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How to use artificial intelligence in information searching

This guide covers the use of AI to support information searching in higher education. It also presents topics related to the responsible use of AI. It will be updated as necessary.

What is a prompt and how do you create them?

A prompt is a written question or input that a user gives to a conversational AI tool. A prompt directs the AI to generate the information or content the user desiresSormi osoittaa digitaalisia ympyröitä..

AI may not be able to understand open questions, ambiguous prompts or prompts that do not provide it with enough information. Creating prompts is a new skill in information seeking that needs to be learned and is worth practising.

Prompts in English tend to work better in conversational AI tools and responses are faster.

 

Picture: Geralt. (n.d.). Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/fi/photos/tekniikkaa-kehitt%C3%A4j%C3%A4-touch-sormi-3402365/

General guidelines for creating prompts

  1. Define a clear goal.
  2. Write the prompt clearly and precisely. You can start by asking the AI to do something, such as search, find, create, formulate, translate, summarise, analyse, explain, brainstorm. Don't give too long instructions.
  3. Don't settle for the first response from the AI. Try to make the answer better by refining and enriching the prompts. This may take several times to reach a result that meets your needs. The more information you give the AI, the better the result. The AI will remember the previous prompt and continue to respond on the same topic until you start a whole new conversation.

Sometimes it can also happen that the prompt doesn't work and you don't get the right response. If this happens, start a new conversation.

Depending on your information needs, you can also ask the AI to create a response for a specific audience, with a specific style and text structure.

Example of an conversation

You can use large language model-based applications to brainstorm keywords and then conduct an actual search in a database provided by the library. However, language models do not replace vocabularies.

Identifying keywords and combining them

Conversational AI tools search for words that appear in the same context as the research questions, topics or keyword examples you provide.

Define a possible role for the AI tool, introduce your topic and tell it what you need. Communicate with the AI and prompt the AI with new questions. Select the keywords you like best from the responses.

Me: I am studying to be a nurse in the university. I am writing my thesis and I need help identifying suitable keywords for information seeking. The subject of my thesis is loneliness among elderly people in nursing homes. Could you give me keywords which I could use when searching for information on library's databases. Could you give the keywords in basic form?

 

Copilot: Here are some keywords and phrases that you might find useful when searching for information on your thesis topic:
  1. Loneliness
  2. Elderly
  3. Nursing Homes
  4. Social Isolation
  5. Aging
  6. Mental Health
  7. Depression
  8. Elder Care
  9. Gerontology
    etc.
Remember, you can also use combinations of these keywords to narrow down your search.
Me: How can I combine the keywords you gave me in basic form?

 

Copilot: Combining keywords effectively can help you refine your search and find more relevant information. Here are a few ways you can combine the keywords:
  • AND: Use this to narrow down your search. The database will only show results that include both keywords. For example, Loneliness AND Elderly.
  • OR: Use this to broaden your search. The database will show results that include either of the keywords. For example, Nursing Homes OR Assisted Living.
  • NOT: Use this to exclude certain keywords from your search. For example, Elderly NOT Depression.
You can also use parentheses to group keywords and use a combination of these operators. For example, (Loneliness OR Social Isolation) AND Elderly.
Remember to check if the database you're using supports these operators. Some databases might use different symbols or words for these operations. Good luck with your research!
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