Here are five ChatGPT + Bing prompts you can use to polish your academic prose.

Prompt 1: Topic Sentence

Many of us struggle with writing precise topic sentences for paragraphs. You can use ChatGPT and Bing to help you write one.

Take a paragraph you want to write a topic sentence for and run it through ChatGPT or Bing with the following prompt: “Please write a topic sentence for this paragraph.“

If you aren’t satisfied with the results, ask it to give you three variations of the topic sentence. Select the one you like and rewrite it to suit your personal style.

Prompt 2: Transition Sentences

Transition sentences make your writing not only smooth but also logical. When a paragraph transitions smoothly to the next, it gives your writing a personality and keeps the reader glued. Writing good transition sentences is quite challenging

You can use ChatGPT and Bing to help you with it. Take two paragraphs that you want to connect with a transition sentence and run them through ChatGPT or Bing with the following prompt: “Please write a transition sentence to connect the two paragraphs.“

If you aren’t satisfied with the suggestion, you can always ask ChatGPT/Bing to give you variations of the sentence.

Prompt 3: Introduction

Writing a good introduction to a journal article or a dissertation is tricky for both experienced and novice academic writers. When I was writing my dissertation, I struggled with the introduction, which was frustrating because I knew everything I wanted to write.

You can take help from ChatGPT or Bing to help you craft a great introduction. Take a paragraph you have written and run it through ChatGPT or Bing with the following prompt, “Please rewrite the following paragraph as an introduction.“

Ask for three variations of the paragraph. Select the one you like best and rewrite it to suit your personal style.

Prompt 4: Conclusion

Like an introduction, writing a conclusion that binds your whole project is also challenging.

Write a paragraph and run it through ChatGPT or Bing with the following prompt: “Please rewrite this paragraph as a conclusion.“

Always rewrite to suit your style. This will also help you ensure your text doesn’t get flagged by GPT detectors.

Prompt 5: Counterargument

Good writing is always nuanced. It incorporates opposing viewpoints and lets the reader be the judge. But when we work on developing argument, we get so invested in it that it becomes difficult for us to entertain any counterarguments.

You can ask ChatGPT or Bing to give you counterarguments, which you can then add to your work. To do so, take you argument and run it through ChatGPT or Bing with the following prompt, “Please give me a counterargument for this claim.”

Rewrite the counterargument in your own words and you writing will become a lot more nuanced.

That’s it for this week.

But before you go, here are my four commandments for using AI apps like ChatGPT and Bing for academic writing:

1. Thou shall outsource your labor to AI not your thinking

2. Thou shall use AI as your research assistant not your supervisor

3. Thou shall use AI to create structure not content

4. Thou shall not over-rely on AI and not forget to use your common sense

See you next week. Until then keep writing.