Using Chat GPT to write an essay sounds fantastic it would save you time, effort, research, and writing time. It turns out all of those things are TRUE! The problem is it still doesn’t do all the work for you.
To get a good essay from Chat GPT you need to send it detailed instructions. If you just ask Chat GPT “Write me an essay about…”, you will get the same essay as anyone else asking the same question. Using a detailed unique outline with Chat GPT is the easiest way to get a high-quality unique essay.
The process used to generate an excellent, unique, high-quality essay using Chat GPT has a few steps but each one is simple to do.
Table of Contents
- How to Use Chat GPT to Write an Essay
- Should I Acknowledge That I Am Using Chat GPT?
- How do I get started with using Chat GPT to write an essay?
- How do I provide input to Chat GPT when writing an essay?
- Ensuring the quality of an essay written with Chat GPT
- Can I Use Chat GPT to Revise an Essay?
- What Essay Mistakes Do People Make with Chat GPT?
- Related Notes
How to Use Chat GPT to Write an Essay
Chat GPT is a powerful tool that can be used for writing, but it is limited by what you ask it to do. If you simply ask it to “write me an essay about…” you will get a similar result as everyone else. This is because Chat GPT relies on the input it receives to generate content, and if the input is too general, vague, or similar, the output will be as well.
To demonstrate this, I conducted an experiment where I gave Chat GPT slight variations of the request “Write an essay titled, how to buy a horse” 11 times. Here are the requests I made:
- Please write an essay titled, Acquiring a horse: a step-by-step guide
- Please write an essay titled, The ins and outs of purchasing a horse
- Please write an essay titled, A comprehensive guide to buying a horse
- Please write an essay titled, What to consider when adding a horse to your family
- Please write an essay titled, How to make an informed horse purchase
- Please write an essay titled, Tips for purchasing the perfect horse for you
- Please write an essay titled, The process of buying a horse: a beginner’s guide
- Please write an essay titled, Steps to take when searching for your dream horse
- Please write an essay titled, A horse-buying checklist for first-time buyers
- Please write an essay titled, Choosing and purchasing a horse: a guide for equestrians
- Please write an essay titled, How to buy a horse
To my surprise, every single essay that Chat GPT wrote had an introduction that started with the sentence
“Purchasing a horse is a significant commitment, both financially and in terms of time and effort,…”
Chat GPT
or a slight variation of this sentence. Each introduction in every essay started with the exact same idea, and it was clear that Chat GPT was simply recycling the same content over and over again.
Furthermore, the points of the essay were also almost always the same and in the same order. Any teacher or search engine would not be fooled for very long that this was an original work (check your work here to see how original it is https://huggingface.co/openai-detector/), and the essays were also not very good, as they rarely included any specific facts or references.
So how can you get a better result when using Chat GPT for essay writing? The key is to provide more specific and detailed prompts or topics. Instead of simply asking Chat GPT to “write me an essay about…” try starting off by asking it to give you an outline for an essay on a specific topic. For example, you might ask it to give you an outline for an essay about the process of buying a horse.
Once you have the outline, you can cut and paste it into a word processor and make it your own. (You can highlight the text you want and use Ctrl-c to copy it and Ctrl-v to paste it into the word processor. You can also edit it in Chat GPT but you will have to use Shift-Return instead of Return to put in more lines.) Change the outline by adding numbers, and facts, request a specific emphasis, change the order of points, remove points, and add new points and perspectives.
Let’s see what happens if we make one simple change to the introduction of the essay.
For instance, I asked Chat GPT to give me an introduction for an essay about buying a horse, but with an emphasis on the joy of owning a horse.
I made no other changes to the introduction except changing the emphasis. The result is a completely different idea compared to what we got before, (“Purchasing a horse is a significant commitment, both financially and in terms of time and effort,…”) and in my opinion, it is also a better result.
Changing the emphasis of the text is one of the most powerful ways that you can customize your essay outline.
Let’s try another example but this time with a body paragraph. We are just going to add the text prompt for Chat GPT, “Please use the partial essay outline below to write a body paragraph for the essay, “How to Buy a Horse”
What Chat GPT writes without any changes to the 2nd outline point.
Now lets modify the outline and see what we get.
We notice that the unmodified outline ends up emphasising long term costs. So we’ll change that to emphasise financial responsibility.
Even though we changed the emphasis we see that there is an identical paragraph. So we need to change the outline even more to get a unique result.
Compared to the original information that Chat GPT wrote this new set of body paragraphs is completly different. To get this result we,
- Changed the emphasis of the paragraphs from long term costs to financial resposibility.
- Changed the bullet points by giving Chat GPT new bullets with more data.
If we later need to revise the paragraphs to use less text we can do that too. Take a look at the “How to use Chat GPT to revise your Essay” below.
So lets review what we have learned.
How to Get Chat GPT to write a Unique Essay for You
Step One: Ask Chat GPT to give you an outline for an essay about (your essay title).
- Please write an outline for an essay titled, (Your Essay Title)
Step Two: Cut and Paste the outline into a text editor or word processor. (You can highlight the text you want and use Ctrl-c to copy it and Ctrl-v to paste it into the word processor. You can also edit it in Chat GPT but you will have to use Shift-Return instead of Return to put in more lines.) You will need to add this as the first sentence before the outline.
“Please use the following outline to generate an essay”
This will work if you are paying for Chat GPT but if you are on the free version sometimes you will have problems with Chat GPT stopping midway (text limits).
You can get around this problems by having Chat GPT write each section of the Essay separately.
For that reason (and to make things simpler), here is a little table of text prompts you can use to break down the process of writing an essay with Chat GPT to smaller pieces of your outline.
| Chat GPT Text Prompt for Different Parts of an Essay | Essay Portion |
| Please use the partial essay outline below to write an introduction for the essay, “Your Essay Title” | Introduction |
| Please use the partial essay outline below to write a body paragraph for the essay, “Your Essay Title” | Body Paragraph |
| Please use the partial essay outline below to write a conclusion for “Your Essay Title”. | Conclusion |
| Please use the essay outline below to write an essay, “Your Essay Title”. | Entire Essay |
| Change the Emphasis: Introduction – State the emphasis you want for this section | Introduction |
| Change the Emphasis: Body Header – State the emphasis you want for this section | Body Paragraph |
| Change the Emphasis: Conclusion – State the emphasis you want for this section | Conclusion |
| Add a Bullet Point- Put in relevant information in bullet form | All |
| Remove a Bullet Point – Remove any bullet point you want | All |
Step Three:
- Ask for the text to be written with a different emphasis or perspective for each point or the essay in general.
- Add points to the outline, change the order of the points, and add additional facts, experiments, anecdotes, or personal perspectives.
- You can use Chat GPT to help with the research of facts but, …
- WARNING: Chat GPT sometimes makes up facts and references. You will have to verify each fact with Google or some other reference.
Step Four: Paste your edited outline back into Chat GPT and hit return
Step Five: Congratulations this is “your” essay or a portion of it if you are doing it one piece at a time (suggested especially at first).
Step Six: Type in Chat GPT the original question, “Please write me an essay titled, “How to….” (For instance “Please write me an essay titled, “The process of buying a horse: a beginners guide.
This is our “generic Chat GPT” essay that we get with an unmodified outline.
Step Seven: If your essay is still similar to the “generic essay” edit your outline some more to get a unique result.
As you can see even a small change in the outline can lead to a big change in the essay Chat GPT writes.
Ninja Tip: Asking Chat GPT to change the emphasis of a section of the outline is one of the largest changes you can make.
Best Practices To Get a Unique Essay:
- Vary the emphasis of each section of the essay from what Chat GPT would normally use
- (Check what emphasis Chat GPT gives you with an unaltered essay outline for that section)
- (Use the prompt, Outline Section – What I want you to emphasize)
- Alter all the bullet points
- Use additional facts, observations, research, sources, and anecdotes in the bullet points
- You can also remove both bullet points or add or remove whole sections of the outline.
Should I Acknowledge That I Am Using Chat GPT?
The short answer is yes you should. I would turn in my notes, my research, and my unique outline as well as my finished and edited essay. I would acknowledge that I used Chat GPT to help me turn my outline into my essay. Why? Besides there being tools that can determine if text was written by Chat GPT, your teacher is probably no dummy. In time I suspect that ChatGPT and tools like it will be considered to be like calculators. They are helpful to do homework but they may not let you use them on a test.
So in the end you are still going to have to learn how to write for yourself. I suggest that you let Chat GPT help you to do that too. Look at how it changes outline points into text. See how it transitions between paragraphs.
How do I get started with using Chat GPT to write an essay?
To get started with using Chat GPT to write an article you need to set up an account at, OpenAI.com and then visit https://chat.openai.com/ to use the Chat GPT tool. Once you are logged in, you can use Chat GPT to generate text based on the prompts and questions you provide.
One way to use Chat GPT to write an essay that is unique and original is to request an outline for the essay and then modify it to meet your needs. For example, you might ask Chat GPT to “Please write me an outline for an essay about ‘How to Buy a Horse’.” Once you receive the outline, you can highlight and cut and paste it into a word processor, such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs, to make modifications.
There are several ways that you can modify the outline to create a unique essay. You can add additional points, rearrange the structure, or add personal anecdotes or examples. You can also do additional research to add more depth and detail to the essay. By taking the time to customize the outline, you can create an essay that is unique and original, rather than a generic one.
After you modify the outline you will simply write a line at the top asking, “Please use this outline to write an essay”, then cut and paste it into Chat GPT and hit return.
How do I provide input to Chat GPT when writing an essay?
Using Chat GPT to write an essay is easy, but to get a high quality unique essay takes actual work. You will need to learn how to communicate with Chat GPT using text prompts and detailed outlines. To communicate what you want from Chat GPT consider the following.
Ask Chat GPT to give you an outline for an essay about your chosen title. You can then edit this outline to generate your essay.
I. Who is the audience of the essay:
- The audience for your essay is important to consider when writing. Determine the message you want to communicate and modify the introduction of the outline to focus on the audience and the message.
- Consider the best way to connect to your audience and modify the outline by adding or deleting bullet points.
- Think about the type of language you should use in your essay – should it be formal, relaxed, or upbeat? Ask Chat GPT to use the appropriate language when writing the essay. (This is usually easier to request in the revision phase, see the example below.)
- Anecdotes can also make arguments clearer – consider using one in your essay.
II. Choose relevant and specific prompts:
After requesting a generic essay outline, use specific prompts to modify it.
- This can involve adding bullets, suggesting emphasis for different sections, and removing bullets that produce “generic text” (Generic text is the text that is not unique that Chat GPT would generate if you asked, “Write me an essay titled, “Your Essay Title””.)
- You will need to review the text Chat GPT writes from your modified outline vs. the generic text to make sure you have created a unique essay.
- Create new sections of the outline if applicable.
- Change the names of sections to change emphasis.
- Add emphasis statements after section titles to change the emphasis of the entire section.
- Clear, concise topic statements, emphasis statements, and bullets will yield the best results.
III. Make it Simple:
- Simple, clear language is important when communicating with Chat GPT to write an essay.
- Chat GPT does a good job at understanding even misspelled requests, but you’ll get better results if you use short, clear bullets and topic statements and edit the outline provided by Chat GPT.
- Editing the outline allows you to communicate complex ideas in a simple manner.
IV. Review the generated text:
- After Chat GPT generates the text for your essay, carefully read through it to ensure that it accurately communicates your intended message.
- Make sure any facts or sources it mentions are accurate and consider whether the text is concise and flows well.
- You may want to add additional bullet points or make changes to strengthen certain sections of the essay.
In summary, using text prompts and editing an outline provided by Chat GPT is an effective way to communicate with the tool and generate high-quality text for your essay. By following these tips, you can produce a unique and well-written essay.
Examples:
We can even improve the output by requesting a rewrite of our introduction.
Ensuring the quality of an essay written with Chat GPT
Writing an essay with Chat GPT can be a great way to generate ideas and get started on a writing project, but… You still need to check the output it makes mistakes. Here are a few things you should check.
I. Understand the purpose and audience of the essay:
- The vocabulary and formality of your essay should match the expectations of your audience.
- Example: A college essay will be much different than one written for middle school students.
- It’s important to consider the core message of your essay and whether you are communicating it clearly to your audience.
- Are your arguments convincing?
- Do you need more supporting material?
- By understanding the purpose and audience of your essay, you can tailor your writing to effectively convey your message.
II. Carefully review and edit the essay:
- When reviewing your essay, try to imagine yourself as the audience.
- Are you making assumptions about what they know or understand?
- Do your arguments make logical sense?
- Can you organize your arguments more logically?
- If you were reading about this subject for the first time, would this essay make sense?
- Use tools like Grammarly or Microsoft Word to double-check your grammar and spelling. It’s also a good idea to set your essay aside for a day or two and come back to it with fresh eyes.
III. Seek feedback from others:
- Getting feedback from others can be a valuable way to improve your essay. Ask a peer in your class to look over your essay or consider paying a professional proofreader on Fiverr.com to review it.
IV. Double check your sources:
- The quality of your sources is more important than the volume of sources you use.
- Make sure to check the format that your citations are supposed to be recorded in and verify that the sources are considered high-quality by their peers.
- Don’t forget to properly mark any quotes and consider using Chat GPT to help with paraphrasing.
Can I Use Chat GPT to Revise an Essay?
Yes Chat GPT can be used to revise an essay. There are many ways to do this, but for the sake of brevity, we are going to explore 3.
I You can use Chat GPT to create an outline of an essay that you have already written.
Prompt: Please create an outline of the text with quotes around it below.
- This lets you check the logic of your arguments
- It shows you the flow between sections
- It may suggest to you bullet points that should be added for
- Anecdotes
- Quotes
- Sources
- Additional Facts
Once you have revised the outline you can then ask Chat GPT to write an article from it.
Prompt: Please write an article based on the outline below.
II. You can ask Chat GPT to rewrite an essay to make it more readable.
- This is especially useful to break large blocks of text into smaller clearer paragraphs
- You can also ask Chat GPT to change formatting etc..
Prompt: Please rewrite the text with quotes around it below into several paragraphs made of 3-4 clear short sentences.
Prompt: Please rewrite the title below to include at most 60 characters.
III. You can ask Chat GPT to change the tone or grade level of the text.
Prompt: Please rewrite the text with quotes around it below using language at the 6th grade level.
Prompt: Please rewrite the text with the quotes around it below to have an upbeat tone.
Based on these prompts you should be able to create your own for specific tasks.
| Chat GPT Revision Prompts | All Quoted Text |
| Please create an outline of the text with quotes around it below. | Place text to rewrite below the revision prompt with quotes around it. |
| Prompt: Please write an article based on the outline below. | Place the outline below the revision prompt. |
| Please rewrite the text with quotes around it below using language at the 6th grade level. | Place text to rewrite below the revision prompt with quotes around it. |
| Please create an outline of the text with quotes around it below. | Place text to rewrite below the revision prompt with quotes around it. |
| Example Prompt | Output |
| Please create an outline of the text with quotes around it below. “Yes, you can use Chat GPT to revise an essay. One way to do this is to ask Chat GPT to generate an outline for your essay based on the topics and arguments you have already included in the essay. You can then use this outline as a starting point to revise and reorganize your essay. You can also use Chat GPT to suggest edits and changes to the language and style of your essay, such as by asking it to use specific vocabulary or to write in a certain tone or voice. However, it’s important to keep in mind that Chat GPT is a tool and should not be relied upon entirely for revising an essay. It’s always a good idea to carefully review and revise your work yourself, as well as to seek feedback from other sources.” | I. Introduction Mention that Chat GPT can be used to revise an essay II. Use Chat GPT to generate an outline – Explain how to use Chat GPT to generate an outline based on existing topics and arguments – Discuss using the outline as a starting point to revise and reorganize the essay III. Use Chat GPT to suggest edits and changes – Discuss how Chat GPT can be used to suggest edits and changes to language and style – Mention using specific vocabulary or writing in a certain tone or voice IV. Considerations when using Chat GPT for revision – Emphasize that Chat GPT is a tool and should not be relied upon entirely for revision – Mention the importance of carefully reviewing and revising work oneself – Discuss seeking feedback from other sources as well V. Conclusion -Summarize the use of Chat GPT for revising an essay |
| Please rewrite the text with quotes around it below into several paragraphs made of 3-4 clear short sentences. | Place text to rewrite below the revision prompt with quotes around it. |
| Example Prompt | Output |
| Please rewrite the text with quotes around it below into several paragraphs made of 3-4 clear short sentences. “The audience for your essay is important to consider when writing. Determine the message you want to communicate and modify the introduction outline to focus on the audience and the message. Consider the best way to connect to your audience and modify the outline by adding or deleting bullet points. Think about the type of language you should use in your essay – should it be formal, relaxed, or upbeat? Ask Chat GPT to use the appropriate language when writing the essay. Anecdotes can also make arguments clearer – consider using one in your essay.” | “The audience for your essay is important to consider when writing. Determine the message you want to communicate and modify the introduction outline to focus on the audience and the message. Consider the best way to connect to your audience and modify the outline by adding or deleting bullet points. Think about the type of language you should use in your essay – should it be formal, relaxed, or upbeat? Ask Chat GPT to use the appropriate language when writing the essay. Anecdotes can also make arguments clearer – consider using one in your essay.” |
| Please rewrite the text with quotes around it below using language at the 6th grade level. | Place text to rewrite below the revision prompt with quotes around it. |
| Example | Output |
| Please rewrite the text with quotes around it below using language at the 6th grade level. “The audience for your essay is important to consider when writing. Determine the message you want to communicate and modify the introduction outline to focus on the audience and the message. Consider the best way to connect to your audience and modify the outline by adding or deleting bullet points. Think about the type of language you should use in your essay – should it be formal, relaxed, or upbeat? Ask Chat GPT to use the appropriate language when writing the essay. Anecdotes can also make arguments clearer – consider using one in your essay.” | “When you write an essay, it’s important to think about who will be reading it. Decide what you want to say and change the beginning of your essay to focus on your audience and message. Figure out the best way to grab your reader’s attention and change your outline by adding or deleting bullet points to do this. Think about what type of language you should use in your essay – should it be fancy, casual, or positive? Tell Chat GPT to use the right kind of language when it writes your essay. Anecdotes can also help your argument make more sense – consider using one in your essay.” |
What Essay Mistakes Do People Make with Chat GPT?
One common mistake made when using Chat GPT to write an essay is not testing prompts to ensure they are clear. Chat GPT operates similarly to programming, and if you give it an unclear command, the result will be a mess. This is often referred to in programming as “garbage in, garbage out.” To avoid this, it is important to carefully test and revise prompts to ensure they are clear and effective.
Another mistake is assuming that Chat GPT is telling the truth. While Chat GPT is designed to be a good chat partner, it is not a reliable source of research or information. It may make up facts or avoid mentioning specific facts, such as dates or names, which can weaken the credibility of your essay. To ensure the accuracy of your essay, it is important to conduct your own research and verify all facts and sources.
Example: I asked ChatGPT to give me a source for how to tell a horse’s age by its teeth.
Chat GPT gave me a fake source, and when I asked again it gave me another fake source, in fact, I was not able to get it to give me a good source. Google was a much better source indicator than ChatGPT
Finding your own voice is another important consideration when using Chat GPT to write an essay. While Chat GPT can be requested to write in a particular style, such as Edgar Allen Poe’s, it is not your own voice and can feel inauthentic to your audience. By finding and developing your own voice, you can add depth and authenticity to your work.
Each chat that Chat GPT makes keeps a record of what you were chatting about. That’s great when you are actually chatting, but if you are testing different prompts and texts it is sometimes a problem. Before you have Chat GPT write out your essay from an updated outline open a new chat and paste it there.
Example Showing the “Memory Effect” that can change the results of text prompts because of the “Chat” that came before the prompt
Now let’s ask Chat GPT what we were talking about
If we start a new chat and ask the same question…
Finally, it is important to keep a record of sources for yourself and to verify all sources against reliable sources. Chat GPT may sometimes lie about the source of a quote or provide a source that does not exist. To ensure the accuracy and credibility of your essay, it is important to conduct your own research and verify all sources using reliable sources such as Google, encyclopedias, and other reference materials.
Acknowledgement: Small portions of this article that may not have been noted were written by Chat GPT, or reworded by it. The majority (90+%) was written by the author.
Related Notes
How to Use ChatGPT to Write Essays That Impress – Notes
Unlock the secrets of crafting impressive essays with ChatGPT. Dive deep into techniques that can elevate your writing. Learn the art of impressive essay writing.
Write 1st Class Essays Using ChatGPT – Notes
Aim for the stars with your essays! Discover how ChatGPT can be your secret weapon to achieve first-class essays every time. Unearth the secrets here.
How to Use ChatGPT to Write an Essay – Notes 2
Enhance your essay writing skills with ChatGPT. From brainstorming to structuring, get a comprehensive guide to ace your essays. Dive into the guide.
How to Use ChatGPT to Write an Essay – Notes
Master the art of essay writing with ChatGPT. From ideation to final touches, get insights that can transform your writing process. Embark on the writing journey.
ChatGPT: A Comprehensive Guide – Notes
Delve into the world of ChatGPT. From its inception to its capabilities, get a holistic view of this revolutionary AI tool. Discover ChatGPT.
How to use Chat GPT to Write an Essay: Beginners Tips – Notes
Dive into the world of AI essay writing with this beginner’s guide. Discover the advantages and pitfalls of using Chat GPT for your essays. Plus, get insights on avoiding plagiarism and making your writing stand out. Explore the beginner’s tips now.