Tech

How to make ChatGPT provide sources and citations


ChatGPT Source

David Gewirtz/ZDNET

One of the biggest complaints about ChatGPT is that it provides information, but the authenticity and accuracy of that information is uncertain. That’s because ChatGPT doesn’t provide sources, footnotes, or links to where it gets the information used in its responses.

Also: How does ChatGPT work?

But that’s not entirely true.

How to make ChatGPT provide sources and citations

If you know how to prompt ChatGPT properly, it will give you the resources. This is the way.

To get started, you need to ask ChatGPT for something that needs a source or citation. I figured it would be better to ask a question with a longer answer so that ChatGPT has more “meat”.

Also: Best AI Chatbots: ChatGPT and Other Cool Alternatives to Try

Keep in mind that ChatGPT cannot provide any information after 2021, and requests for information before the internet (for example, for an article about Ronald Reagan’s presidency) will have fewer sources. so many.

Here’s an example of a reminder I wrote about a topic I researched a lot in graduate school:

Describe the learning theories of epistemology, behaviorism, and constructivism

This is where a quick bit of technique is needed. A good starting point is with this query:

Please provide the source for the previous answer

I’ve noticed that this often provides offline sources, books, newspapers, etc. The problem with offline sources is that you can’t check their authenticity. But that’s a starting point. A better query is this:

Please provide source URL

This specifically tells ChatGPT that you want clickable links to sources. You can also accommodate this by requesting a specific number of sources, although your mileage may vary depending on how much you get back:

Please provide 10 source URLs

In the next step, we’ll see what we can do with these.

Keep in mind this golden rule about ChatGPT-powered resources: ChatGPT is more often wrong than right.

In the many times I asked ChatGPT about URL sources, almost half were just pure bad links. 25% or more are links to topics that are completely or partially unrelated to the topic you’re trying to source.

Also: How to use ChatGPT: Everything you need to know

For example, I asked sources on the platform for the phrase “trust but verify”, often attributed to 1980s US President Ronald Reagan. I got back a lot of sources, but most don’t really exist. I got back some information that took me to the correct active pages on the Reagan Presidential Library site, but the topic of the page had nothing to do with the phrase in question.

I had a little better luck with my learning theory question in step 1. There, I received offline messages from people I knew from my research who had actually researched the subject. those theories. I also get the return URLs, but again, only about 2/10 are actually working or correct.

Also: ChatGPT fraud is on the rise: Here’s what to watch out for

But don’t despair. The idea is not to expect ChatGPT to provide resources that you can use immediately. If you consider ChatGPT as a research assistant instead, it gives you some great starting points. Use the names of the articles (which can be completely fake or inaccessible) and drop them into Google. That should give you some interesting search queries, which will most likely lead to some interesting readings and literature that could legitimately be included in your research.

One last point: if you’re merely cutting and pasting ChatGPT sources into whatever research you’re doing, you’re likely to get stingy. Use it to find clues, not as a way to evade real research.

Frequently asked questions

How do you put sources in APA format?

The APA style is a citation style commonly required in academic programs. APA stands for American Psychological Association, and I often think they invented these style rules to get more clients. But seriously, the definitive starting point for the APA style is Perdue OWL. It offers a wide range of style guides. Be careful: online styleformers may not get the job done and you could have your work returned by your professor. You will be paid to do the work yourself, and be careful when doing it.

How can I make ChatGPT provide more reliable sources for its response?

This is a good question. I’ve noticed that sometimes — sometimes — if you ask ChatGPT to give you more sources or re-request it, it will give you a new list. If you tell ChatGPT that the sources it provides are wrong, it will sometimes give you better ones. It can also just apologize and make excuses. Another approach is to ask your original question again with a different focus or direction, and then ask the source for a new answer.

Also: 5 ways you can use ChatGPT to help you with your essay

Again, my best advice is to avoid seeing ChatGPT as a writing tool for you and more of a writing assistant. Requesting the source so you can simply cut and paste the ChatGPT response is pretty much plagiarism. But using ChatGPT feedback and any other sources you can use as clues for further research and writing is a perfectly legitimate way to use this fascinating new tool.

Why are ChatGPT sources so often wrong?

For some links, it’s just link rot. Since all sources are at least three years old, some links may have changed. Other sources of unknown age. Since we don’t have a complete list of all ChatGPT sources, it’s impossible to know how valid they are in the first place. But since ChatGPT is trained mostly without human supervisionWe know that most of its sources are untested and therefore may be false, fabricated or completely non-existent.

Trust, but verify.


You can follow my daily project updates on social media. Remember to follow me on Twitter at @DavidGewirtzon Facebook at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtzon Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtzand on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV.

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