A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI - A Workshop

Slides I used for an online workshop for international students at Waseda Business School on June 8, 2025.

Transcript

1. An image of PAT (Paper Authoring Tutor), generated by Stable Diffusion XL v1.0 A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI A Workshop Digital Transformation (DX) Committee, Waseda Business School (WBS) A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.1/31
2. The slides can be found at : https://speakerdeck.com/ks91 A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.2/31
3. In This Workshop, As you are all aware of the recent development of so-called “generative AI,” Waseda University is seeking to utilize this technology under its basic policy of training and nurturing “robust intellect and flexible sensibility” We believe that WBS students who are preparing to write their theses need to know how to use the AI effectively and beneficially, and as graduate students who are independent scholars, you need a place to discuss how to use the AI yourselves So, we have planned this workshop to explain the simple principles, features, and limitations of generative AI, to introduce appropriate and advanced uses related to research and paper writing, to answer your questions so that you can use this new tool with confidence, and to discuss how to make use of it with everyone A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.3/31
4. Today’s Agenda What is research, and what is a research paper anyway? Short breakout to share your practices Demonstration (this is a big part of the workshop) Brief explanations Types and Overview of AI Tools Finding Papers Using AI Reading with AI Analyzing with AI Writing with AI Discussion on how to make use of AI (breakout) Questions A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.4/31
5. What is research? Although you are all master’s students, let me explain using the famous “The illustrated guide to a Ph.D.” https://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/ Oh, however, there are many ways to think about what research is, so make sure to always listen to what your zemi professor says! A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.5/31
6. What is a research paper anyway? It is there to expand the knowledge of humankind as we all check to see if our new knowledge is correct Paper has a claim (new knowledge) Primary data is collected by the authors themselves to support the claim We explain the gap with the secondary data, which is the knowledge to date The above also applies to business school papers New quantitative/qualitative research, business proposal, new findings from surveys of prior cases/studies, or a combination of these A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.6/31
7. Research and Publications — So far Discoveries and inventions by humans The entire scope of human knowledge paper paper We cannot read them all already Driven by incentives such as degrees, prestige, and curiosity ɹɹɹ So things like who wrote it, who was the first, who stole ideas, etc. are important! The entire scope of knowledge is expanded by checking (through peer review and post-publication discussion) whether the new knowledge is correct A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.7/31
8. Short breakout to share your practices Listen to others who have already applied generative AI to their academic writing A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.8/31
9. Demonstration If you have already started your research, you must have presented your work in progress in zemi or at least created some kind of materials We will demonstrate how to feed such materials into the writing mode of our PAT (Paper Authoring Tutor) and output a draft of the paper As just one of the possibilities of what can be done A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.9/31
10. About PAT (Paper Authoring Tutor) An AI assistant to assist you in conducting research and writing papers Can be found at : GPTs : https://chatgpt.com/g/g-6lW16zlHo-hatuto-pat-lun-wen-asisutanto Also in Kanno-Saito joint zemi Discord server GitHub : https://github.com/ks91/pat Researchers’ manual (in progress) : https://speakerdeck.com/ks91/pat-paper-authoring-tutor-researchers-manual You can see what’s in it (see GitHub), so you can effectively ask it questions to make it work properly, or you can improve it yourself and register it in GPTs, etc. Can be ported to large language models other than GPT A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.10/31
11. Demonstration (this is actually how Saito-san wrote his recent paper) Upload these papers and presentation slides Proof of Authenticity of Logistics Information with Passive RFID Tags and Blockchain Lightweight selective disclosure for verifiable documents on blockchain Proof of authenticity of general IoT information with sensors and blockchain The attached “Proof of Authenticity of Logistics Information with Passive RFID Tags and Blockchain” and “Lightweight selective disclosure for verifiable documents on blockchain” are our previous studies. “Proof of authenticity of general IoT information with sensors and blockchain” is our new work that builds on those, and although we have only given an oral presentation, we would like to submit it as a paper to the IEEE conference. Can you help us? Next, let’s have it in L A TEX format, and then we’ll try to view it in Overleaf as a rough draft If you have your own materials, please do the same We encourage you to try everything in the workshop out for yourself A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.11/31
12. Key Things to Ask (or Tell) in the Demonstration Actually, I am currently demonstrating how to write a thesis to master’s students. So, could you format it in LaTeX in a way suitable for writing a thesis on Overleaf? Please revise the abstract in the Kent Beck format (consisting of four sentences: What is the problem? Why is this problem interesting? What’s the surprising solution? What are the broader implications of this research?). The simulation included in the presentation file was actually incorrect, and the attached graphs reflect the results of a properly conducted simulation. What can be inferred from these graphs? Also, could you draft the Evaluation section based on the findings? This is the current version of my paper. I would like to know its strengths and weaknesses (areas for improvement). A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.12/31
13. Types and Overview of AI Tools This time we will focus on the application of large language models There are many more than what is listed here, and new ones are coming out all the time, so let’s share what we know! What is a large language model anyway? A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.13/31
14. What is a Large Language Model? Large version of a language model What is language model? A statistical model that says that in this language, words are often arranged in this way If you give it words up to the middle of a sentence, it will generate the common content that follows it (in an appropriately random manner) Applying it to conversation, you get ChatGPT for example (an automated chatbot) Therefore, When we tell them to “take a deep breath and think it over,” they respond with something that sounds like they’ve thought it over What is generated looks very much like that, but it is often not true, even if it is correct in English, especially when it comes to content that does not appear that much on the Internet When researchers ask technical questions, they often answer incorrectly Giving them lots of context makes it easier to get good results A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.14/31
15. What is important is that . . . YOU are responsible for the content of your paper! YOU do the fact checking! Protect yourself and your new knowledge A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.15/31
16. AI Tools for Research (there should be more) Finding papers “Deep Research” tools of many platforms Perplexity (Perplexity AI) Reading NotebookLM (Google), Specialized GPT such as PAT, etc. Analysis Claude (Anthropic), Gemini (Google), ChatGPT (OpenAI)(w/ Code Interpreter), Google Colab, Open Interpreter (Tool to write and run Python and/or R code) Writing Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT, Specialized GPT such as PAT, etc. A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.16/31
17. Finding Papers Using AI What do you search for in the first place? Look for secondary data that may have gaps with your claims Papers are also data You may have to explore what your claims are through this process A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.17/31
18. Finding Papers Basically, search within the past 3 years using Google Scholar, etc. Semantic Scholar is also useful Why within 3 years? → Because we look for gaps with the latest knowledge How about Perplexity? It can go wrong — we recommend “Deep Research” tools for literature survey instead (You may search for papers on Perplexity and then search again on Google Scholar for the ones you find) If it’s your area of expertise, you can realize, “oh it’s wrong,” and give Perplexity the right knowledge to redo it, but if not, it could be dangerous If the papers/books you search are to be used as secondary data, you must know exactly what they are If you get interested, get the text first And then read it with the help of AI A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.18/31
19. Reading with AI NotebookLM as an example NotebookLM, like PAT, is a research assistant Very useful for quickly grasping the literature A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.19/31
20. Reading Papers If you throw the data into NotebookLM, it will first summarize it, so you can determine if it is appropriate as secondary data In the past, when we found a paper, we would first identify it by its abstract and conclusion, but the above is an alternative to that You can ask questions about the content and get answers, but read the relevant sections yourself to see for yourself While it may be tempting to use the text as written by LM, it is always better to quote from the text to ensure accuracy and avoid unintentional plagiarism When reading critically, one single source is basically better You can avoid mixing other knowledge in the results Uploading multiple sources provides emergent answers That is one way to use it A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.20/31
21. Have Your Papers Read Once you have written some of your own papers, upload them to NotebookLM or PAT for feedback You can have them point out strengths and weaknesses, and Where things do not add up logically Peer review could also be simulated A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.21/31
22. Analyzing with AI If you do not have the knowledge, you cannot control the analysis process Knowledge from “Business Data Analysis” should help A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.22/31
23. Analysis with Open Interpreter Multiple comparisons of the following simple data sample1 <- c(3.10, 3.14, 3.07, 3.20, 2.84) sample2 <- c(2.76, 2.88, 2.88, 3.08, 2.93) sample3 <- c(3.19, 3.13, 3.45, 3.34) sample4 <- c(2.84, 2.72, 2.61, 2.65, 2.61) In the current directory, there is a dataset called ”data.txt” written in R vector format, consisting of four samples, which should be compared multiply. Also, draw a box-and-whisker diagram with alphabetical letters indicating significant differences so that human beings can visually compare the results. A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.23/31
24. Writing with AI Once again : you are responsible for the content of your paper A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.24/31
25. Get help writing your paper It is convenient to have the whole thing composed Originality is not required in the composition of the paper Where the writing is tedious and would be the same no matter who wrote it, it would be helpful to have the AI draft it for you Upload a diagram and have it explained Upload a graph and ask it to write down what it can interpret from it, etc. Shorten without sacrificing content is also often used It may not be necessary for a master’s thesis (or equivalent)! If you are submitting a paper to a conference or journal, there may be a page limit “Summarize” would lose information and would not be usable as the body of the paper A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.25/31
26. Discussion on how to make use of AI A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.26/31
27. Questions We have already received some A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.27/31
28. Question from A-san How to prevent from figuring wrong or unexisting data or figure ⇒ Always check for yourself Do not let them generate, by turning Web search on A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.28/31
29. Question from K-san What is prohibited or strongly adviced against by WBS regarding using AI in writing theses? ⇒ Do whatever you can to avoid unintential plagiarism No, we do not have a set rule yet Saito-san thinks it is better to freely try new things within the existing academic rules A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.29/31
30. Question from K-san Which AI tools do you use yourself for writing academic papers and which do you find the most useful? ⇒ We should all share our practices, but Saito-san uses ChatGPT Deep Research (w/ Google Scholar), NotebookLM, and PAT He finds them all useful because they are to be used in different phases of research A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.30/31
31. Question from K-san Do you know any good AI tools that can search academic papers through longer prompts formulated as whole sentences? Not general AI tools like perplexity.AI but tools specially trained for the paper finding purpose ⇒ Again, we should all share our practices, but Saito-san thinks that “Deep Research” tools are useful In any case, you may want to limit your sources to Google Scholar, etc. A Guide to Academic Writing Using Generative AI – A Workshop — 2025-06-08 – p.31/31