How students can use AI for historical research without compromising academic integrity

Approaching this from a positive angle, AI has the capability of being a truly transformative force in education.

Students can learn to access particular AI tools that can simplify complex tasks, especially as part of their historical research process.

This is perhaps its most exciting potential: to make the research process more accessible for many students and even encourage a focus on critical interpretation rather than repetitive groundwork.

For students working on history projects, AI tools could provide distinct advantages that enhance both efficiency and depth.  

Many history teachers have mentioned that students often don’t choose to study history in the senior years because of the onerous demands of many research tasks.

Maybe this can help to counter some of those concerns. So, one of the most valuable benefits of AI in historical research is its ability to save time.

There are currently a range of tools available that are designed to help summarize dense material, aid in locating relevant sources, and organizing information to allow students to bypass many logistical obstacles. 

Could it be, that when applied responsibly, AI could significantly enhance the quality of student work?

By supporting learners to master the most repetitive and time-consuming tasks of research, can these tools allow students to dedicate more attention to critical thinking, in-depth analysis, and considering diverse perspectives?

Rather than being a shortcut, AI would then function as a collaborative tool that complements intellectual effort rather than being a tool that facilitates cheating. 

This is where this article hopes to offer some thoughtful suggestions. It offers some ideas for teachers who want to explore ways to teach students how to use AI in positive ways.

I haven’t tried all of these individually, but am aiming to do so over the next twelve months and see what happens.  

You are welcome to share your thoughts or experience if you choose to explore these ideas as well. 

AI could be used to suggest topics, or narrow down broad themes, or even help identify specific areas of interest for students at the start of their research.

For example, a student studying World War II might ask AI to recommend angles such as "What were the key turning points of the North African Campaign?"

This might assist in shaping a clear and purposeful approach to their research.

Also, AI could be used to help students to understand particular assessment prompts or generate ideas to certain cognitive verbs.

Consider an essay analyzing the social, economic, and political causes of the French Revolution.

To begin, a student might use AI to clarify the prompt and brainstorm potential arguments.

If asked to explain what 'analyze' entails, AI could respond that it involves breaking down a topic into parts to understand how they relate to one another.

For the essay, AI might suggest examining the Estates System as a social factor, the tax burden as an economic factor, and King Louis XVI’s policies as a political factor. 

It could also be a helpful tool in the brainstorming process by identifying subtopics that align with the essay’s focus.

A student researching the causes of the French Revolution might ask AI to refine potential arguments.

It could propose relevant points, such as the inequalities of the Estates System, the oppressive taxation faced by the Third Estate, or the impact of the monarchy’s fiscal mismanagement.

Examples like this could provide students with a starting point for developing their own arguments. 

Helpful AI tool for this step: ChatGPT 

Once the topic has been decided, AI is a great way to simplify complex historical topics and offer clear explanations.

This might be the greatest strength of current AI technology. Most sites can easily generate summaries, identify key terms, and deliver concise overviews to help students grasp the context of their subject. 

AI is particularly useful for clarifying unfamiliar concepts that students might find difficult to articulate.

When faced with challenging ideas, students can ask AI for explanations presented in simpler terms.

For example, a student might inquire about the Cahiers de Doléances and their connection to the Revolution’s social causes.

AI could respond that these were lists of grievances compiled by each Estate, which highlighted the frustrations of the Third Estate with social inequality.

By breaking down complex ideas into manageable components, AI can easily help students gain the confidence to analyze historical contexts better.

This is true both for comprehension and the ability to articulate basic historical data effectively. 

Helpful AI tool for this step: Perplexity AI 

This is one of the first points of frustration that many students encounter when starting their research.

Creating a high-quality research question can be surprisingly difficult for young historians and it often requires a lot of additional teacher help to get them through it.

By leveraging the strengths of AI, students can feel more confident in refining their broad or vague ideas into focused and specific questions.

For example, AI could be asked to provide targeted suggestions, then guide students toward a clearer understanding of the topics they aim to explore.

Or, when a student begins with a general question such as "What caused World War I?" AI can refine it into a more specific inquiry like "How did alliances contribute to the outbreak of World War I?" 

Specific questions like this should lead to more efficient exploration of resources, as students can identify relevant materials more easily.

Additionally, students are prompted to consider the nuances of their topics, rather than focusing on simplistic or superficial approaches, which is often the case. 

By breaking down complex ideas into manageable components, AI can easily help students gain the confidence to analyze historical contexts better.

This is true both for comprehension and the ability to articulate basic historical data effectively. 

Helpful AI tool for this step: ChatGPT

As most history teachers can attest, students spend most of their research time trying to find their historical sources.

This is just the nature of historical research. What students often struggle with is not a lack of sources but sorting through those available to find the ones that are most useful.

Therefore, AI can help students by quickly guiding them to relevant primary and secondary sources.

On a simple level, students can ask AI for suggestions on key documents or reliable resources.

For example, a student researching the Treaty of Versailles might request a list of primary sources and their locations online.

AI might recommend they look at particular archival collections, academic databases, or digital repositories. 

Then, if a student inquires about reliable online resources for studying the Estates System during the French Revolution, AI might suggest platforms like Britannica or JSTOR.

It could also point them toward primary sources such as the Cahiers de Doléances from 1789.

These suggestions would clearly help students to focus their research on more reputable materials, which would obviously enhance the quality of their work while speeding up the overall process. 

Helpful AI tool for this step: Google Gemini or Perplexity AI

Once the student has found helpful sources, another great use case for AI is the ability to manage large historical documents by summarizing key points and organizing information in a clear and concise manner.

This capability allows can allow learners to engage with particularly challenging sources and extract the most relevant details for answering their research questions.

For example, a student studying the Reign of Terror might upload a lengthy document to an AI tool, which then identifies the main ideas and presents them in an easily digestible format.

This would help students focus on analysis of the text rather than being completely overwhelmed by the density and difficult language in the material. 

When used well, this would mean that students can use the best quotes to help them build stronger arguments.

Summarized content can also allow students to identify patterns and establish crucial connections in data.

This process not only saves time but also enhances the depth of their research. 

Helpful AI tool for this step: NotebookLM

Of all of the steps in the research process, this is the one that AI still struggles with the most.

When students evaluate their sources, they still need to draw upon their own judgements.

However, for those learners who continually struggle with this, AI can be a good starting point to get their critical thinking started.

For instance, a student studying the Industrial Revolution might ask AI to evaluate an article’s reliability, during which it would highlight the author’s credentials or suggest potential biases in the text. 

Based upon the suggestions provided, students begin to think critically about the sources they encounter.

Alternatively, after reaching their own initial evaluation, students can refine their response by comparing AI’s observations with their own conclusions.

For example, a student might use AI’s feedback on a source discussing labor conditions during the Industrial Revolution to question the author’s perspective and corroborate findings with additional materials. 

Alternatively, a student could ask AI to examine the content and context of a source to determine if it offers any point of corroboration with other sources they’ve already gathered.

This could support students in prioritize materials that contribute meaningfully to their arguments and, therefore, are the most useful. 

Helpful AI tool for this step: ChatGPT

As they approach the end of their research journey, students typically form an answer to their original research question.

This answer is usually referred to as a hypothesis. Once again, this is something that students often struggle with.

This is where AI could be asked to assist students in refining their findings. For many, it would help to express their ideas more effectively or ensure arguments align closely with the original topic or question.

For example, a student drafting a thesis on the French Revolution might begin with, ‘The French Revolution was caused by inequality, economic hardship, and political mismanagement’.

AI could suggest a more precise version, such as, ‘The French Revolution was the result of deeply entrenched social inequality, economic crises fueled by excessive taxation and debt, and the failure of political leadership to address widespread unrest’. 

Ideally, AI would become a helpful tool in encouraging students to consider the depth and nuance of their arguments, especially by identifying areas for improvement, such as vague language or overly broad statements.

As educators know, a strong thesis directs the structure of the essay, so by offering specific suggestions, this could encourage students to think critically about their main argument and how it connects to their research. 

Helpful AI tool for this step: ChatGPT or NotebookLM

When students are ready to start writing their essays, it is common for many of them to have ‘writer’s block’.

The fear of the blank page can be a real challenge for many learners, no matter how good the results of their research are.

Therefore, artificial intelligence could be used to help them organize their research into a structured outline or an initial draft.

For instance, a student working on an essay about the French Revolution might input their research notes, prompting AI to suggest an outline with defined sections.

The outline could include an introduction that defines the French Revolution, explains its significance, and presents a thesis linking social, economic, and political causes. 

An AI-generated outline could also guide students in structuring the individual arguments within separate body paragraphs.

For example, the first body paragraph might focus on social causes, analyzing the Estates System and the growing inequality between classes.

The second paragraph could address economic causes, such as excessive taxation, rising bread prices, and national debt.

The third might explore political causes, including King Louis XVI’s poor decision-making and the influence of Enlightenment ideas. 

By suggesting a clearer structure to the learner, it could encourage the student to start the writing process with less anxiety.

Ideally, it would simplify the writing process and help students maintain a more logical flow throughout their essay. 

Helpful AI tool for this step: ChatGPT or NotebookLM

Once students are in the middle of their writing, they could call upon AI to help fix common writing errors.

For example, it could be asked to help refine grammar, improve clarity, and enhance the overall flow of their thoughts.

This is usually the most dangerous part of AI use, as we don’t want learners to use AI to compromise their ownership of the ideas.

For example, a student might ask AI to polish a paragraph about the causes of the Cold War by requesting suggestions for clarity.

AI could provide feedback on grammatical errors and suggest smoother transitions, such as beginning a paragraph on economic factors with, "Building on the social tensions..." 

Alternatively, it could be asked to identify areas where sentences could connect more effectively, or ideas could be expanded.

For instance, a student writing about social and political causes might benefit from AI recommending transitional phrases that link the sections cohesively. 

Rather than rewriting the student’s text, AI should be limited to suggesting alternatives.

This means that students still take ownership of their revisions to ensure that their final drafts reflect their own understanding and effort. 

Helpful AI tool for this step: Grammarly

Citing sources is the bane of many student’s lives in school and university.

Thankfully, one of the things that AI typically does well is correclty formatting referencing (although it still needs to be double-checked).

So, it can be called on by students to tidy up their references and bibliographies according to various citation styles. 

Many students already use free online bibliography generators, so this is not too much different to that experience.

The biggest benefit is that students can manage quite complex formatting bibliographies for multiple sources in one single prompt.

This means that it would arrange entries alphabetically and use proper punctuation.

As a result, students would lose less marks for simple referencing errors, which has been the case for many years.  

As a reminder, students should still check that they are providig the AI program with the correct author names, publication years, and page ranges so that it produces the correct answer.

This means that it will still strengthen students’ ability to cite sources accurately in the future, even while AI handles the technical aspects of formatting. 

Helpful AI tool for this step: ChatGPT

While the potential for AI to be a great resource for students, we know as teachers that students will still default to seeing it as a way of cheating.

Therefore, it is important for educators to provide clear guardrails to their classes when introducting AI in a lesson.

This will help define what is considered to be an a’ppropriate application’ of AI in research and their assessments pieces.

For those who do not currently have school guidance to call on here, below are some suggested guidelines that are designed to help students leverage AI to enhance their learning while ensuring the work they submit remains authentically their own. 

Make it clear to the class that AI is seen as a complement to a student’s effort, not a replacement for it.

Often, it works best when students reach a ‘roadblock’ in their best efforts. This is when students can use AI to do things like brainstorm ideas, organize lots of information, refine their writing, or check for clarity.

However, the final product must always reflect their own work. 

Example:

Students may use AI to generate possible arguments for an essay on the Industrial Revolution but must independently select and develop the arguments they use. 

Transparency is always critical in maintaining academic integrity. Therefore, if students use AI in any part of their research or writing process, they should honestly disclose how it was used.

Some schools may require students to include an appendix or footnote at the end of an assignment for students to provide an explain of the role AI played and/or the specific prompts used. 

Example:

"AI assistance was used to generate a preliminary outline and provide grammar suggestions for this essay. Here is what ChatGPT provided to me..." 

As helpful and impressive as artificial intelligence is at the moment, all of the providers have warnings about the fact that AI tools can sometimes provide inaccurate or outdated information.

Therefore, students must develop a healthy skepticism about its output. Learners should always double-check facts, figures, and specific online sources provided by AI against.

This is especially important for historical quotes form sources, which should be compared against peer-reviewed articles, textbooks, or other primary documents. 

Example:

If AI suggests key dates for the French Revolution, students should cross-check these against a reliable history book or academic website.

Students should never accept AI-generated suggestions or content at face value.

Instead, they should critically evaluate its relevance, accuracy, and usefulness to their own work.

This means that they actively engage with the material rather than passively relying on AI.

So, when a suggestion is made, the learner still uses their own choice to incorporate or modify the information provided. 

Example:

If AI offers a thesis statement for an essay, students should assess whether it aligns with their research findings and adjust it as needed. 

Directly copying AI-generated text without proper citation or modification constitutes plagiarism.

As a result, students must always rephrase, personalize, and expand on any ideas or content provided by AI to make it their own. 

Example:

In writing this very article, a range of AI tools were used to brainstorm, organize, fact-check and correct grammatical errors, but the final product is the result of human input. 

Whenever appropriate, students should check-in with their teachers about how they plan to use AI for assignments.

This can be as simple as following all-class directions or and individually seeking clarification on any uncertainties about what would be considered ‘acceptable practices’.

This dialogue also helps to ensure a mutual understanding of the guidelines and means that the teacher is more informed if there is a potential misuse of AI that is flagged in the final submission of a task. 

Example:

A student might ask, "Is it acceptable to use AI to suggest possible arguments for this essay on Napoleon's reforms?" 

Every teacher and every school is still in the process of finding a good ‘middle ground’ for AI in the classroom.

The ideas and suggestions in this article represent my current attempts to find a way forward that is both honest and helpful for students.

No doubt, these things will change over time as I trial them in my own teaching practice.

Ultimately, we all want to teach responsible use of AI that best supports ethical practices, prepares learners for the modern workplace, but also privileges the development of critical thinking and problem-solving abilities in all of our students.

I would love to know your thoughts and feedback.