ChatGPT might give you articles by an author who usually writes about your topic or even identify a journal that published on your topic, but the title, page numbers, and dates are completely fictional. This is because ChatGPT is not connected to web search, so it has no way of identifying actual sources.
You can try to verify any sources by searching in BU Libraries Search, Library Databases, or in Google Scholar, but chances are, the sources do not exist.
It’s better to use ChatGPT for tasks like these:
- Brainstorming and getting creatively unstuck
- Editing and constructive criticism of your writing
- Explaining concepts at multiple difficulty levels
- Summarizing long texts
- Other writing and text-related tasks.
ChatGPT is not designed to be a search engine. Use BU Libraries Search, Google Scholar, or databases for your discipline instead.
Another option for searching the web is Perplexity AI. It combines a language model with a search engine and provides links to its sources, so you can fact-check. It doesn't include all the scholarly resources you would find in BU Libraries Search or Google Scholar, but it can be a complementary tool for finding web search results with natural language.
*Adapted from "FAQs about generative AI" by Nicole Hennig, University of Arizona Libraries. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
