Q. How can I use generative AI for brainstorming topics and keywords?

Before using a generative AI tool in your assignment, be sure that your instructor has given you permission to do so. See the infographic linked below to make sure you understand KPU's policy for students using ChatGPT and similar tools in their academic work.

Sometimes it is difficult to start from a broad topic and figure out how to narrow it to a searchable research question. Gen AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini can be useful for exploring a research topic.

Note that you are using the genAI as a research tool to help generate some ideas and approaches for developing a question. You are NOT getting it to do your research!

The tools can be helpful in a few ways:

• narrow from a broad topic to a searchable question
• suggest keywords and search strings
• offer suggestions for narrowing the scope of the question

(You may need to create an account with the above tools if you don't already have one. You should be able to do all of the following with just a free account!)

1. Try a prompt that includes the topic you are wanting to explore, and your role as a student. Ask the chatbot for a list of research ideas related to the topic.

Example:  I'm an undergraduate student interested in exploring the topic of food security and climate change for a research paper. List several topics related to these ideas.

2. From the list generated, identify a broad topic, or if you don't like any it has suggested, ask for more. Then, ask the chatbot to create some sub-topics for you to consider. At this point, it may also ask you for a field of study or discipline perspective. Include that in your prompt. 

Example: I am interested in approaching this from a sociological perspective.

3. Through further iterations, the tool will suggest specific research questions and appropriate theories. If it doesn't ask you for a theoretical framework, add this to your prompting. You can also ask it for suggestions on how to narrow the scope further.

Example:  I'm interested in the question: What factors enable or prevent community-based food systems (farmers markets, community gardens, food cooperatives) from serving as climate resilience strategies? Suggest some ways to narrow the scope even more. I want to use social capital theory.

4. Once you have identified a potential searchable question, you can ask the chatbot to generate a list of keywords or to recommend a library database to begin your searching. 

Example: This is my question: What factors enable or prevent community-based food systems such as food cooperatives from serving as climate resilience strategies? Now generate a list of keywords I could use in a search strategy. Suggest any library databases that would be useful.

Keep in mind that the tool will not know which databases you have access to through KPU library. Use the library's  A-Z Database list to locate any that the chatbot recommends. 

Even better, find your library subject guide and the databases recommended by your subject librarian.