And if you’ve found something you want to read but it’s behind a paywall a lot of academics will send you it in pdf for free if you just drop them an email!!
Loved this post, but not the line about using AI. Not all types of AI is bad of course, but for the love of god please do not use Large Language Models in your research--especially not for sources, quotes or the like. LLMs are *not* search engines. They produce amalgamations of what they scrape (unethically, more often than not) off the internet and it's training materials, specifically to answer your prompt or question. It does not know what it is saying; it is not smart, it is not aware, it is not necessarily better than google at finding you stuff. There have been many accounts of LLMs such as ChatGPT making up sources that don't exist, or quotes from real sources where the quote does not exist--i've seen it firsthand at my own university several times, told by lecturers as they lament how their students no longer have the ability to think for themselves or read a book. Critical thinking is one of the cornerstones of academia, and it makes me so sad to see students give up that skill in exchange for what they think is efficient or useful, just because it "saves them a little time" or they can't be bothered to look stuff up properly. Not to mention how bad AI is for the environment regarding its water consumption, which is no secret. AI does not belong in academia, it does not belong in research--unless it is the thing you are researching. It is *not* a search engine. Your local uni librarian or library search engine could do a better job, even google can do better even if it is bombarded by ads. Please do not use AI, if not to save your critical thinking skills, then to help the environment.
I largely agree with what you’re saying, but I’m also speaking from a perspective of accessibility and time. I completed my degree before the rise of AI tools, so all of my research was done through a university library search engine. I’ll admit my undergrad university had a much better one than my postgrad! A university search engine really is the ideal hub, built for digging into those niche keywords. Google even during my degree was absolute rubbish.
But not everyone has been to university or has access to that kind of resource (I’m lucky to still have alumni access, and I rely on it for probably 99% of my research). If you work full time, commute, and juggle other commitments, yet still want to engage in meaningful research and writing, sometimes you have to take whatever steps make that possible. In this case, what I’m doing is more personal study than formal academic work, and I really want to focus on making research feel accessible. And I'm not talking getting something to bullet point an entire essay, just pointing you in the right direction. Getting you started.
My Substack is all about that: sharing knowledge I was privileged to gain at university with people who might not have had that opportunity. I’m always happy to search my uni library for resources to share, and it makes me wonder: could those of us who are lucky enough to have this kind of access come together and create a hub where we can share that support?
In my experience, AI is completely unreliable as a humanistic research tool. It manufactures citations that don’t exist (I’ve had to report multiple students for source fabrication, which is serious academic misconduct). As an art historian, I steer people towards publicly available, but credible sources like smarthistory or the Met Museum’s timeline of art history. There are options beyond google and AI if you do some digging!
What a pleasure to read bcz this exactly how I research! At the expense of sounding like an ultra nerd, my favourite pastime while reading research is going through the footnotes and especially if i find a very fat footnote (so joyous!)
Nice essay Gretchen! Mostly I research places I have never been to so I can describe them as if I had. I also make a lot of stuff up---who's going to challenge my description of the interior of Chinese military headquarters?
But I'm an eclectic reader and sometimes I stumble on things... A couple of years ago I ran across a research article about orgasms stimulating parts of the brain associated with compassion and tolerance. "Orgasms make you a liberal" became the central theme of my fourth novel! 😄😂🤯
And if you’ve found something you want to read but it’s behind a paywall a lot of academics will send you it in pdf for free if you just drop them an email!!
Loved this post, but not the line about using AI. Not all types of AI is bad of course, but for the love of god please do not use Large Language Models in your research--especially not for sources, quotes or the like. LLMs are *not* search engines. They produce amalgamations of what they scrape (unethically, more often than not) off the internet and it's training materials, specifically to answer your prompt or question. It does not know what it is saying; it is not smart, it is not aware, it is not necessarily better than google at finding you stuff. There have been many accounts of LLMs such as ChatGPT making up sources that don't exist, or quotes from real sources where the quote does not exist--i've seen it firsthand at my own university several times, told by lecturers as they lament how their students no longer have the ability to think for themselves or read a book. Critical thinking is one of the cornerstones of academia, and it makes me so sad to see students give up that skill in exchange for what they think is efficient or useful, just because it "saves them a little time" or they can't be bothered to look stuff up properly. Not to mention how bad AI is for the environment regarding its water consumption, which is no secret. AI does not belong in academia, it does not belong in research--unless it is the thing you are researching. It is *not* a search engine. Your local uni librarian or library search engine could do a better job, even google can do better even if it is bombarded by ads. Please do not use AI, if not to save your critical thinking skills, then to help the environment.
I largely agree with what you’re saying, but I’m also speaking from a perspective of accessibility and time. I completed my degree before the rise of AI tools, so all of my research was done through a university library search engine. I’ll admit my undergrad university had a much better one than my postgrad! A university search engine really is the ideal hub, built for digging into those niche keywords. Google even during my degree was absolute rubbish.
But not everyone has been to university or has access to that kind of resource (I’m lucky to still have alumni access, and I rely on it for probably 99% of my research). If you work full time, commute, and juggle other commitments, yet still want to engage in meaningful research and writing, sometimes you have to take whatever steps make that possible. In this case, what I’m doing is more personal study than formal academic work, and I really want to focus on making research feel accessible. And I'm not talking getting something to bullet point an entire essay, just pointing you in the right direction. Getting you started.
My Substack is all about that: sharing knowledge I was privileged to gain at university with people who might not have had that opportunity. I’m always happy to search my uni library for resources to share, and it makes me wonder: could those of us who are lucky enough to have this kind of access come together and create a hub where we can share that support?
In my experience, AI is completely unreliable as a humanistic research tool. It manufactures citations that don’t exist (I’ve had to report multiple students for source fabrication, which is serious academic misconduct). As an art historian, I steer people towards publicly available, but credible sources like smarthistory or the Met Museum’s timeline of art history. There are options beyond google and AI if you do some digging!
What a pleasure to read bcz this exactly how I research! At the expense of sounding like an ultra nerd, my favourite pastime while reading research is going through the footnotes and especially if i find a very fat footnote (so joyous!)
Nice essay Gretchen! Mostly I research places I have never been to so I can describe them as if I had. I also make a lot of stuff up---who's going to challenge my description of the interior of Chinese military headquarters?
But I'm an eclectic reader and sometimes I stumble on things... A couple of years ago I ran across a research article about orgasms stimulating parts of the brain associated with compassion and tolerance. "Orgasms make you a liberal" became the central theme of my fourth novel! 😄😂🤯