AI & Academic Research

Welcome to your guide for using AI in academic research. Whether you're a student or faculty member at Sacred Heart, this resource provides practical guidance on using AI-powered research tools (both those available through the library and external options) along with recommendations on best practices.

Using generative AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, etc. to find academic sources can be an ineffective strategy due to several key limitations:

1.) Hallucinations

• AI chatbots will frequently provide incorrect information in their responses. This phenomenon is called a "hallucination."

• In academic research, hallucinations most commonly appear as citations to academic articles that don't exist.

• These fake citations can seem convincing because they often include:

  • Real authors' names

  • Actual journal titles

  • Plausible-sounding article titles

• Hallucinations are not a temporary bug that will eventually be fixed. Recent research from OpenAI (the organization behind ChatGPT) has found that hallucinations are an inevitable feature of current chatbot training methods.

2.) Information Quality

• Even when chatbots cite real articles, their relevance and quality aren't guaranteed. Just because an AI tool provides an answer does not mean it will be good or relevant. Critical evaluation is still necessary. 

• AI chatbots often operate with significant unknowns:

  • What sources are included in their training data?

  • How current is their information? (Most have knowledge cutoffs)

  • What criteria determine which sources they prioritize?

  • Are they accessing paywalled databases or only free web content?

3.) Limited Search Control 

• Unlike library databases, you cannot easily filter or refine chatbot results using:

  • Date ranges

  • Peer-review status

  • Subject headings

  • Other standardized search filters

• Also, chatbot responses are not reproducible. The same prompt, even if copied and pasted word-for-word, will generate similar but not identical results each time. This makes it difficult to revisit earlier search results.

While not very effective for finding academic resources, AI chatbots can be helpful with preliminary research tasks, including:

• Brainstorming ideas, research topics, or keywords

• Getting quick overviews of unfamiliar concepts, theories, or terminology

• Summarizing complex articles that you've already found and verified through library databases

While actively doing research, use the AI tools embedded within library databases. These specialized tools:

• Are designed for specific research functions

• Have a narrower focus that reduces hallucination risk

• Provide more accurate, reliable results

The Sacred Heart Library provides access to several AI-powered research tools, covered in detail on the AI Tools in the Library page of this guide.

Always check your instructor's AI policy before using any AI tools in your coursework. When in doubt, be sure to ask!