Mushtaq Bilal, PhD Profile picture
Apr 2 14 tweets 4 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
Five ChatGPT prompts to help you polish your academic writing:
1. Topic Sentences

Many of us struggle with writing precise topic sentences for paragraphs.

A topic sentence tells the reader what a particular paragraph is about.
Take a paragraph and run it through ChatGPT with the prompt: “Please write a topic sentence for this paragraph.“

Ask ChatGPT to give you three variations of the topic sentence.

Select the one you like. Rewrite it to suit your personal style. Topic sentence suggested by ChatGPT
2. Transition Sentences

Transition sentences make your writing coherent and cohesive.

When a paragraph transitions smoothly to the next, it gives your writing a personality and keeps the reader glued.

But writing good transition sentences is quite challenging.
You can use ChatGPT to help you with it.

Take two paragraphs you want to connect with a transition sentence.

Run them through ChatGPT with the following prompt: “Please write a transition sentence to connect the two paragraphs.“ Transition sentence suggested by ChatGPT
3. Introduction

Writing a good introduction to a journal article or a dissertation is challenging for both experienced and novice academic writers.

You can ask ChatGPT to help you craft a great introduction.
Write a draft of your introduction and run it through ChatGPT with the following prompt. “Please rewrite the following paragraph as an introduction."

Rewrite the paragraph to suit your personal style. A paragraph rewritten by ChatGPT as an introduction
Want to learn more about how you can supercharge your academic writing with AI-powered apps?

I am doing a webinar on 8 April, 5pm GMT.

Registered participants will have access to a video recording afterwards.

Register below:

eventbrite.com/e/become-an-ef…
4. Conclusion

Like an introduction, writing a conclusion that binds your whole article/chapter is also quite tricky.

ChatGPT can help you with it.
Write a paragraph and run it through ChatGPT with the following prompt: “Please rewrite this paragraph as a conclusion."

Ask for three variations.

Select the one you like best and rewrite it to suit your personal style. A paragraph rewritten as a conclusion by ChatGPT
5. Counterargument

Good writing is always nuanced. It incorporates opposing viewpoints and lets the reader be the judge.

But when we work on developing an argument, we get so invested it becomes difficult for us to entertain any counterarguments.
You can ask ChatGPT to give you counterarguments, which you can then add to your work.

Take you argument and run it through ChatGPT with the following prompt, “Please give me a counterargument for this claim.” A counterargument generated by ChatGPT
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More from @MushtaqBilalPhD

Apr 3
Two AI-powered apps that will make your literature review easier and faster — Consensus and Lateral.

Here's how to use them:
Go to consensus(dot)app and type in your question.

Consensus will give you a summary of top 5-10 papers relevant to your question.
It will also give you the consensus of the scientific community about your question.

Example: I asked Consensus "Does immigration improve economy?"

75% of the papers it analyzed argued that immigration improved economy. A summary of top 5-10 paper...
Read 13 tweets
Mar 31
Everyone knows about Google Scholar, but very few know there are 90 other academic databases.

SearchSmart is an app that helps you choose the best database for your research. (It's free and was recently featured Nature.)

Here's how to use it:
Go to searchsmart(dot)org.

Simply select your field of research and click on "Start comparison."

Search Smart will give you a list of databases relevant to your field. The most relevant would be ranked at the top.
You can look up databases that provide the most coverage of a particular topic e.g. Covid-19.

To do so:

• Select "Keywords"
• Click "Edit keywords"
• Select "covid-19"
• Click "Select keywords"
• Click "Start comparison"
Read 8 tweets
Mar 30
Mind the Graph is a brilliant app for creating scientific illustrations.

Think of it as Canva for science teachers and students.

Here's how to use it:
Go to mindthegraph(dot)com and click on the "Start Now" button in the top-right corner.
Choose your field and role and sign up.
Read 12 tweets
Mar 29
Two of my wonderful colleagues have developed two brilliant workflows to make academic writing easier and faster.

I have learned a lot from them, and now you can too.

Details 👇
1. The Effortless Academic's Manual by Ilya Shabanov (@Artifexx)

This is one of the most comprehensive workflows for academic writing.

I can say this because I took one of Ilya's workshops.
Ilya has converted this workflow into a 9-hour online course.

It will teach you a step-by-step to convert your notes into a publishable article.

You can getthe course here: effortlessacademic.carrd.co

Use the code "Mushtaq20" for a 20% discount
Read 6 tweets
Mar 29
ChatPDF is an AI-powered app that will make reading journal articles easier and faster.

Simply upload a PDF and start asking it questions.

It's like ChatGPT, but for research papers.

Here's how to use it:
Go to chatpdf(dot)com, and add a PDF by simply dragging it to the app. A PDF being added to ChatPDF.
ChatPDF will prepare a short summary of the article.

It will also give you examples of how to phrase a question.
Read 9 tweets
Mar 28
Don't ask ChatGPT any medical questions. It generates fake citations to papers that don't even exist. (These are ChatGPT's "hallucinations.")

Instead, use Evidence Hunt.

It's a free AI-powered app that answers your clinical questions with citations to real, published papers.
Go to evidencehunt(dot)com and click on "Chat" in the top-right corner.

Simply type in your question and Evidence Hunt will answer it with citations to published articles. A yellow arrow points to the "Chat" button in Evid
To go to a cited article, simply click on it and Evidence Hunt will take you to it in PubMed.
Read 10 tweets

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