How To Automate Your Literature Review ETHICALLY Using ChatGPT (Prof. David Stuckler)

Summary

In this video, Professor Davis Suckler demonstrates an ethical method to automate literature reviews using AI, specifically Chat GPT. He guides viewers through defining research questions, developing outlines, and conducting literature searches, emphasizing the importance of original research and avoiding plagiarism. The video also covers the use of free tools like Zotero and Google Scholar, and introduces a 'PIER' writing system for structuring academic paragraphs. Lastly, he showcases how Chat GPT can assist in editing for clarity and conciseness, while advocating for the responsible use of AI to enhance, not replace, human research capabilities.

Takeaways

• 📚 Use AI like Chat GPT to automate literature reviews ethically without plagiarizing.
• 🔍 Start with a clear research question and define boundaries to avoid getting lost in research.
• 💡 Chat GPT can help formulate potential research questions and refine them to a specific topic.
• 📝 Invert the traditional order of literature review writing by creating an outline first, then developing a search strategy.
• 📈 Use Chat GPT to generate an initial outline with potential themes for the literature review.
• ✂️ Refine the outline based on the specific requirements of your project or paper length.
• 🔎 Conduct targeted searches on Google Scholar using themes from the outline to find relevant literature.
• 📚 Use Zotero for managing references and creating a dedicated library for your project.
• 📝 Apply the STRIP method to extract key points from articles and place them into the correct sections of your outline.
• 📝 Use the PIER writing system (Point, Evidence, Explanation, Repeating sentence) to structure your paragraphs effectively.
• ✏️ Edit your work using Chat GPT to refine the language and style, ensuring it's academic and succinct.

Q & A

What is the main purpose of the video?

The main purpose of the video is to demonstrate how to automate a literature review using AI in an ethical way, without plagiarizing, and in accordance with university and publishing rules.

Why might students feel hesitant about using AI tools for academic work?

Students might feel hesitant about using AI tools because they may perceive it as cheating or fear that it could lead to academic misconduct, such as plagiarism.

What is the first step in writing a literature review according to the video?

The first step is defining a clear research question and setting boundaries to avoid getting lost in the vast amount of literature.

How can Chat GPT assist in refining a research question?

Chat GPT can list out potential research questions based on a given topic, helping to connect the topic to an outcome and define the population for the study.

What is the significance of developing an outline before conducting a literature search?

Developing an outline helps to create a structure for the literature review, which can then guide the search for relevant literature and ensure a focused approach.

Why is it recommended to use Google Scholar for literature searches?

Google Scholar is recommended because it is a free and comprehensive resource that is accessible to everyone, aligning with the video's commitment to open access and reducing barriers for high-quality research.

What is the STRIP method mentioned in the video for conducting literature searches?

The STRIP method is a technique developed to help identify key components from articles during literature searches, which can then be organized and used to avoid plagiarism.

What is Zotero and why is it important for managing literature?

Zotero is a free reference management tool that helps researchers save, organize, and cite their sources, which is crucial for avoiding plagiarism and managing literature effectively.

What is the 'PIE' system mentioned in the video for writing paragraphs?

The 'PIE' system stands for Point, Evidence, and Explanation. It is a method to structure academic paragraphs, ensuring each paragraph makes one main point supported by evidence and explanation.

How can Chat GPT assist in editing a literature review?

Chat GPT can help edit a literature review by refining the language, improving the academic tone, and ensuring clear and succinct writing, thus saving time, especially for non-native English speakers.

What is the final secret tip mentioned in the video for transforming writing?

The final secret tip is to use the 'PIE' system in conjunction with Chat GPT's editing capabilities to transform writing, making it more effective and efficient.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Ethical Automation of Literature Review with AI

The speaker, Professor Davis Suckler, introduces the concept of automating literature reviews using AI like Chat GPT, emphasizing the importance of doing so ethically to avoid plagiarism and comply with academic standards. He assures that the process will be guided in a way that supports students and researchers in their journey, from beginners to professionals, and shares his wish for such tools during his early career. The video promises a secret tip for writing that will transform the literature review process.

05:01

🔍 Inverting the Traditional Literature Review Process

The video script outlines an unconventional approach to writing a literature review by inverting the usual order of steps. Instead of starting with a search strategy, the process begins with defining a clear research question and using AI to generate a structured outline. This outline serves as a guide for focused literature searches on Google Scholar, using the STRIP method to avoid plagiarism and effectively incorporate relevant literature into the review.

10:02

📝 Writing and Editing with AI Assistance

The script details the use of AI in the writing and editing stages of a literature review. It introduces the PIER system (Point, Evidence, Explanation, Repeating sentence) for structuring paragraphs effectively. The speaker demonstrates how to use Chat GPT to edit and refine the drafted paragraphs, ensuring they are academically toned and succinct. The video also addresses the importance of using simple language and letting data speak for itself, while also cautioning against 'Purple Prose' or overly complicated language.

15:03

🚀 Overcoming Literature Review Hurdles with AI

In the final paragraph, the speaker shares a success story of a student who, after struggling to complete a literature review, was able to do so efficiently with the help of Chat GPT. The video concludes with an encouragement to embrace AI as a tool for enhancing research capabilities rather than perceiving it as a threat. The speaker invites viewers to join a community of practice on Facebook for further support and collaboration in research endeavors.

Keywords

💡Automate

To automate refers to the process of making a system or process operate automatically, without the need for human intervention. In the context of the video, the term is used to describe how one can use AI tools like chat GPT to streamline the process of conducting a literature review, making it more efficient and less labor-intensive.

💡Ethical

Ethical pertains to moral principles that guide actions to be in accordance with standards of right and wrong. The video emphasizes the importance of using AI tools in an ethical manner, specifically avoiding plagiarism and adhering to academic integrity, which is crucial in research and publication processes.

💡Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of using someone else's work or ideas without proper attribution and presenting them as one's own, which is considered a serious academic offense. The video discusses how to avoid plagiarism when using AI to assist with literature review writing by ensuring proper citation of sources.

💡Research Question

A research question is a specific, focused inquiry that a research project aims to answer. It is central to defining the scope of a literature review. The video provides guidance on how to refine a broad topic into a clear research question, such as 'how effective are School Improvement plans in enhancing student academic performance in underperforming schools'.

💡Search Strategy

A search strategy in the context of literature review refers to the systematic approach used to locate and retrieve relevant literature on a specific research question. The video suggests using AI to develop an outline first, which can then inform a targeted search strategy on platforms like Google Scholar.

💡Outline

An outline is a structural plan that organizes the main points of a piece of writing in a hierarchical order. The video demonstrates the use of AI to create an initial outline for a literature review, which includes sections such as introduction, effectiveness of School Improvement plans, challenges, and limitations.

💡Zotero

Zotero is a free, open-source reference management software that helps in collecting, organizing, citing, and sharing research sources. The video mentions Zotero as a fundamental tool for managing the literature found during the research process, emphasizing its importance in avoiding plagiarism.

💡Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes scholarly literature across many publishing formats and disciplines. The video recommends using Google Scholar for conducting targeted searches on the themes identified in the literature review outline to find relevant academic articles.

💡STRIP Method

STRIP is a method mentioned in the video for conducting a forensic search of articles and extracting key information without plagiarizing. The acronym stands for Search, Take Relevant Information, Put in the right place, and it is used to organize and integrate findings into the literature review.

💡PIEr System

PIEr is a writing framework introduced in the video for structuring academic paragraphs effectively. It stands for Point, Illustrate, Explain, and Repeat, guiding the writer to make a clear point, provide evidence or examples, explain the significance, and then link back to the overarching argument.

💡Academic Tone

An academic tone is a formal, objective, and impersonal style of writing commonly used in scholarly work. The video discusses using AI to edit a literature review paragraph into an academic tone, which involves clear and succinct language that is appropriate for scholarly publication.

Highlights

Automating literature review using AI while maintaining ethical standards to avoid plagiarism.

Importance of learning the correct methodology to effectively use AI tools in research.

Transforming a broad topic into a specific research question to define clear boundaries for the literature review.

Utilizing Chat GPT to generate potential research questions and refine them.

Inverting the traditional order of literature review writing by creating an outline first, then developing a search strategy.

Chat GPT's role in creating a structured outline for a literature review with potential themes.

Customizing the outline based on the requirements of the project, such as word count or academic level.

The necessity of a search strategy and using Google Scholar for targeted searches on outline themes.

Integrating the STRIP method to avoid plagiarism by forensically searching and citing sources.

The critical role of Zotero in managing references and avoiding plagiarism during the literature review process.

The saturation point in literature searching where no new information is found, indicating comprehensive coverage.

Chat GPT's utility in editing and refining academic writing for clarity and succinctness.

The PER system (Point, Evidence, Repeating sentence) for structuring paragraphs effectively in academic writing.

Editing with Chat GPT to enhance the academic tone and writing style of the literature review.

The transformative effect of overcoming the literature review hurdle on the progression of academic work.

Embracing AI as a tool for coexistence and competitive advantage in research and academia.

The importance of community and collective practice in advancing research and supporting peers.

Transcripts

hey professor Davis suckler today I'm

going to show you how you can automate

your literature review using chat GPT

but unlike other videos you may have

seen I'm going to show you how to do

this in a completely ethical way and I

say this as a professor because I want

to make sure that you feel confident you

know sometimes with these tools it can

feel like cheating and because in many

cases you are but I'm going to show you

how to do this without plagiarizing and

without uh running a foul of any of the

rules of your University or of

publishing wherever you are in your

journey as a student all the way through

to being a researcher or Professor like

myself now I'm also going to show you

kind of the right way to do things and

how you can supercharge them with AI I

think it's really important that you

learn the right way to do things going

forward so that you can then augment

with these new tools that are available

that frankly I wish I would have had

when when I started where you are uh

Flash Forward now I've post 400 articles

and peer rreview journals I could have

done this a lot faster using the tips

here finally of course is YouTube if you

stick around I'm going to show you a

secret tip for your writing that's going

to transform the way you think and help

you feel really good about your

literature review and know what you need

to do doing the first past yourself so

let's dive straight in we're going to

cover the four stages of writing a

literature review starting with defining

your research question now you need to

at least have a topic in mind I've got

an example here from a student I've been

working with who asked hey you know

Chris what's your research question uh I

don't know I'm interested in school impr

Improvement plans exactly so many of you

might be in that very same place you

need to turn this into a clear question

and Define boundaries so that you don't

get lost to say take a topic like I

don't know uh feminism I want to

understand feminism well you're going to

run in circles and get lost feel

frustrated and confused you need to

connect that to an outcome to study a

relationship like the impact of feminism

on income inequality that's going to put

boundaries and parameters so that you

limit the space of your search so you

don't get get lost and many of you just

want to get this done in in a pragmatic

and reasonable amount of time so okay so

School Improvement plans and you can see

even if you just start without that

outcome chat gbt is going to help you so

it's going to list out help me find a

research question it's going to list out

a series of potential questions um such

as this one how effective are School

Improvement plans and enhancing student

academic performance in underperforming

schools that's great it's immediately uh

really connected the outcome and defined

also here the population uh under

performing schools kind of your your

tools that you have available in

refining your research question you can

Define the population here US

underperforming schools as a population

outcomes here's student academic

performance um what you're looking at

sometimes the intervention or exposure

here at school Improvement uh I really

like this question and ultimately

working with a student that's what we

went with but you can see there's also a

many of other questions that you can

look at and some of these you might want

to integrate into your review anyway so

keep them in mind when you've got this

and you've defined your research

question normally now you would move to

the second stage which is developing a

search strategy to go find literature on

This research question except with this

new breed of tools we can short circuit

that process and we're actually going to

go to step three and invert the order

and then come back to step two so step

three is we're going to develop an

outline and a structure and instead of

conventionally getting material and

developing structure we're going to use

support of the power uh of chat gbt to

go create a structure and outline Force

we might refine this later but it's

going to be a first start and help focus

our search so let me show you how to do

that okay so scroll down and let's say

hey chat GPT let's go with the first one

can you write an outline for a

literature review with a structure and

potential themes ever willing to help

certainly uh it comes up with a

structured outline it's really important

that you put structure and potential

themes in your outline so uh it gives

you working title an introduction it's

going to set up you need a little place

to put your methods if if you don't have

a method that's really the search

strategy I said in the Second Step we're

going to talk about that in a second um

and it gives you a series of outlines

section one an overview maybe historical

context section two really getting into

the meat of the article the

effectiveness of these School

Improvement plans uh with subsections

there section three challenges and

limitations this is great this is going

to save you a ton of time you can adjust

this outline say hey chat gbt calibrate

this I need this to be around just thw

essay if you're doing it for a school

project if you're doing this as a paper

you want for a peer-reviewed article

maybe you want to save towards a

3,000-word structure you might want to

eliminate some sections you may even

find as you go through and I'm going to

show you an example in a second that

you're going to tweak some of these

bullet components of the outline um so

remember this is not cheating right CET

GPT hasn't done the work for you this is

essentially like you've had a

conversation with me or another

professor to give you a framework tools

and methods from within which you can

roll up your sleeves now and do the work

so how are you going to do that like I

said next step you need a search

strategy and the starting point that I

recommend especially if you're doing

this for the first time is to head over

to Google Scholar and we're going to do

targeted forensic searches on each of

these outline themes so what we need to

do is we're going to copy and paste this

outline we're going to bring it over to

word and then we're going to move to

Google Scholar start searching and use

our strip method a method we've

developed to really help you in your

literature review but while still

avoiding plagiarism let me show you how

so back here to chat GPT and we're just

going to copy all of this and uh drop it

let's pull up a Word document here we go

we've got we got our structure here in

our Word document and now what I'm going

to do is go straight over to Google

Scholar so let me open up a new window

Google Scholar and let's pop in school

Improvement plan sip Effectiveness in

the US and what you can see we're going

to pull up a bunch of different articles

I found one here that's worth noting and

what we're going to do is we're going to

click on this article and the next thing

you need to do you need to start saving

these articles so if you don't already

have it you need zoto and you'll see a

little connector if you set this up

correctly save to zoto so click on save

to zoto it's going to ask you which

Library well hang on wait a second I

need to create a library create a

dedicated library for your project so

come in here create a new collection so

by if you're not using zotero but you're

using cat GPT you really need to have a

conversation with yourself you're using

Advanced tools but not using the basic

one

it's like don't even have a cell phone

and you're trying to make a phone call

and and you're still using landlines

this is fundamental you need zoto okay I

digress so um back here zoto uh is free

I I'm 100% committed to these free

platforms committed to open access uh

because I I really want to reduce the

barriers so that everybody in the world

wherever you are can do high quality

research so here we go create let's just

call this sip okay and zot is going to

save it the item right here click on my

library I'm going to pick the library I

want it in sip bam done it's going to

come back to zotar I've got it here

later on when you get the PDF you can

upload it there we've got a full video

on getting started with so tarot you

need this okay so now that we've got

this here we're going to avoid the risk

of plagiarizing because we're going to

site everything I'm not going to go

through the full article but I'm going

to show you how to use our strip method

so I can already see here several

components of this abstract that are

relevant I'm just going to pluck these

bits out and we're going to move this

into our working document here in word

and you want to make sure you get the

reference here so you avoid any risk of

plagiarism um so going do this

automatically but I'm just going to pop

this in here for now so I've got it here

and if you look in this abstract you're

going to do this with a key you're going

to forensically go through your article

and pull out key bits but I can see

different points that fit in different

sections so this one here zooming in

says that the empirical evidence based

on school Improvement plans is limited

great that's not just me saying that

that's somebody who in 2023 said hey on

This research question there's limited

limited evidence so what's that going to

do that's going to help Focus the

purpose of the review to say that

there's a gap and I'm just going to put

this here and drop this and say this is

Mariano at all 2023 and U we're going to

rewrite this later we're going to

rewrite everything later we're just

dropping the evidence in the right place

in the outline um same thing here I can

see here ah there's even less on the

intersection of school equity and

planning oh that's really interesting

and tells me hang on wait a second maybe

that's a really important part of the

these studies on academic outcomes it's

going to be a subsection of academic

outcomes maybe I'm going to look at the

equity side of it maybe it's going to

get its own bullet point but for now

this Equity Point here is really

important and I'm going to drop this

Mariano study here to just say hey even

less literature focuses on this point

about Equity um which is really

important the median student might not

reflect underprivileged students for

example um so we'll come back to that so

you're going to repeat this process on

each of these bullet points until you

hit saturation that is when you go into

Google Scholar you search for more

articles and you're not getting anything

new you've captured it all there's

nothing left to say and that sat

satation often will hit when you've hit

maybe 5 to 10 articles for each of these

bullet points that's often enough but

it's going to depend on how mature your

field is so again this is not unethical

because you are doing the research and

heavy lifting yourself but CAD GPT has

lowered the barrier made it a lot faster

enhanced your power as a human uh to

hone in on the value unique value added

that that you're able to contribute so

that is step three one other thing I

just want to flag for you I am committed

to free tools there are other tools

within which apart from Google schol

that you can search for example one of

these tools is called site which will

search the literature for you and this

can be quite helpful but it is a paid

for tool for the vast majority of you

Google Scholar is more than good enough

and that's my official recommendation um

there is a place for these tools but

again in the spirit of Open Access like

zoto and Google Scholar I want to really

promote on this channel free publicly

available resources that anybody can do

this anywhere in the world no matter

what resource you have available to you

so you've gone through you've harvested

your literature you've popped it into

your reference manager you're ready to

go to start writing the fourth critical

step where chat GPT is going to help you

is on editing and it's going to save you

a ton of time but you do need to know

our secret formula for writing well it's

going to make chat GPT more effective

and it's going to help you really flesh

out this outline fast we use a pier

system that we've developed and adapted

and Pier is kind of like a hamburger uh

where each of the elements appear p e r

are kind of like the bun the meat and

the other bun of the hamburger p is the

point it's a topic sentence it's the

main point each paragraph should make

one point following our one point Rule

and that's usually the first sentence of

your paragraph then you have the ease

which is kind of like the meat the

cheese and these are evidence example

explanation and finally the last

component is the bun is the repeating

sentence while I'm going to talk about

Theory I'm going to show you not just

tell you how to do this and in fact it's

one of my pet peeves personally that

professors kind of treat students like a

banking system I'm open your mouths I'm

going toit information keep it and

regurgitate it uh I I I try to of level

the playing field and think of us as

intellectually curious equals working

together to advance the collective body

of knowledge research to make an impact

like so many of you who follow this

channel really want to do with your work

let me show you coming back to our

outline how you're going to do that so

let's take this uh Mariana point about

equity and how could we flush this out

so uh my sense I'm going to make

something up here okay don't make things

up but uh something that's probably the

case based on what they said and how you

can flush this out so if we're going to

make this into a full-blown paragraph I

would probably start something like this

despite I know a wealth of evidence on

the impact of sips on academic

performance much less scholarship exists

on its uh Effectiveness for

underprivileged or resource deprived

students right that is the point of the

paragraph that I'm going to make the

second I'm going to maybe cook this a

little bit more using cooking anology I

really don't want to drop in raw food I

want to kind of develop this a bit more

I'm going to explain it I'm going to say

it is I'm fleshing out this idea it is

highly likely that um the uh effect of

Si P for median or average students um

is different than that on uh uh lower

income or ethnic minority groups you

know and then here I'm going to deploy

kind of like dropping in a little nugget

of evidence I'm deploying ammunition

notice one thing I'm going to do here

I'm not writing the paragraph to say

Marano and colleagues in 2023 XXX it's

quite a boring way to write you'll

sometimes see people who are novices Mar

colleagues did this Luigi did this I'm

going with Italians because my

colleagues are all Italians so Mario did

this right no you don't want to do that

make your point and then drop your

evidence like to back that point up so

we're going to do this here and say okay

one study by Mar or and it was actually

a Content analys One content analys by

Mariano and colleagues well side it 2023

um reviewed sips in uh tier one US

schools some things up you need to go

through and get this evidence into the

outline um um and found that less than

2% performed an evaluation of

Effectiveness and of those none included

an evaluation of uh Equitable effects

clearly uh more research is needed to

understand how sips impact on vulnerable

groups Okay so something like this right

so you've got your first draft and

you're going to do this use our Pier

system here right like what what we've

got the point here the uh explanation

and the evidence and the repeating or

linking sentence with spelling errors um

here and then what we're going to do is

chat GPT you can now take this whole

section in editing and this is where

you're going to tap the power in an

ethical way of chat GPT because you've

done the first dra yourself using our

Pier system using the outline um and

drop this back into chat GPT we're going

to ask chat GPD to edit this for us so

I'm going say here um please edit this

paragraph um that is in the literature

review above in an academic tone

featuring clear and succinct writing

style okay and we're just going to drop

this in um you do need to Prime GP chat

GPT to let it know what you want it to

do and if we come down here we're we're

going to see this is a little bit a

little bit wordy but I I I like it

there's uh despite this extensive

research so some of this is just

wordsmithing of it that's okay I would

be careful sometimes it says startlingly

low rate I'm a little bit British in my

writing I like to let the data speak for

themselves and not try to embellish or

add accents so some of this is what

we'll turn into a little bit of what I

call Purple Pros just using more

complicated language than is needed use

Simple language when possible I always

encourage my students to try to explain

things so that their grandmother can

understand things like alarming

this tone just isn't right and this is

where CH gpg goes a little bit off but

you'll see it it did really little

change to the structure um and this can

help you save time especially if English

is not your first language I recommend

tools like grammarly but chat GPT here

is going to save you a bunch of time

editing so that's it guys my student who

had failed to do his literature review

three times before tapped the power of

chat GPT and got this review and school

Improvement plans done in under a week

and in the right way that he could feel

proud of and all I feel proud of that he

using cat gbt learned faster mastered

the basics and now is gone from chapter

2 which was literature review and

already breezing through chapters 3 four

and five it's almost like getting past

this first Hurd of literature review

unlocks the floodgates for everything

that comes next it's so often the

sticking point that I see for so many

students who just get frustrated don't

know what to do and throw in the towel

and give up don't let that happen to you

that's exactly what this channel is

about I do believe the future is going

to be that AI will surpass our abilities

as humans and we need to learn to

coexist and not feel threatened by it

but use chat gpg in the right way and

we're going to continue to deliver

content like this on this channel for

you because if you're not using it you

are at a competitive disadvantage

compared to your peers uh so uh again

stay tuned for more comment like this

you've requested it from me I'm

delivering it to you by the way uh do

join my Facebook group if you like this

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Advance our own research and kind of

lift the tide for all boats uh do hope

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going to look forward to seeing you in

the next video