How to make ChatGPT provide sources and citations

To start out, you want to ask ChatGPT one thing that wants sources or citations. I’ve discovered it is higher to ask a query with an extended reply, so there’s extra “meat” for ChatGPT to chew on. 

Needless to say ChatGPT cannot present any data after January 2022 for GPT-3.5, April 2023 for GPT-4, and October 2023 for GPT-4o, and requests for data pre-internet (say, for a paper on Ronald Reagan’s presidency) can have far fewer out there sources.

This is an instance of a immediate I wrote on a subject that I labored on loads once I was in grad faculty:

Describe the training theories of cognitivism, behaviorism, and constructivism

That is the place a little bit of immediate engineering is available in. A superb start line is with this question:

Please present sources for the earlier reply

I’ve discovered that this immediate typically gives offline sources, books, papers, and so forth. The issue with offline sources is you possibly can’t verify their veracity. Nonetheless, it is a place to begin. A greater question is that this:

Please present URL sources

This immediate particularly tells ChatGPT that you really want clickable hyperlinks to sources. It’s also possible to tweak this immediate by asking for a selected amount of sources, though your mileage would possibly fluctuate when it comes to what number of you get again:

Please present 10 URL sources

Most massive language fashions reply effectively to element and specificity. So when you’re asking for sources, you possibly can push for higher-quality sources. You will have to specify that you just want dependable and correct sources. Whereas this strategy will not essentially work, it could remind the AI chatbot to offer you extra helpful responses. For instance:

Please present me with respected sources to assist my argument on… (regardless of the matter is you are taking a look at)

It’s also possible to inform ChatGPT the sorts of sources you need. In case you’re in search of scholarly articles, peer-reviewed journals, books, or authoritative web sites, point out these preferences explicitly. For instance:

Please advocate peer-reviewed journals that debate… (and right here, repeat what you mentioned earlier in your dialog)

When coping with summary ideas or theories, request that ChatGPT present a conceptual framework and real-world examples. This is an instance:

Are you able to describe the ideas of Vygotsky’s Social Improvement Idea and supply real-world examples the place these ideas have been utilized, together with sources for these examples?

This strategy offers you a theoretical clarification and sensible situations to hint the unique sources or case research.

One other concept is to make use of sources that do not have hyperlink rot (that’s, they’re now not on-line on the URL that ChatGPT would possibly know). Watch out with this concept, although, as a result of ChatGPT would not find out about issues after January 2022 for GPT-3.5, April 2023 for GPT-4, and October 2023 for GPT-4o. So, when you is perhaps tempted to make use of a immediate like this:

Please present me with sources revealed throughout the previous 5 years.

As an alternative, think about using a immediate like this:

Please present sources revealed from 2019 by means of April 2023.

And, as at all times, do not assume that no matter output ChatGPT offers you is correct. It is nonetheless fairly doable the AI will utterly fabricate solutions, even to the purpose of constructing up the names of what seem to be educational journals. It is a typically useful software, however it’s additionally a fibber.

Maintain this golden rule in thoughts about ChatGPT-provided sources: ChatGPT is extra typically mistaken than proper.

Throughout the numerous instances I’ve requested ChatGPT for URL sources, roughly half have been simply plain dangerous hyperlinks. One other 25% or extra of the hyperlinks went to subjects utterly or considerably unrelated to the one I used to be attempting to supply. GPT-4 and GPT-4o are barely extra dependable, however not by a lot.

For instance, I requested for sources on a backgrounder for the phrase “belief however confirm,” usually popularized by US President Ronald Reagan. I received quite a lot of sources again, however most did not exist. I received some again that appropriately took me to lively pages on the Reagan Presidential Library web site, however the web page matter had nothing to do with the phrase.

I had higher luck with my studying concept query from step 1. There, I received again offline texts from folks I knew from my research who had labored on these theories. I additionally received again URLs. As soon as once more, solely about two in 10 labored or have been correct.

Do not despair. The concept is not to anticipate ChatGPT to supply sources that you would be able to instantly use. In case you as an alternative consider ChatGPT as a analysis assistant, it offers you some nice beginning locations. Use the names of the articles (which can be utterly pretend or simply not accessible) and drop them into Google. That course of offers you some fascinating search queries that in all probability result in fascinating materials that may legitimately go into your analysis.

Also, remember the fact that you are not restricted to utilizing ChatGPT. Remember all of the instruments out there to researchers and college students. Do your personal internet searches. Verify with main sources and subject-matter consultants in the event that they’re out there. In case you’re at school, you possibly can even ask your pleasant neighborhood librarian for assist.

Remember that there are numerous glorious conventional sources. For instance, Google Scholar and JSTOR present entry to a variety of academically acceptable assets you possibly can cite with affordable confidence.

One closing level: when you merely minimize and paste ChatGPT sources into your analysis, you are prone to get stung. Use the AI for clues, not as a technique to keep away from the true work of analysis.