If you have not been living under a rock for the past 2-3 years, then you must have known what ChatGPT is. ChatGPT, in simple words, is a computer program that uses Natural language processing to understand human questions and answer them likewise. Nowadays, it has become even more relevant in our daily life whether you want to write something or get some new ideas but a coin always has two different sides. A lot of students who find it difficult to meet deadlines end up using ChatGPT for their assignments, which affects their grades a lot. This not only causes brain rot but also affects your grades.
So, the wait for the big secret is over. Here in this blog, we are going to discuss three ways ChatGPT helps me in my academic writing.
The Origin of ChatGPT
Now we will discuss what we know about ChatGPT till now, its origin, relevance, and how it is shaping the modern world.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is an AI-powered artificial Intelligence model that uses natural language processing to generate human-like text. It was the stepping stone in the era of modern AI tools. It was developed by OpenAI and was launched in 2022. Based on its deep-learning and NLP algorithms, it can generate human-like text.
Evolution of AI in Writing
By January 2023, ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer software application, with over 100 million users worldwide in just 2 months. After this, many other companies like Claude, Gemini, and other language models came into the market, but they are not as popular as ChatGPT. That’s why ChatGPT is among the most visited sites in the world. After its launch, people started using it for their daily life tasks, and due to its large language model (LLM), it was efficiently doing so. But later, people started using ChatGPT for other complex tasks like writing and coding.
So, Why was ChatGPT developed?
As we progress toward the future, the need for automation is ever-growing, and generative AI tools play a huge part in it. ChatGPT was developed on the GPT foundation models that were fine-tuned to use a conversational tone. Now, using ChatGPT, you can finish tasks that previously took hours to complete in a matter of seconds. These Chatbots are highly advanced generative AI models, and they can process tons of data in seconds.
For Example:
In the past, if you have to calculate the annual profit of your company. You have to go through all the sheets, adding formulas and calculating individually, but now you have to add that particular Excel sheet to your chatbot and ask it to calculate the profit for you. It will just take a minute to process all the information and give you the result.
The Need for ChatGPT in Academic Writing
The Evolution of ChatGPT into writing wasn’t abrupt. It was the conversational tone of the bot that made it favorable to use it as a writing tool.
Challenges in Academic Writing:
Academic writing is a formal style of writing commonly used in universities and scholarly publications. Keeping a formal tone while you are writing something requires a lot of skill, and universities have become competitive, too. Now, for a university student, things have become quite harder than they used to be before. Piles of assignments with tight deadlines, and all of them are important for your grades. Easy ones are fine, but some subjects are also complex, and if you don’t have the basic knowledge of them, then it can become a lot harder to write something with a clear and concise structure.
To add a cherry to the top, if you have to write a research paper, then adding references is a literal mess, and by chance, if you add a reference. If it does not have the right format or if any punctuation is missing, especially in Harvard Referencing Style, then it will count as plagiarism, and it will end up costing you grades.
If by chance you check all these boxes without any error, then managing time with daily life is hard. That’s why these AI bots like ChatGPT made their place and can make the whole process a lot easier.
How does ChatGPT Solve these Challenges?
ChatGPT was a model trained with human examples. Time Magazine revealed that OpenAI used workers from an outsourced company, Kenyan, earning less than 2$ per hour, to label harmful content. These labels were then used to train AI models for detecting harmful content. Like this, AI models were trained using human examples so they are more efficient and human in their response.
With ChatGPT, if you want to write a paper, you can give ChatGPT the prompt to suggest a concise and clear structure for your assignment. You can also use Free Citation Generators to generate accurate references without any hassle.
You can also use the brainstorm option in ChatGPT to generate New ideas for you and it can also behave as your personal writing assistant. So Writer’s block is no longer a problem because ChatGPT has got that part covered.
Why Do People Use ChatGPT for Academic Writing?
ChatGPT was not introduced as a writing bot, but in recent times, it has become a huge part of our daily lives, and a lot of students use it for academic writing. Here are the three main reasons why people use it for academic writing.
Ease of Access and Support:
It is used for academic writing purposes because it is easy to use. ChatGPT has a huge database, and it can also access to World Wide Web for the latest information. So, it is your tutor that is available for you 24/7 round the clock.
Make your Writing Better:
You can also use ChatGPT to make your writing better. Yes, “Writing Better” not writing the whole article. If you are using ChatGPT to write complete articles, then you are using it wrong all along. You can use ChatGPT to give your paper a final check (Improving Grammar, Punctuation, and readability). You can also keep your tone in check if you are using AI.
Time-Saving Benefits
You can also use AI to write more efficiently. If you want to research a topic and you’re doing it manually, then it can take a day or two if you are writing a research paper, but if you are using AI, then you can do your work more efficiently, saving a lot of time. It can also help you generate drafts to keep the process simple and fast.
Three Ways ChatGPT Helps me in my Academic Writing
Here are three ways ChatGPT helps me in Academic Writing. Let us discuss them one by one:
Assisting in Research and Idea Generation
ChatGPT has evolved itself a lot with the latest web search feature. With this feature, you can do your research using ChatGPT, and it will finalize days of research within seconds. You can also use it to summarize complex research papers and articles into simpler bullet points.
For Example:
Suppose you have to write a research paper, and you are manually researching it. It can take a minimum of 5-6 hours to come up with some points to start writing, but there still won’t be anything substantial to write the whole article. But if you are using AI, your efficiency can be doubled. First, Give ChatGPT a prompt to do the research for you on the topic, then filter out the main points and start writing on them. You can ask it for references if you need any. In the end, add the article you wrote to ChatGPT and ask it to make the readability and Grammar of your text better.
Improving Structure and Readability
Perhaps the most difficult aspects of academic writing are clarity, coherence, and structure, as it tends to be rather rigid. Great ideas and solid research can be difficult to present in an organized manner. This is where ChatGPT can be extremely useful.
You can have ChatGPT structure your writing by providing an outline and breaking complex topics into simpler parts. If you struggle with transitions between paragraphs or arguments, ChatGPT can provide suggestions for improvement.
As an example, if your essay is wordy or does not flow properly, you can simply copy and paste your draft into ChatGPT and ask it to improve sentence structure, remove single phrases that do not add value, and check for logical coherence. It acts as a smart proofreader, making sure your writing is as engaging and straightforward as possible.
Improving Grammar and Style
Apart from the backbone of a piece of academic writing, ideas, grammar and writing style also play an imperative part. A research paper can be extremely useful, but if it is poorly phrased and full of grammatical errors, the professionalism and readability of the work will drop drastically.
ChatGPT can help with improving grammar, punctuation, and sentence construction comprehension. It offers better suggestions than other grammar-checking devices because ChatGPT is context-oriented. You also have the option to choose the specific tone or style that you want, be it formal, persuasive or analytical, so that your paper meets the academic standards.
Furthermore, if English is not your primary language, ChatGPT can aid in refining your paper. It will make sure that you do not fall into common traps and also make sure that your paper sounds professional and natural.
One Additional Benefit that I can’t ignore is:
Creating References and Citations
Citations are, without a doubt a fundamental part when it comes to academic work, however, making sure they are correctly formatted can be boring and daunting. If the citation has even the slightest misplaced period or incorrect punctuation, it can result in unintended plagiarism, which can undoubtedly ruin your academic reputation.
ChatGPT can be of help by providing your sources with citations that are correctly formatted, whether in APA, MLA, Harvard or even Chicago style. You can also give ChatGPT information about the citation, and it will take care of formatting it according to the guidelines.
Moreover, ChatGPT can aid you in structuring your bibliography for accuracy and consistency. Instead of manually verifying all the entries, you can leave it thanks to AI while you dedicate your time to writing good content.
Conclusion:
ChatGPT has impacted academic writing formats by aiding in grammar, structure, readability, citations, and research. This tool can be the perfect assistant in increasing productivity and efficiency, but it should never be relied on without human reasoning and intervention.
The best way to reap the benefits of ChatGPT is to use it as a writing aid instead of seeking wholistic solutions. By using it responsibly, students will be able to independently enhance their writing without violating academic integrity. Regardless of whether you are looking to brainstorm and edit your personal style or mess up proper citations, now with ChatGPT, academic writing has never been made this simple.