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 resources can be an ineffective strategy due to several core issues: 

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, since they often include real author's names, actual journal titles, and plausible-sounding article titles. 
• Hallucinations are not a temporary bug that will eventually be fixed over time. Recent research from OpenAI (the organization behind ChatGPT) has found that hallucinations will occur as an inevitable feature due to how chatbots are currently trained. You can view that study at this link. 

2.) Information Quality 

• Even when chatbots cite real articles, their relevance and quality aren't guaranteed. Critical evaluation is 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.) Refining Searches 

• Unlike in academic databases, you cannot easily filter, sort, or refine chatbot results using standardized search options (like date ranges, peer-review status, or subject headings)
• Also, chatbot responses are not reproducible. The same prompt, even if copy and pasted word-for-word, will generate similar but not identical results each time. This makes it hard to revisit earlier search results. 

While not 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
• Helping summarize complex articles that you've already found and verified through library databases

Overall, generative AI is most reliable when embedded within library databases as specialized research tools. These database-integrated AI features are designed for specific functions, and their narrow focus reduces the risk of hallucinations and improves accuracy.

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. 

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