Chat with GPT

Well, today is the day after the end of my Pre-Sessional teaching and I have been thinking about AI a lot! So I decided to interview ChatGPT and ask it how best to prevent my students misusing it. Here’s the highlights.

What are the best ways for students to use CHATGPT to help write an academic essay in the art and design field?

ChatGPT said:

Great question! Students in art and design can use ChatGPT as a supportive tool for academic essay writing — not to replace their own thinking, but to help research, structure, and refine their work. Here are some of the best ways to use it effectively:

Research and Idea Generation

• Brainstorming topics: Ask ChatGPT to suggest possible essay questions or angles within art and design (e.g., “How does Bauhaus influence contemporary graphic design?”).
• Contextual overviews: Use it to get quick summaries of movements, artists, theories, or design principles before diving into academic sources.
• Comparisons: Prompt it to outline differences or connections between two artists, movements, or approaches.

⚠️ Tip: Always follow up with peer-reviewed sources (journals, books, exhibition catalogs). ChatGPT gives you a starting point, not the final word.

✅ Example Workflow for Students:

1. Brainstorm topic ideas with ChatGPT.
2. Draft an outline with headings and subpoints.
3. Collect and read academic sources.
4. Write a rough draft in your own words.
5. Use ChatGPT for refining thesis, polishing language, and checking flow.
6. Add final critical insights, citations, and formatting.

What is the best way for students to avoid just copying your ideas?

ChatGPT said:

That’s such an important question — and it’s great you’re encouraging your students to think critically about how they use AI tools. Here are some practical strategies students can follow to avoid simply copying ChatGPT’s ideas and instead use it to develop their own voice and arguments:

🔑 1. Treat ChatGPT as a “thinking partner,” not a source

• Use it for brainstorming (e.g., “What themes are common in Bauhaus graphic design?”), but then decide which ideas matter for your essay.
• Don’t copy outputs directly — instead, rewrite them in your own words and test them against your research.

📚 2. Always go back to primary and academic sources

• Take any outline or claim from ChatGPT and verify it in books, journal articles, or exhibition catalogs.
• For example: if ChatGPT says “John Berger argued that images reinforce power structures,” the student should look it up in Ways of Seeing and use a direct quotation.

✍️ 3. Use ChatGPT to question, not to answer

Instead of asking for “an essay,” students can ask:

• “What are three different perspectives on surrealism and politics I could research?”
• “What kinds of evidence would strengthen a thesis about Bauhaus influence today?”
  This shifts ChatGPT’s role to scaffolding independent research.

🛠️ 4. Rewrite + Reflect

• After getting suggestions, students should summarize them in their own words without looking at the screen.
• They can then add personal insights — linking ideas to their coursework, studio practice, or artworks they’ve studied.

🧭 5. Keep a “research log”

• Students should note how they used ChatGPT:
  • “I asked ChatGPT for examples of feminist art historians; it suggested Linda Nochlin. I looked up her essay Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? and used a quotation.”
• This creates transparency and shows that AI was a step in the process, not the final product.

It was a really useful interview and I will definitely use the full version when putting my next set of lessons together.

Used correctly, then, AI can be the solution not the problem.