EES1200 and EES1201: Environmental Science Research Resources

Academic perspectives

• Idea-generation vs. generation of the final written product
• Most tools do not necessarily provide the right answer; rather they try to predict the statistically most likely answer
• Everything must be verified through research using the skills provided in this guide and in class
• Tools may produce some real citations, but beware of misinformation and fake citations
• More to generate content, not searching in the context of academic research

Example

Prompt: Please give me academic citations on the state of e-waste contamination in Angola. Can you only provide references from top-tier journals, and from a diverse and inclusive pool of authors taking into account equity factors such as gender and race?

Response:

Lists a book, a critical review and a study, each by title, but without citation. Followed by:

Please note that while these references cover e-waste broadly, they may not be Angola-specific. For more localized studies, I recommend exploring databases like PubMed, Google Scholar, or academic journals related to environmental science and waste management. Remember to verify the relevance and rigor of each source before citing it in your work. 😊

The following U of T resources address GenAI in research, teaching and learning: