Are you returning to school? Discover how ChatGPT can assist you in enhancing your essay-writing skills
If you have been procrastinating writing a paper because you need help with how to start, ChatGPT can assist with that and various other writing assignments.
ChatGPT’s advanced features have led to an enormous surge in popularity, attracting over 100 million users within just two months of its release. One striking aspect of this AI tool is its exceptional speed in creating various forms of written content, such as songs, poems, bedtime stories, and essays.
Using ChatGPT to write includes various tasks such as coding, working with Excel formulas, drafting resumes, and creating cover letters.
Despite what people commonly believe, ChatGPT is not just another AI essay generator by essay-generator.ai designed solely to produce essays. Beyond the potential misuse for plagiarism, it offers a valuable capability to assist and direct your writing process. In this guide, we demonstrate how you can effectively employ ChatGPT for both writing support and guidance, and we’ll also share additional beneficial writing suggestions.
How ChatGPT can help you write an essay
If you’re seeking ways to utilize ChatGPT for writing assistance or substitution, there are five approaches to consider.
Before beginning, it is essential to acknowledge that other AI chatbots are available that can produce similar or superior outcomes compared to ChatGPT, depending on your specific requirements.
An illustration of this is Bing Chat, which can utilize the internet to gather up-to-date information and current news to provide accurate answers. Additionally, Bing Chat offers footnotes that return to each response’s original sources. Consequently, Bing Chat becomes highly beneficial for writing a paper on a recent occurrence or fact-checking your references.
No matter which AI chatbot you choose, you can apply the tips listed below to maximize the benefits of your prompts and AI support.
1. Before commencing an essay, developing and expanding upon the initial idea is essential.
Typically, professors provide students with a prompt for personal expression and analysis, thus requiring students to determine their unique approach to the essay. Discovering this angle, which is often the most challenging aspect, can be facilitated with the assistance of ChatGPT.
To utilize ChatGPT for your assignment, provide the topic and include as many specific details as you desire, such as the aspects you plan to cover. The rest will be taken care of by ChatGPT. For instance, when I was in college, I inputted a paper prompt and asked:
Could you assist me in brainstorming a subject for this task, which is to compose a research paper or case study about a leadership topic of our choosing? I am interested in incorporating Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Leadership Grid into the subject and exploring the role of a historical figure.
The chatbot instantly generated a reply that furnished me with the essay title, various historical figures to consider for my article, and suggestions about what information I should incorporate into my paper. It even provided examples of a specific case study I could include.
2. Use the chatbot to create an outline
After finalizing a solid subject, generating ideas about the specific content to include in the essay is essential. To make the writing process more manageable, I prefer to develop an outline encompassing all the aspects I intend to cover. Yet, outlining tends to be a tiresome task. Thankfully, with the assistance of ChatGPT, you can request it to formulate the outline on your behalf.
I requested ChatGPT, using the topic it generated in the first step, to create an outline for me by making the following statement:
Could you please outline a paper titled “An Analysis of Winston Churchill’s Leadership Style using Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Leadership Grid”?
After a brief pause, the chatbot produced a comprehensive overview organized into seven distinct parts, each containing three individual points.
This outline provides comprehensive coverage and can be shortened for a shorter essay or expanded for a longer one. If you dislike or wish to modify something, you can do it manually or by giving additional instructions to ChatGPT.
As previously stated, utilizing Bing Chat for creating an outline will not only integrate internet access but also incorporate relevant links and sources, effectively accelerating the process of writing your essay.
3. Use ChatGPT to find sources
Once you have a clear idea of what you want to write, the next step is to locate reliable sources for gathering your information. If you need help determining where to begin, you can consult ChatGPT for assistance.
Request it to locate sources related to your essay subject. To illustrate, I presented it with the following inquiry:
Can you assist me in locating resources for a research paper entitled “Analyzing Winston Churchill’s Leadership Style using Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Leadership Grid”?
The chatbot provides a list of seven sources, each accompanied by a bullet point description detailing the nature of the source and its potential usefulness.
When utilizing ChatGPT for obtaining information, it is essential to note that it lacks access to data beyond 2021. As a result, it cannot provide the most recent sources. You can opt for Bing Chat as an alternative if you require current information.
4. Use ChatGPT to write a sample essay
Please be aware that if you copy and submit the text as provided by the chatbot, it may be seen as plagiarism since it is not your creation. Just like when using information from any other source, it is essential to acknowledge and give credit to the AI-generated text in your work.
In the majority of academic institutions, the consequences of plagiarism are harsh, varying from receiving a failing mark to being expelled from the institution.
To have ChatGPT generate a sample text, provide the topic and desired length, and observe its output. As an illustration, I offered the subsequent text:
Can you compose a five-page essay that analyzes Winston Churchill’s leadership style using Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Leadership Grid as a framework?
In mere moments, the chatbot provided precisely what I needed: a well-structured essay comprising five paragraphs, which I could use as a reference to assist my writing process.
It is worth recalling how tools like ChatGPT operate: they combine words in a manner that they deem statistically sound, yet they need to gain awareness of the integrity or precision of their statements.
Consequently, the information you receive may contain made-up facts, random details, or other peculiarities. The tool cannot generate original content; it only gathers and combines what it has learned. While the output could be a helpful starting point for your work, it should not be relied upon for inspiration or accuracy.
5. Use ChatGPT to co-edit your essay
After completing your essay, you can use ChatGPT’s advanced writing abilities to revise it. Instruct the chatbot on the specific changes you want it to make. For instance, I requested ChatGPT to improve the structure and grammar of our five-paragraph essay, although it can also enhance flow, tone, and other aspects.
When you request the tool to revise your essay, it will ask you to copy and paste your text into the chatbot. The paper will be returned to you with corrections by ChatGPT. This function is especially beneficial because ChatGPT goes beyond spell-checking and thoroughly editing your essay.
In addition, you have the option to collaborate with the chatbot to review a particular paragraph or sentence. You can request it to rephrase or edit the text to enhance clarity. I find this function to be highly beneficial.
