ChatGPT: the latest news and updates on the AI chatbot that changed everything

In the ever-evolving landscape of artificial intelligence , ChatGPT stands out as a groundbreaking development that has captured global attention. From its impressive capabilities and recent advancements to the heated debates surrounding its ethical implications, ChatGPT continues to make headlines.

When was ChatGPT released?

How to use chatgpt, how to use the chatgpt iphone, android, and mac apps, is chatgpt free to use, who created chatgpt, chatgpt’s continuous confounding controversies, can chatgpt’s outputs be detected by anti-plagiarism systems, what are chatgpt plugins, is there a chatgpt api, what’s the future of chatgpt, chatgpt alternatives worth trying, other things to know about chatgpt.

Whether you’re a tech enthusiast or just curious about the future of AI, dive into this comprehensive guide to uncover everything you need to know about this revolutionary AI tool.

ChatGPT is a natural language AI chatbot . At its most basic level, that means you can ask it a question and it will generate an answer. As opposed to a simple voice assistant like Siri or Google Assistant , ChatGPT is built on what is called an LLM (Large Language Model). These neural networks are trained on huge quantities of information from the internet for deep learning — meaning they generate altogether new responses, rather than just regurgitating specific canned responses. They’re not built for a specific purpose like chatbots of the past — and they’re a whole lot smarter.

This is implied in the name of ChatGPT, which stands for Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer. In the case of the current version of ChatGPT, it’s based on the GPT-4 LLM. The model behind ChatGPT was trained on all sorts of web content including websites, books, social media, news articles, and more — all fine-tuned in the language model by both supervised learning and RLHF (Reinforcement Learning From Human Feedback). OpenAI says this use of human AI trainers is really what makes ChatGPT stand out.

ChatGPT was originally launched to the public in November of 2022 by OpenAI. That initial version was based on the GPT-3.5 model, though the system has undergone a number of iterative advancements since then with the current version of ChatGPT running the GPT-4 model family, with GPT-5 reportedly just around the corner . GPT-3 was first launched in 2020, GPT-2 released the year prior to that.

First, go to chatgpt.com . If you’d like to maintain a history of your previous chats, sign up for a free account. You can use the system anonymously without a login if you prefer. Users can opt to connect their ChatGPT login with that of their Google-, Microsoft- or Apple-backed accounts as well. At the sign up screen, you’ll see some basic rules about ChatGPT, including potential errors in data, how OpenAI collects data, and how users can submit feedback. If you want to get started, we have a roundup of the best ChatGPT tips .

Using ChatGPT itself is simple and straightforward, just type in your text prompt and wait for the system to respond. You can be as creative as you like, and see how your ChatGPT responds to different prompts. If you don’t get the intended result, try tweaking your prompt or giving ChatGPT further instructions The system understands context based on previous responses from the current chat session, so you can refine your requests rather than starting over fresh every time.

For example, starting with “Explain how the solar system was made” will give a more detailed result with more paragraphs than “How was the solar system made,” even though both inquiries will give fairly detailed results. Take it a step further by giving ChatGPT more guidance about style or tone, saying “Explain how the solar system was made as a middle school teacher.”

You also have the option for more specific input requests, for example, an essay with a set number of paragraphs or a link to a specific Wikipedia page. We got an extremely detailed result with the request “write a four-paragraph essay explaining Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.”

ChatGPT is capable of automating any number of daily work or personal tasks from writing emails and crafting business proposals, to offering suggestions for fun date night ideas or even drafting a best man’s speech for your buddy’s wedding. So long as the request doesn’t violate the site’s rules on explicit or illegal content, the model will do its best to fulfill the commands.

Since its launch, people have been experimenting to discover everything the chatbot can and can’t do — and the results have been impressive, to say the least . Learning the kinds of prompts and follow-up prompts that ChatGPT responds well to requires some experimentation though. Much like we’ve learned to get the information we want from traditional search engines, it can take some time to get the best results from ChatGPT. It really all depends on what you want out of it. To start out, try using it to write a template blog post, for example, or even blocks of code if you’re a programmer.

Our writers experimented with ChatGPT too, attempting to see if it could handle holiday shopping or even properly interpret astrological makeup . In both cases, we found limitations to what it could do while still being thoroughly impressed by the results.

Following an update on August 10, you can now use custom instructions with ChatGPT . This allows you to customize how the AI chatbot responds to your inputs so you can tailor it for your needs. You can’t ask anything, though. OpenAI has safeguards in place in order to “build a safe and beneficial artificial general intelligence.” That means any questions that are hateful, sexist, racist, or discriminatory in any way are generally off-limits.

You shouldn’t take everything that ChatGPT (or any chatbot, for that matter) tells you at face value. When ChatGPT first launched it was highly prone to “ hallucinations .” The system would repeat erroneous data as fact. The issue has become less prevalent as the model is continually fine tuned, though mistakes do still happen . Trust but verify!

What’s more, due to the way that OpenAI trains its underlying large language models — whether that’s GPT-3.5, GPT-4 and GPT-4o , or the upcoming GPT-5 — ChatGPT may not be able to answer your question without help from an internet search if the subject is something that occurred recently. For example, GPT-3.5 and 3.5 Turbo cannot answer questions about events after September 2021 without conducting an internet search to find the information because the data that the model was initially trained on was produced before that “knowledge cutoff date.” Similarly, GPT-4 or GPT-4 Turbo have cutoff dates of December 2023, though GPT-40 (despite being released more recently) has a cutoff of October 2023 .

While ChatGPT might not remember all of recorded history, it will remember what you were discussing with it in previous chat sessions. Logged in users can access their chat history from the navigation sidebar on the left of the screen, and manage these chats, renaming, hiding or deleting them as needed. You can also ask ChatGPT follow up questions based on those previous conversations directly through the chat window. Users also have the option to use ChatGPT in dark mode or light mode.

ChatGPT isn’t just a wordsmith. Those users paying $20/month subscription for ChatGPT Plus or $30/month/user for ChatGPT Business, gain access to the Dall-E image generator, which converts text prompts into lifelike generated images. Unfortunately, this feature is not currently available to the free tier. Regardless of subscription status, all users can use image or voice inputs for their prompt.

ChatGPT is available through the OpenAI web, as well as a mobile app for both iOS and Android devices. The iOS version was an immediate hit when it arrived at the App Store, topping half a million downloads in less than a week.

If you can use chatGPT on the web, you can use it on your phone. Logging on or signing up through the app is nearly identical to the web version and nearly all of the features found on the desktop have been ported to the mobile versions. The app lets you toggle between GPT-3.5, GPT-4, and GPT-4o as well. The clean interface shows your conversation with GPT in a straightforward manner, hiding the chat history and settings behind the menu in the top right.

Some devices go beyond just the app, too. For instance, the Infinix Folax is an Android phone that integrated ChatGPT throughout the device. Instead of just an app, the phone replaces the typical smart assistant (Google Assistant) with ChatGPT.

There’s even an official ChatGPT app released for the Mac that can be used for free . The app is capable of all sorts of new things that bring Mac AI capabilities to new levels — and you don’t even have to wait for macOS Sequoia later this year.

Yes, ChatGPT is completely free to use, though with some restrictions. Even with a free tier account, users will have access to the GPT-3.5 and GPT-40 models, though the number of queries that users can make of the more advanced model are limited. Upgrading to a paid subscription drastically increases that query limit, grants access to other generative AI tools like Dall-E image generation, and the GPT store.

It’s not free for OpenAI to continue running it, of course. Initial estimates are currently that OpenAI spends around $3 million per month to continue running ChatGPT, which is around $100,000 per day. A report from April 2023 indicated that the price of operation is closer to $700,000 per day .

Beyond the cost of the servers themselves, some troubling information and accusations have come to light regarding what else has been done to safeguard the model from producing offensive content.

OpenAI, a San Francisco-based AI research lab, created ChatGPT and released the very first version of the LLM in 2018. The organization started as a non-profit meant for collaboration with other institutions and researchers, funded by high-profile figures like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, the latter of whom left the company after an internal power struggle to found rival firm, xAI.

OpenAI later transitioned to a for-profit structure in 2019 and is now led by CEO, Sam Altman. It runs on Microsoft’s Azure system infrastructure and is powered by Nvidia’s GPUs, including the new supercomputers just announced this year . Microsoft has invested heavily in OpenAI since 2019 as well, expanding its partnership with the AI startup in 2021 and again in 2023, when Microsoft announced a multi-billion dollar round of investments that included naming its Azure cloud as OpenAI’s exclusive cloud provider.

Although ChatGPT is an extremely capable digital tool, it isn’t foolproof. The AI is known for making mistakes or “hallucinations,” where it makes up an answer to something it doesn’t know. Early on, a simple example of how unreliable it can sometimes be involved misidentifying the prime minister of Japan .

Beyond just making mistakes, many people are concerned about what this human-like generative AI could mean for the future of the internet, so much so that thousands of tech leaders and prominent public figures have signed a petition to slow down the development. It was even banned in Italy due to privacy concerns, alongside complaints from the FTC — although that’s now been reversed. Since then, the FTC has reopened investigations against OpenAI on questions of personal consumer data is being handled.

In addition, JPMorgan Chase has threatened to restrict the use of the AI chatbot for workers, especially for generating emails, which companies like Apple have also prohibited internally. Following Apple’s announcement at WWDC 2024 that it would be integrating OpenAI’s technology into its mobile and desktop products, Tesla CEO and sore loser Elon Musk similarly threatened to ban any device running the software from his businesses — everything from iPhones to Mac Studios. Other high-profile companies have been disallowing the use of ChatGPT internally, including Samsung, Amazon, Verizon, and even the United States Congress .

There’s also the concern that generative AI like ChatGPT could result in the loss of many jobs — as many as 300 million worldwide, according to Goldman Sachs. In particular, it’s taken the spotlight in Hollywood’s writer’s strike , which wants to ensure that AI-written scripts don’t take the jobs of working screenwriters.

In 2023, many people attempting to use ChatGPT received an “at capacity” notice when trying to access the site . It’s likely behind the move to try and use unofficial paid apps, which had already flooded app stores  and scammed thousands into paying for a free service.

Because of how much ChatGPT costs to run, it seems as if OpenAI has been limiting access when its servers are “at capacity.” It can take as long as a few hours to wait out, but if you’re patient, you’ll get through eventually. Of the numerous growing pains ChatGPT has faced , “at capacity” errors had been the biggest hurdle keeping people from using the service more. In some cases, demand had been so high that the entire ChatGPT website has gone down for several hours for maintenance multiple times over the course of months.

Multiple controversies have also emerged from people using ChatGPT to handle tasks that should probably be handled by an actual person. One of the worst cases of this is generating malware, which the FBI recently warned ChatGPT is being used for. More startling, Vanderbilt University’s Peabody School came under fire for generating an email about a mass shooting and the importance of community.

There are also privacy concerns. A recent GDPR complaint says that ChatGPT violates user’s privacy by stealing data from users without their knowledge, and using that data to train the AI model. ChatGPT was even made able to generate Windows 11 keys for free , according to one user. Of course, this is not how ChatGPT was meant to be used, but it’s significant that it was even able to be “tricked” into generating the keys in the first place.

Teachers, school administrators, and developers are already finding different ways around this and banning the use of ChatGPT in schools . Others are more optimistic about how ChatGPT might be used for teaching, but plagiarism is undoubtedly going to continue being an issue in terms of education in the future. There are some ideas about how ChatGPT could “watermark” its text and fix this plagiarism problem, but as of now, detecting ChatGPT is still incredibly difficult to do.

ChatGPT launched an updated version of its own plagiarism detection tool in January 2023, with hopes that it would squelch some of the criticism around how people are using the text generation system. It uses a feature called “AI text classifier,” which operates in a way familiar to other plagiarism software. According to OpenAI, however, the tool is a work in progress and remains “imperfect.” Since the advent of GPTs in April 2024, third party developers have also stepped in with their own offerings, such as Plagiarism Checker.

They’re a feature that doesn’t exist anymore. The announcement of ChatGPT plugins caused a great stir in the developer community, with some calling it “the most powerful developer platform ever created.” AI enthusiasts have compared it to the surge of interest in the iOS App Store when it first launched, greatly expanding the capabilities of the iPhone.

Essentially, developers would be able to build plugins directly for ChatGPT, to open it up to have access to the whole of the internet and connect directly to the APIs of specific applications. Some of the examples provided by OpenAI include applications being able to perform actions on behalf of the user, retrieve real-time information, and access knowledge-based information.

However, in 2024, OpenAI reversed course on its plugin plans , sunsetting the feature and replacing them with GPT applets. OpenAI’s GPT applets were released in conjunction with the unveiling of GPT-4o , They’re small, interactive JavaScript applications generated by GPT-4 and available on the ChatGPT website. These applets are various tools designed to perform specific, often singular, tasks such as acting as calculators, planners, widgets, image apps, and text transformation utilities.

Yes. APIs are a way for developers to access ChatGPT and plug its natural language capabilities directly into apps and websites. We’ve seen it used in all sorts of different cases, ranging from suggesting parts in Newegg’s PC builder to building out a travel itinerary with just a few words. Many apps had been announced as partners with OpenAI using the ChatGPT API. Of the initial batch, the most prominent example is Snapchat’s MyAI .

Recently, OpenAI made the ChatGPT API available to everyone, and we’ve seen a surge in tools leveraging the technology, such as Discord’s Clyde chatbot or Wix’s website builder . Most recently, GPT-4 has been made available as an API “for developers to build applications and services.” Some of the companies that have already integrated GPT-4 include Duolingo, Be My Eyes, Stripe, and Khan Academy. 

There’s no doubt that the tech world has become obsessed with ChatGPT right now, and it’s not slowing down anytime soon. But the bigger development will be how ChatGPT continues to be integrated into other applications.

GPT-5 is the rumored next significant step up in, which has been teased and talked about ad nauseam over the past year. Some say that it will finish training as early as in December of 2024, paving the way toward AGI (artificial general intelligence) . OpenAI CTO Mira Murati has compared it to having Ph.D.-level intelligence , while others have said it will lead to AI with better memory and reasoning . The timing seems very uncertain though, but it seems like it could launch sometime in 2025.

Beyond GPT-5, plenty of AI enthusiasts and forecasters have predicted where this technology is headed. Last year, Shane Legg, Google DeepMind’s co-founder and chief AGI scientist,  told Time Magazine  that he estimates there to be a 50% chance that AGI will be developed by 2028. Dario Amodei, co-founder and CEO of Anthropic, is even more bullish,  claiming last August  that “human-level” AI could arrive in the next two to three years. For his part, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman argues that AGI could be achieved  within the next half-decade .

All that to say, if you think AI is a big deal now, we’re clearly still in the early days.

ChatGPT remains the most popular AI chatbot, but it’s not without competition. Microsoft’s Copilot is a significant rival, even though Microsoft has invested heavily with the AI startup and Copilot itself leverages the GPT-4 model for its answers.

Google’s Gemini AI (formerly Google Bard ) is another such competitor. Built on Google’s own transformer architecture, this family of multimodal AI models can both understand and generate text, images, audio, videos, and code. First released in March, 2o23, Gemini is available in 46 languages and in 239 countries and territories. One of its big advantages is that Gemini can generate images for free, while you’ll have to upgrade to ChatGPT Plus in OpenAI’s ecosystem.

Anthropic’s Claude family of AI have also emerged as serious challengers to ChatGPT’s dominance. In June 2024, the AI startup announced that its recently released Claude 3.5 Sonnet model outperformed both GPT-4o and Gemini Pro 1.5 at a host of industry benchmarks and significantly outperformed the older Claude 3.0 Opus by double digits while consuming 50 percent less energy.

Meta, the parent company to Facebook, has also spent the last few years developing its own AI chatbot based on its family of Llama large language models. The company finally revealed its chatbot in April 2024, dubbed Meta AI, and revealed that it leverages the company’s latest to date model, Llama 3 . The assistant is available in more than a dozen countries and operates across Meta’s app suite, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.

Lastly, Apple had long been rumored to be working on an artificial intelligence system of its own, and proved the world right at WWDC 2024 in June, where the company revealed Apple Intelligence . The AI is “comprised of highly capable large language and diffusion models specialized for your everyday tasks” and designed to help iPhone, iPad and Mac users streamline many of their most common everyday tasks across apps.

For example, the system will autonomously prioritize specific system notifications so as to minimize distractions while you focus on a task while writing aides can proofread your work, revise them at your command, and even summarize text for you. Apple’s AI is expected to begin rolling out to users alongside the iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and Mac Sierra software releases in Fall 2024.

Are ChatGPT chats private?

It depends on what you mean by private. All chats with ChatGPT are used by OpenAI to further tune the models, which can actually involve the use of human trainers. No, that doesn’t mean a human is looking through every question you ask ChatGPT, but there’s a reason OpenAI warns against providing any personal information to ChatGPT.

It should be noted that if you don’t delete your chats, the conversations will appear in the left sidebar. Unlike with other chatbots, individual chats within a conversation cannot be deleted, though they can be edited using the pencil icon that appears when you hover over a chat. When you delete the conversations, however, it’s not that ChatGPT forgets they ever happened — it’s just that they disappear from the sidebar chat history.

Fortunately, OpenAI has recently announced a way to make your chats hidden from the sidebar . These “hidden” chats won’t be used to train AI models either. You can also opt out of allowing OpenAI to train its models in the settings.

Will ChatGPT replace Google Search?

Rather than replace it, generative AI features are being integrated directly into search. Microsoft started things off by integrating Copilot right into its own search engine, which puts a “chat” tab right into the menu of Bing search. Google, of course, made its big move with AI Overviews , which uses AI-generated answers in place of traditional search results. It launched first through its Search Generative Experience , but rolled out widely in May 2024.

To be clear, this kind of AI is different than just Gemini or ChatGPT. And yet, it’s also undeniable that AI will play an important role in the future of search in the near future. Despite all the problems with AI Overviews, Google seems committed to making it work.

Is Copilot the same as ChatGPT?

Although Copilot and ChatGPT are capable of similar things, they’re not exactly the same. Copilot, even though it runs the same GPT-4 model as ChatGPT, is an entirely separate product that has been fine-tuned by Microsoft.

Microsoft, as part of its multi-billion dollar investment into OpenAI, originally brought ChatGPT to Bing in the form of Bing Chat . But unlike ChatGPT , Bing Chat required downloading the latest version of Edge at the time.

Bing Chat has since been completely retooled into Copilot, which has seemingly become Microsoft’s most important product. It’s integrated into Microsoft 365 apps through Copilot Pro , while the Copilot+ expands the AI capabilities deep into Windows and laptop hardware.

Can you write essays with ChatGPT?

The use of ChatGPT has been full of controversy, with many onlookers considering how the power of AI will change everything from search engines to novel writing. It’s even demonstrated the ability to earn students surprisingly good grades in essay writing.

Essay writing for students is one of the most obvious examples of where ChatGPT could become a problem. ChatGPT might not write this article all that well, but it feels particularly easy to use for essay writing. Some generative AI tools, such as Caktus AI , are built specifically for this purpose.

Can ChatGPT write and debug code?

Absolutely. It’s one of the most powerful features of ChatGPT. As with everything with AI, you’ll want to double-check everything it produces, because it won’t always get your code right. But it’s certainly powerful at both writing code from scratch and debugging code. Developers have used it to create websites, applications, and games from scratch — all of which are made more powerful with GPT-4, of course.

What is the ChatGPT character limit?

ChatGPT doesn’t have a hard character limit. However, the size of the context window (essentially, how long you can make your prompt), depends on the tier of ChatGPT you’re using. Free tier users receive just 8,000 characters, while Plus and Teams subscribers receive 32k-charcter context windows, and Enterprise users get a whopping 128k characters to play with.

What is Auto-GPT?

Built on GPT-4, Auto-GPT is the latest evolution of AI technology to cause a stir in the industry. It’s not directly related to ChatGPT or OpenAI — instead, it’s an open-source Python application that got into the hands of developers all over the internet when it was published on GitHub .

With ChatGPT or ChatGPT Plus, the capabilities of the AI are limited to a single chat window. Auto-GPT, at its simplest, is making AI autonomous. It can be given a set of goals, and then take the necessary steps towards accomplishing that goal across the internet, including connecting up with applications and software.

According to the official description on GitHub, Auto-GPT is an “experimental open-source application showcasing the capabilities of the GPT-4 language model. This program, driven by GPT-4, chains together LLM ‘thoughts’, to autonomously achieve whatever goal you set. As one of the first examples of GPT-4 running fully autonomously, Auto-GPT pushes the boundaries of what is possible with AI.”

The demo used on the GitHub page is simple — just create a recipe appropriate for Easter and save it to a file. What’s neat is how Auto-GPT breaks down the steps the AI is taking to accomplish the goal, including the “thoughts” and “reasoning” behind its actions. Auto-GPT is already being used in a variety of different applications, with some touting it as the beginning of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) due to its autonomous nature.

Who owns the copyright to content created by ChatGPT?

This is a question open to debate. Much of the conversation around copyright and AI is ongoing, with some saying generative AI is “stealing” the work of the content it was trained on. This has become increasingly contentious in the world of AI art. Companies like Adobe are finding ways around this by only training models on stock image libraries that already have proper artist credit and legal boundaries.

According to OpenAI, however, you have the right to reprint, sell, and merchandise anything that was created with ChatGPT or ChatGPT Plus. So, you’re not going to get sued by OpenAI.

The larger topic of copyright law regarding generative AI is still to be determined by various lawmakers and interpreters of the law, especially since copyright law as it currently stands technically only protects content created by human beings.

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How to Use ChatGPT for Beginners?-Register, Use Cases and FAQ

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence chatbot that allows users to have human-like conversations. This language processing tool can answer questions and provide assistance in every aspect of our life, such as entertainment, education, business, and personal life.

ChatGPT is versatile and offers users a wide range of benefits. However, users who are not familiar with technology and AI techniques may find it difficult to use. Moreover, ChatGPT needs the users to ask questions specifically to generate accurate and reliable information which is something new users find challenging.

This article provides a comprehensive guide on how to use ChatGPT. If you are a new user, this article will provide a step-by-step guide on creating an account, navigating the dashboard, and using ChatGPT for various purposes.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT (Generative Pretrained Transformer) is an advanced language model based on Artificial Intelligence. This chatbot was developed by Open AI, designed to interact with humans using natural language.

To generate answers, users can simply type their questions, and the ChatGPT will provide an accurate and natural-sounding response. It uses complex algorithms to access a massive amount of data from the internet and generate responses according to the user’s input.

If you are looking for assistance in tasks like composing emails, writing articles, or generating codes, then ChatGPT is a valuable resource.

How to Register ChatGPT for free?

There are two cases for registration. Follow the step-by-step guide below to register for ChatGPT.

1. Register an account in a country that allows Registration:

Using Chat GPT is a simple and convenient process. If you are in a country where ChatGPT is accessible, like the UK and the US, then follow the below steps to sign up to Chat GPT quickly

Step 1: Visit the official website of OpenAI at https://chat.openai.com/auth/login .

Step 2: Click the "Sign Up" option.

Step 3: There are two methods to sign up

You can use your email address

Continue with your Google account.

Step 4: If you select the email address option to sign up, you will set an 8-character password.

Step 5: You will receive a verification email in your mailbox next. Click on the “Verify email address” to verify.

Step 6: To make your account, enter your first and last name and click “Continue.”

Step 7: For phone verification, select your country, enter your valid phone number, and click “Send code.”

Step 8: Enter the 6-digit code you received on your phone.

Step 9: Now, you have officially made an account on ChatGPT, and you can use it for free.

2. Register an account in a country that does not allows registration:

Registering with ChatGPT is quite simple. However, in some countries like Russia, China, and Hong Kong, when you open the page, it shows  “OpenAI’s services are not available in your country.”

Let's talk about how to register in countries where ChatGPT is not accessible.

Step 1: Use a VPN to change your IP address. In this guide, ExpressVPN has been used.

Step 2: Change the time zone to any country where ChatGPT is available. Here, we are using Pacific Time (US & Canada).

Step 3: Open OpenAI in Incognito mode and start the “signup” process.

Step 4: Next you will see the “Verify your phone number”.

Step 5: As any mobile number from China cannot be used. So we will use an SMS-activate tool to get a virtual number. You will get a security code on this number.

Go to https://sms-activate.org/en/ to get access to the tool.

Step 6: Register your account on this platform using your email.

Step 7: When you complete the registration process, the next step is top up. Recharge your account.

Step 8: Then go back to the homepage and search for “Open” to find the purchase link of the temporary number.

Step 9: In the activation area, you can check the temporary number. Copy this number into the verification code receiving tab of the OpenAI.

Step 10: Click Send verification code. Sometimes the service is slow, and it may take some time to receive the code.

Step 11: Put the verification code, and your registration is complete

Step 12: Now you use ChatGPT for free.

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How to use chatGPT effectively?

If you want to use chatGPT effectively, it is important to understand how to use prompts. Prompts are the sentences or phrases given to chatGPT to generate responses.

Be clear and Specific:

You must remember that you are talking to an AI tool, and the instructions given must be clear and specific to yield the most accurate and useful responses.

Avoid unclear language

If the prompts and queries given to the chatbot are not clear, then the AI model will not analyze the information correctly and may generate inaccurate responses. therefore, avoid using vague and unclear language

Use Correct Grammar and Spelling:

if you want chatGPT to understand your inputs accurately, then use correct grammar and spelling.

Be Patient:

Artificial Intelligence takes time to process information, therefore, be patient and give the model time when it is generating responses.

Describe the complexity of the response:

You can get the desired response if you specify the level of complexity while asking the question. Like if your input is about a college assignment, then most probably chatGPT will give a generic answer that you're already taught in class. However, if you specify that you want the response to be for readers who are beginners or experts, then you will get a different response. You can ask using prompts like

Explain like I am a five-year-old

Explain like I don’t know anything about science.

Explain like I am a Ph.D. researcher

Ask follow-up questions:

Don’t just reply to the response of one question. If the ChatGPT produces content that has a very short length, then ask follow-up questions and engage like you are having a conversation with a human. It will help chatGPT to understand your needs, and it will generate better responses.

Recheck the responses:

ChatGPT sometimes provides information that is inaccurate or limited. Therefore, always cross-check the content for accuracy.

Several common ChatGPT use cases

1. how to use chatgpt to write an essay.

For students, writing essays and reports is challenging. ChatGPT is an excellent resource as it provides assistance in creating well-researched writing pieces according to the requirements of your college professor. You just need to give a prompt that asks the question accurately.

Here is an example.

WPS Office-Free All-in-one Office Suite Help You Write Essays Easier and More Efficiently!

2. How to use Bing with chatGPT

There are 2 ways to use ChatGPT with Bing

1. Use ChatGPT

You can ask ChatGPt to search for anything on Bing. com

2. You can open bing.com and search directly.

Bing with ChatGPT option is only accessible in Microsoft’s Edge Browser. follow the following step to generate desired responses.

Step 1: Open www.bing.com

Step 2: Click on the Chat option.

Step 3: In the chat window, write any query, and you will get the answer.

Tip: You can also download the ChatGPT plugin to use alongside search in Google, Bing, and other search engines.

3. How to use chatGPT to write a resume

While applying for a job, summing up all your professional experiences and qualities in one application is a challenging task. You can use ChatGPT to generate ideas or optimize your resume. It can also help you to write your strengths according to best practices in a professional way. Follow the following steps:

Step 1: Choose a resume template

First pick a template from the https://template.wps.com/ . You can use the WPS Word document to write your resume.

Step 2: Visit the ChatGPT homepage and Sign in to your account that you made earlier from the above-mentioned method.

Step 3:  You can get a summary of your role at the previous job. For example, I asked: “Can you write a short, professional summary about my role as an after-sales engineer in an automotive firm?”

Step 4: You can also optimize your resume by revamping your own text.

4. How to use chatGPT to make money

Sometimes people want to do something to make money, but don’t have enough ideas that will prove to be profitable. You can utilize ChatGPT for idea generation.

1. How do I create a ChatGPT account?

You can create an account with ChatGPT by visiting the https://chat.openai.com/auth/login and signup.

2. What are the benefits of using ChatGPT?

Following are the benefits of using ChatGPT

Improved efficiency

Easy accessibility 24/7

Quickly and accurate responses

Assistance in different tasks

Automation of repetitive tasks

Cost-effective than hiring human staff.

3. Is ChatGPT free to use?

Yes, the basic version of ChatGPT is free to use. However, the subscription to ChatGPT 4 is available for $20/month

4. Can I integrate ChatGPT with my existing business systems?

Yes, OpenAI provides API access that businesses can use to integrate ChatGPT with their existing business systems. In this way, businesses can utilize the benefits of ChatGPT, like automating repetitive tasks, analyzing customers' feedback, conducting market research, and providing insights into the trends of the market.

5. How can I report issues with ChatGPT?

Just like other tools, you can face any issue while using ChatGPT. In such cases, reporting to the OpenAI team is very easy. Just send an email to [email protected]. In the mail, write a detailed description of the issue and problem you faced.

To resolve the issue effectively, it is better to send screenshots to demonstrate the problem. the support team tries to resolve the problem as quickly as possible. If your problem is urgent, you can also contact the support team via a call or live chat.

This article has provided a comprehensive guide for beginners on how to use ChatGPT. We have tried to answer a wide range of questions related to ChatGPT and its uses. You can make your life easier by taking assistance from this chatbot in every field of work, like writing, coding, marketing, research, etc.

We recommend downloading WPS Office , a free software to edit various document types. By using ChatGPT and WPS Office together, users can enhance their productivity and efficiency in personal and professional settings.

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• 3. How to Use WPS AI/Chatgpt to Write Essays: Guide for Beginners
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• 5. How to Use Wps AI/Chatgpt to Data Analysis: Guide for Beginners
• 6. How to Use WPS AI and Chatgpt to Extract Novel: Tutorial for Beginners

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• Using ChatGPT for Assignments | Tips & Examples

Using ChatGPT for Assignments | Tips & Examples

Published on February 13, 2023 by Jack Caulfield and Tobias Solis. Revised on November 16, 2023.

People are still figuring out the best use cases for ChatGPT , the popular chatbot based on a powerful AI language model. This article provides some ideas for how to use ChatGPT and other AI tools to assist with your academic writing .

These tools can assist you with the following steps when writing a paper, thesis , or dissertation :

• Developing a research question
• Creating an outline
• Generating literature ideas

Paraphrasing and summarizing text

• Getting feedback

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Table of contents

Developing a research question with chatgpt, creating an outline of your paper with chatgpt, generate literature ideas, getting feedback from chatgpt, limitations of chatgpt, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions.

You can use ChatGPT to help you formulate a clear and concise research question by generating and improving potential questions.

With the help of ChatGPT, you can develop a large number of possible research questions within a short time. This is a great way to generate ideas and different approaches to a topic.

However, make sure that the generated questions make sense and meet your needs. As you can see from our example, you can keep working with ChatGPT to adapt its suggestions to your needs (or just edit the text directly if you already have a clear idea of what you want).

First input

Develop three possible research questions on the following topic: “The influence of social media on political opinion formation.”

ChatGPT output

• To what extent does exposure to diverse political perspectives on social media affect individuals’ political opinions and behaviors?
• How does the personalized algorithm of social media platforms shape the formation of political opinions among its users?
• What are the underlying factors that determine the effect of social media on political opinion formation, and how can they be measured and analyzed?

Second input

Based on the second research question, develop three further research questions on the topic of polarization in US politics.

• Build my scientific method, qualitative discourse analysis, into each question
• Include the term “filter bubble” in each question
• How does the filter bubble effect on social media platforms contribute to the polarization of political attitudes in the US? A qualitative discourse analysis.
• What is the role of filter bubbles in perpetuating and reinforcing political echo chambers in the US? A qualitative discourse analysis.
• How does the influence of filter bubbles on social media affect the ability of individuals to engage in productive political discourse across ideological divides in the US? A qualitative discourse analysis.

Third input

Try to incorporate “qualitative discourse analysis” into the questions themselves, instead of using it as a separate sentence.

• How does a qualitative discourse analysis of filter bubble effect on social media platforms contribute to understanding the polarization of political attitudes in the US?
• What is the contribution of a qualitative discourse analysis to understanding the role of filter bubbles in perpetuating and reinforcing political echo chambers in the US?
• How does a qualitative discourse analysis of the influence of filter bubbles on social media inform our understanding of the ability of individuals to engage in productive political discourse across ideological divides in the US?

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You can also use ChatGPT to help you draft a research paper outline or thesis outline . To do this, try generating possible headings and subheadings and then improving them. ChatGPT can help to generate a clear and well-structured outline, especially if you keep adjusting the structure with its help.

However, it doesn’t have a deep understanding of your topic. As a result, inappropriate headings may sometimes be generated. It’s important to check that the outline makes sense and covers all the points needed to answer your research question.

You should also ensure that the headings and subheadings follow a logical structure. Scribbr’s Proofreading & Editing service can help you with this.

Create an outline for an academic research paper with the following research question:

“What is the contribution of a qualitative discourse analysis to understanding the role of filter bubbles in perpetuating and reinforcing political echo chambers in the US?”

The paper will be about 8 pages long.

• Background information on filter bubbles and political echo chambers
• Purpose of the study
• Research question
• Thesis statement
• Definition and concept of filter bubbles
• Definition and concept of political echo chambers
• Previous studies on the role of filter bubbles in perpetuating and reinforcing political echo chambers
• Critiques and limitations of previous studies
• Research design
• Participants
• Data collection and analysis
• Validity and reliability
• Findings from qualitative discourse analysis
• Results related to the research question
• Implications of the findings
• Interpretation of the results
• Comparison with previous studies
• Limitations of the study
• Implications for future research
• Summary of the results
• Implications for understanding the role of filter bubbles in perpetuating and reinforcing political echo chambers
• Conclusion and recommendations for future research
• List of references used in the paper
• Data collection materials
• Examples of qualitative data analysis

This seems like too much information to fit into only 8 pages. Can you condense the outline, for example removing the appendices and simplifying the structure?

• Background on filter bubbles and political echo chambers
• Definition of filter bubbles and political echo chambers
• Previous studies on the role of filter bubbles
• Limitations of previous studies
• Implications for understanding the role of filter bubbles
• Final thoughts

ChatGPT can be a useful way to generate ideas regarding what sources you might use in your work. Try asking it for suggestions about where to look and what to consider.

However, we advise against using it to find sources directly. It’s not designed for this and, if asked to do it, often just creates fake sources and presents them as real. Search a database like Google Scholar instead.

What types of sources could I use to write a paper on the following research question?

When writing a paper on the contribution of qualitative discourse analysis to understanding the role of filter bubbles in perpetuating and reinforcing political echo chambers in the US, you could use the following types of sources:

• Academic journals and articles: These are a good place to start when you’re looking for information on specific topics and they can provide you with in-depth analysis and perspectives on the topic at hand.
• Books and book chapters: These sources can provide comprehensive overviews of a particular topic and can also offer theoretical frameworks and historical perspectives.
• Government reports and studies: Government agencies, such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), may have conducted studies on the role of filter bubbles in perpetuating political echo chambers.
• News articles and media reports: These sources can provide insight into the current state of the issue, as well as opinions from various stakeholders.
• Online sources: Websites, blogs, and online forums can provide a range of perspectives on the topic and can also be useful in exploring the experiences of individuals who are affected by filter bubbles and political echo chambers.
• Data and statistics: Relevant data and statistics on the prevalence and impact of filter bubbles and political echo chambers in the US can be useful in providing evidence to support your arguments.
• Expert interviews and focus groups: Conducting expert interviews or focus groups with individuals who have experience with or knowledge of the topic can provide valuable insights and perspectives that can be used to support your arguments.

You can also try using ChatGPT to paraphrase or summarize text. ChatGPT can quickly condense the text or generate a number of different paraphrases of the same idea. You can keep typing “again” in the chat until you are satisfied with the result.

This kind of paraphrasing/summarizing can be helpful to, for example, non-native speakers who want to improve the fluency of their text. However, be careful. The outputs often:

• Contain grammatical errors
• Include false information

So you should always check the output to make sure it’s correct. If you’re unsure, you can run the text through the Scribbr Grammar Checker and cross-reference the information against other, more credible sources .

An alternative is to use the Scribbr Paraphrasing Tool or Scribbr’s free text summarizer , which were designed specifically for these purposes.

Paraphrase the following text:

“A filter bubble results from a social media algorithm’s attempts to cater to an individual user based on data such as their search history and previous behavior on the site. It results in the user only being presented with information that confirms their biases.”

Restructure the sentences and use other phrasings for the following parts:

• “results from”
• “only being presented with”

“A filter bubble is created when a social media algorithm customizes its content for a particular user based on their data, such as their search history and past actions on the platform. This leads to the user being confined to information that reinforces their pre-existing beliefs.” Note We strongly advise against having ChatGPT write text for you and trying to pass it off as your own work. This is academically dishonest and is widely considered plagiarism . It will usually result in an automatic fail, as well as other potential consequences .

You can also use ChatGPT to get feedback on the argumentation and structure of your paper and suggestions for improvements.

An advantage of this is that you can get feedback from ChatGPT on different text excerpts at any time. However, one downside is that ChatGPT does not have a deep understanding of your research question, so its feedback and suggestions may be shallow or inappropriate.

This kind of feedback cannot replace input from an experienced academic supervisor who’s familiar with your topic. Use ChatGPT feedback as a supplement, not a substitute for human feedback.

If you need in-depth feedback on your writing from someone with academic expertise, try Scribbr’s Proofreading & Editing service .

[Text you want to get feedback on.]

Thank you for submitting your research paper for review. Let me provide you with my constructive criticism:

Clarity of Explanations: Overall, the explanations are clear and concise, but there are a few areas that could benefit from additional clarification. For example, in the first paragraph, you mention “the mental lexicon,” but do not provide a definition or further explanation for what this is. It would also be helpful to provide a definition of “lemma.”

Smoothness of Language: The language in the paper is generally smooth, but there are a few instances where it could be refined. For example, the sentence “The symptoms vary from adding superfluous words and taking pauses to hoarseness of the voice” could be rephrased to “The symptoms of these disorders can range from excessive use of words and pauses to hoarseness.”

Structure of Text: The structure of the text is clear, with each paragraph building on the previous one. However, the transition between the first two paragraphs could be smoother. Perhaps you could add a sentence or two to bridge the gap between the two topics.

Even though ChatGPT is a powerful writing tool, you should keep the following limitations in mind:

No original research

Risk of plagiarism, fake sources, fake “facts”.

ChatGPT was trained using existing texts, and the texts created by the AI are based on this data. It’s not capable of doing its own research, only of synthesizing sources that it was trained on.

Additionally, because the texts that it was trained on only go up to 2021, it’s unfamiliar with more recent world events, cultural trends, and developments in different fields of research. This means it may provide outdated information.

Because ChatGPT was trained using existing text, the AI tends to reuse that content in a way that may be considered plagiarism. The AI may copy text from an online publication in its responses.

Additionally, using ChatGPT to write your assignment for you is considered plagiarism regardless of where it got the content from, because you’re passing off something you didn’t write as your own work.

ChatGPT was trained on a wide variety of sources, but it’s not able to accurately tell you what sources it’s using for any given output. Worse, it has a tendency to make up sources that don’t actually exist when you ask.

In addition, ChatGPT is not designed as a citation generator and cannot add correctly formatted citations to your work. Instead, try a tool designed for this purpose, like the Scribbr Citation Generator .

ChatGPT is not always trustworthy when it comes to giving you factually correct information. While it doesn’t deliberately lie, it also doesn’t have “knowledge” in a traditional sense, and it lacks the ability to verify its claims.

Instead, its responses are based on recognizing and reproducing patterns that it has seen in other texts. This means that if it doesn’t “know” something, it tends to guess. And its guesses are presented with full confidence, just like established facts.

So it’s very important that you carefully check any factual claims made by ChatGPT against more credible sources —and don’t cite ChatGPT as a source of factual information for your research.

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 can use ChatGPT to assist in the writing process for your research paper , thesis , or dissertation in the following ways:

• Paraphrasing text

No, it’s not a good idea to do so in general—first, because it’s normally considered plagiarism or academic dishonesty to represent someone else’s work as your own (even if that “someone” is an AI language model). Even if you cite ChatGPT , you’ll still be penalized unless this is specifically allowed by your university . Institutions may use AI detectors to enforce these rules.

Second, ChatGPT can recombine existing texts, but it cannot really generate new knowledge. And it lacks specialist knowledge of academic topics. Therefore, it is not possible to obtain original research results, and the text produced may contain factual errors.

However, you can usually still use ChatGPT for assignments in other ways, as a source of inspiration and feedback.

No, it is not possible to cite your sources with ChatGPT . You can ask it to create citations, but it isn’t designed for this task and tends to make up sources that don’t exist or present information in the wrong format. ChatGPT also cannot add citations to direct quotes in your text.

Instead, use a tool designed for this purpose, like the Scribbr Citation Generator .

But you can use ChatGPT for assignments in other ways, to provide inspiration, feedback, and general writing advice.

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.

Caulfield, J. & Solis, T. (2023, November 16). Using ChatGPT for Assignments | Tips & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved June 24, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/ai-tools/chatgpt-assignments/

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Artificial undergraduate —

Chatgpt outperforms undergrads in intro-level courses, falls short later, software that promises to detect ai-produced text fails to deliver..

Jacek Krywko - Jun 28, 2024 9:23 pm UTC

“Since the rise of large language models like ChatGPT there have been lots of anecdotal reports about students submitting AI-generated work as their exam assignments and getting good grades. So, we stress-tested our university’s examination system against AI cheating in a controlled experiment,” says Peter Scarfe, a researcher at the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences at the University of Reading.

His team created over 30 fake psychology student accounts and used them to submit ChatGPT-4-produced answers to examination questions. The anecdotal reports were true—the AI use went largely undetected, and, on average, ChatGPT scored better than human students.

Rules of engagement

Scarfe’s team submitted AI-generated work in five undergraduate modules, covering classes needed during all three years of study for a bachelor’s degree in psychology. The assignments were either 200-word answers to short questions or more elaborate essays, roughly 1,500 words long. “The markers of the exams didn’t know about the experiment. In a way, participants in the study didn’t know they were participating in the study, but we’ve got necessary permissions to go ahead with that”, Scarfe claims.

Shorter submissions were prepared simply by copy-pasting the examination questions into ChatGPT-4 along with a prompt to keep the answer under 160 words. The essays were solicited the same way, but the required word count was increased to 2,000. Setting the limits this way, Scarfe’s team could get ChatGPT-4 to produce content close enough to the required length. “The idea was to submit those answers without any editing at all, apart from the essays, where we applied minimal formatting,” says Scarfe.

Overall, Scarfe and his colleagues slipped 63 AI-generated submissions into the examination system. Even with no editing or efforts to hide the AI usage, 94 percent of those went undetected, and nearly 84 percent got better grades (roughly half a grade better) than a randomly selected group of students who took the same exam.

“We did a series of debriefing meetings with people marking those exams and they were quite surprised,” says Scarfe. Part of the reason they were surprised was that most of those AI submissions that were detected did not end up flagged because they were too repetitive or robotic—they got flagged because they were too good.

Which raises a question: What do we do about it?

AI-hunting software

“During this study we did a lot of research into techniques of detecting AI-generated content,” Scarfe says. One such tool is Open AI’s GPTZero; others include AI writing detection systems like the one made by Turnitin, a company specializing in delivering tools for detecting plagiarism.

“The issue with such tools is that they usually perform well in a lab, but their performance drops significantly in the real world,” Scarfe explained. Open AI claims the GPTZero can flag AI-generated text as “likely” AI 26 percent of the time, with a rather worrisome 9 percent false positive rate. Turnitin’s system, on the other hand, was advertised as detecting 97 percent of ChatGPT and GPT-3 authored writing in a lab with only one false positive in a hundred attempts. But, according to Scarfe’s team, the released beta version of this system performed significantly worse.

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• Knowledge Base

Using AI tools

• How to Write a Paper with ChatGPT | Tips & Examples

How to Write a Paper with ChatGPT | Tips & Examples

Published on 17 August 2023 by Koen Driessen .

A good research paper demonstrates your academic writing skills and knowledge of your chosen topic.

Your research paper should be based on in-depth independent research. However, generative AI tools like ChatGPT can be effectively used throughout the research process to:

• Brainstorm research questions
• Develop a methodology
• Create an outline
• Find sources
• Summarise and paraphrase text
• Provide feedback

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Table of contents

Brainstorming research questions, developing a methodology, creating an outline, finding sources, summarising or paraphrasing text, receiving feedback, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions.

You can use ChatGPT to help formulate research questions , brainstorm potential thesis statements , or narrow down a broad subject area to a specific topic that interests you.

However, make sure that the outputs make sense and meet the requirements of your assignment. You can adapt these outputs manually, or use further prompts to ensure they meet your needs. For more information, see our tips for creating effective ChatGPT prompts .

• Generate three possible research questions for a research paper on the following topic: “The role of virtual reality in enhancing training and skill development in various industries.”
• “What are the cognitive and skill development benefits of virtual reality-based training compared to traditional training methods across different industries?”
• “How does the level of immersion in virtual reality training impact knowledge retention and skill transfer in fields such as medicine, aviation, and manufacturing?”
• “What are the key factors that influence the successful integration and adoption of virtual reality technology for training purposes in diverse industries, and what challenges hinder its widespread implementation?”

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Your paper should clearly indicate the data collection and analysis methods you used in your research.

You can use ChatGPT to help decide what kind of research you will conduct (e.g., qualitative or quantitative ), how you will analyse the data, and how you will mitigate potential research bias .

Bear in mind that you should be able to rationalize your chosen methodology . For example, you should ensure that it is either a standard methodology in the field or can be justified.

• Suggest three quantitative research methods appropriate to the following question: “What are the cognitive and skill development benefits of virtual reality-based training compared to traditional training methods in the field of healthcare?”
• Experimental Study: Conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) where healthcare professionals are randomly assigned to either a virtual reality-based training group or a traditional training group. Both groups would receive training in specific healthcare tasks, and their cognitive and skill development outcomes would be measured and compared. Performance metrics, such as accuracy, speed, and efficiency, could be quantitatively assessed to determine the benefits of virtual reality-based training over traditional methods.
• Survey Research: Design a comprehensive survey targeting healthcare professionals who have undergone both virtual reality-based training and traditional training. The survey could include Likert-scale questions and structured response options to gauge their perceived cognitive and skill development benefits from each training method. Additionally, open-ended questions could be included to gather qualitative insights on specific strengths and weaknesses of each training approach.
• Task Performance Analysis: Implement a task-based assessment that simulates real-life healthcare scenarios, where participants are evaluated on their ability to handle critical situations. Participants would go through both virtual reality-based training and traditional training before being assessed in the simulated scenarios. Their performance in the assessment could be objectively measured using predefined criteria, allowing for a quantitative comparison of skill development between the two training methods.

A clear outline can help structure your paper, organise your arguments effectively, and make your research more efficient.

You can use generative AI tools like ChatGPT to formulate a potential outline to help guide your research. You can be as specific as you like, giving an overview of your research objectives , main arguments, and any evidence you intend to include in your paper.

However, ChatGPT outputs sometimes contain factual inaccuracies. It’s important to check the headings and subheadings suggested in the output and adapt them to meet your needs.

• Create an outline for an academic research paper with the following research question:“What are the cognitive and skill development benefits of virtual reality-based training compared to traditional training methods in the field of healthcare?” The paper will be about 10 pages long.

B. Existing studies on cognitive and skill development benefits of virtual reality training

C. Comparison of virtual reality-based training with traditional training methods

D. Gaps in the literature and research limitations

III. Theoretical Framework

A. Theoretical basis for cognitive and skill development in training

B. Application of cognitive theories to virtual reality-based training

C. The role of immersive learning environments in skill acquisition

D. Conceptual framework for the study

IV. Research Methodology

A. Research design and approach (e.g., quasi-experimental, pre-post intervention)

B. Selection of participants and sample size calculation

C. Description of the virtual reality-based training and traditional training programs

D. Instruments and measures for assessing cognitive and skill development

E. Data collection procedures and ethical considerations

V. Data Analysis

A. Overview of statistical methods used for data analysis

B. Treatment of data and data cleaning

C. Quantitative analysis of cognitive and skill development outcomes

D. Presentation of findings with charts and tables

VI. Results

A. Presentation of the results of the cognitive and skill development assessments

B. Comparison of outcomes between virtual reality-based training and traditional training

C. Statistical significance and effect size analysis

D. Interpretation of the results and implications

VII. Discussion

A. Interpretation of findings in the context of the research question

B. Comparison of results with existing literature

C. Explanation of how virtual reality-based training impacts cognitive processes and skill development

D. Limitations of the study and areas for future research

VIII. Practical Implications

A. Practical applications of virtual reality-based training in healthcare settings

B. Recommendations for integrating virtual reality training in healthcare education

C. Benefits of virtual reality for continuous professional development in healthcare

IX. Conclusion

A. Summary of key findings

B. Reiteration of the research question and hypothesis

C. Contributions of the study to the field of healthcare training

D. Concluding remarks

X. References

You can use ChatGPT to help find sources relevant to your research. However, it’s important to be aware of the limitations of ChatGPT (for example, it occasionally cites nonexistent sources).

Instead of asking ChatGPT for specific source recommendations, try asking it for recommendations on the types of sources relevant to your research topic. You can also use it to generate a list of relevant keywords to use in your literature search.

• What types of sources could I use to write a research paper on the following research question? “What are the cognitive and skill development benefits of virtual reality-based training compared to traditional training methods in the field of healthcare?”
• Academic Journals: Peer-reviewed journals are valuable sources of scholarly research. Look for articles in medical education, cognitive psychology, virtual reality applications in healthcare, and technology-enhanced learning.
• Research Studies: Seek out published research studies that specifically investigate the impact of virtual reality-based training on cognitive and skill development in healthcare professionals.
• Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: These studies provide comprehensive overviews of existing research on a specific topic, making them a valuable source for summarizing and analyzing the overall evidence.
• Books and Book Chapters: Academic books and book chapters authored by experts in the fields of medical education, virtual reality, cognitive science, or instructional design can provide in-depth insights and theoretical foundations.
• Conference Proceedings: Proceedings from relevant conferences and symposiums may present the latest findings and advancements in virtual reality-based training and healthcare education.
• Educational Institution Websites: Universities and medical schools often publish research papers, case studies, and whitepapers related to medical education and virtual reality training.
• Industry Reports: Reports and whitepapers from healthcare organizations or technology companies exploring the benefits of virtual reality-based training in the healthcare sector.
• Government and Non-profit Organisations: Look for reports and publications from government agencies and non-profit organisations that focus on medical education and healthcare training.
• Online Databases: Utilize academic databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, IEEE Xplore, and ScienceDirect to search for peer-reviewed research articles and conference papers.
• Expert Interviews: If possible, conduct interviews with experts in medical education, cognitive science, and virtual reality to gain valuable insights and perspectives.
• Surveys and Polls: Refer to reputable surveys and polls related to virtual reality-based training in the healthcare industry for additional statistical data.

You can use ChatGPT to paraphrase or summarise text. This can help you to condense sources to their most important points and explore new ways of expressing your ideas.

Alternatively you can use the more specialised tools featured on Scribbr’s AI writing resources page, which are designed specifically for these purposes and will give a smoother user experience.

• Provide a short summary of the following text:“One of the most profound applications of VR in healthcare is its use in surgical training. Traditionally, surgical training has relied on a combination of didactic lectures, observation of procedures, and hands-on experience in the operating room. However, these methods may not provide the ideal environment for novices to develop the necessary dexterity and spatial understanding essential for complex surgeries. VR overcomes these limitations by offering immersive, true-to-life simulations that allow surgeons to navigate through intricate anatomical structures, practice incisions, and learn to manage unexpected challenges that may arise during surgeries. This hands-on experience in a risk-free environment not only enhances technical skills but also builds confidence and reduces the learning curve for new surgical techniques.”
• Virtual Reality (VR) has a profound impact on healthcare, particularly in surgical training, as it provides immersive simulations that help surgeons develop dexterity, spatial understanding, and confidence for complex surgeries in a risk-free environment, ultimately enhancing their technical skills and reducing the learning curve.

When you’ve finished writing your research paper, you can use ChatGPT to receive feedback. You can be as specific as you like, selecting particular aspects the output should focus on (e.g., tone, clarity of structure, appropriateness of evidence to support your arguments).

You can also use ChatGPT to check grammar, spelling, and punctuation. However, it’s not designed for this purpose and occasionally misses errors. We recommend using a more specialised tool like Scribbr’s free grammar checker . Or, for more comprehensive feedback, Scribbr’s proofreading and editing service .

• Feedback the above text with regard to appropriateness of evidence and coherence of structure.
• The research paper demonstrates a well-structured and coherent presentation of the cognitive and skill development benefits of VR-based surgical training. The introduction effectively sets the context and rationale, while the literature review incorporates relevant historical and empirical evidence. The theoretical framework strengthens the foundation for the analysis.The methodology section could provide more details on the research design and study selection criteria. However, the sections on cognitive and skill development benefits present compelling evidence, supported by appropriate sub-sections.The exploration of improved patient outcomes lacks concrete examples but effectively outlines potential benefits. The section on challenges and future directions raises relevant points, but suggestions for solutions could enhance practicality.Overall, the paper combines theoretical, empirical, and practical evidence, offering a well-rounded approach. It establishes the significance of VR-based surgical training and concludes with a concise summary of key findings.

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.

No, having ChatGPT write your college essay can negatively impact your application in numerous ways. ChatGPT outputs are unoriginal and lack personal insight.

Furthermore, Passing off AI-generated text as your own work is considered academically dishonest . AI detectors may be used to detect this offense, and it’s highly unlikely that any university will accept you if you are caught submitting an AI-generated admission essay.

However, you can use ChatGPT to help write your college essay during the preparation and revision stages (e.g., for brainstorming ideas and generating feedback).

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, August 17). How to Write a Paper with ChatGPT | Tips & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 24 June 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/using-ai-tools/chatgpt-paper/

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