Brainstorming with AI on a Research Topic and Claim
Overview
Students make a broad claim about their research topic and use at least two AI tools to identify counterarguments to their assertion and potential gaps in their understanding of the topic.
Why Use This?
This activity encourages students to think critically about their topic from the outset by examining various viewpoints and avenues they might follow in more detail. Using AI tools for brainstorming allows students to answer a series of targeted questions about their claim, providing deeper insight into their topic during this part of the drafting phase and helping refine their research moving forward. This activity also helps students critically engage with different AI tools and evaluate how responses might differ across them.
How Does It Work?
Students begin by identifying a general research topic and crafting a broad claim. For example, a student researching mental health in college-aged students might claim, “I believe that mental health among college-aged students is improving due to increased awareness and education on the topic.” Once they have their claim, they put it into two different AI tools and ask initial questions such as, “Who might agree with this claim and who might not? Why?”
After receiving the AI’s output, students continue the conversation by asking follow-up questions to explore the topic more deeply, building on the AI’s responses to uncover additional perspectives or nuances. Once the brainstorming session is complete, students submit the AI chat transcripts along with a short reflection on what they learned from the activity and how it influenced their understanding of the topic.
Here is the example purpose statement and instructions for the activity:
Purpose
In this assignment, you will do some additional brainstorming on your research topic and proposed thesis using AI. Before you start researching and writing your paper, it is essential that you consider your topic from as many angles as possible. This includes thinking about possible counterarguments or other factors you haven’t considered yet. Use AI to help you brainstorm and go a little deeper into your topic.
Important: Remember that AI tools are not appropriate for the scholarly research you will conduct when writing your paper. Think of using these tools as having a conversation with a friend in a coffee shop. When you’re talking with someone, things might come up that haven’t occurred to you before and that you might want to investigate further.
Instructions
You have an idea of what you want to research and you’ve started crafting a possible argument that you will support using scholarly research moving forward. However, these ideas aren’t fully formed, and you need to do some additional brainstorming. In this activity, you’ll use AI to examine your topic further.
Craft a claim about your topic. This should be 1-2 sentences.
Select an AI tool such as ChatGPT, Claude, or a similar tool you would like to try. Paste your claim into the chatbox, then start asking questions. Here are some to get you started:
Who might agree with this claim and who might not? Why?
What are some current trends or forward-looking implications I’m not considering on this matter?
What are the implications of my topic on the general public?
Keep In Mind
- Set a time limit for the AI brainstorming session, such as 30 minutes.
- Let students know upfront that they will need to submit their chat transcripts as part of the assignment.
- Encourage students to use the same prompts with multiple AI tools. This allows them to see how responses can vary significantly, which will enhance their critical thinking skills and their understanding of the tools’ limitations.