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GEOG 437W Energy Geographies and Policy

Research guide for Dr. Jennifer Baka's policy writing course, Spring 2025.

Policy Writing

Generative AI in Higher Education

Knowing when to use AI turns out to be a form of wisdom, not just technical knowledge. Like most wisdom, it's somewhat paradoxical: AI is often most useful where we're already expert enough to spot its mistakes, yet least helpful in the deep work that made us experts in the first place. It works best for tasks we could do ourselves but shouldn't waste time on, yet can actively harm our learning when we use it to skip necessary struggles. Ethan Mollick (Prof. @ Wharton School)

When it comes to policy writing and identifying/exploring ideas and topics, a generative AI tool could be very useful for discovery! AI responses are pulled from an exponential amount of inputted information across the world wide web, and an AI tool can quickly filter through that data to pull resources to start with. As a scholar, it's your task to evaluate and critically think about the ideas and resources AI tools provide. Some helpful questions to ask your self include:

  • Are the concepts shared with you by a Generative AI tool supported in a follow up search on the library's website? (Identify academic articles, news articles, and other sources related to what you read through an AI tool).
  • If the Generative AI tool shares a reference, does the reference exist? Google Scholar is a helpful tool to use here for confirmation!
  • Confirm the publication date of the sources the AI tool shares with you. Is the information relevant to today or was it relevant 10 years ago?