Scholarly articles are often long and highly technical, which can be frustrating to decipher for new learners in a discipline.

Although we should never rely on AI summaries exclusively, they can be powerful tools to assist in our understanding and note-taking while reading the article for ourselves

The examples below will use Perplexity to help with this process, but Google Gemini, ChatGPT, and other generative AI can also be used.

Not all documents are in a format that is easy for AI to read. The instructions below will walk you through preparing to upload your document by running optical character recognition (OCR) on your document in order to help identify the words on the page to improve the accuracy of responses.

See Adobe's guides for the most up to date instructions or online OCR processing.

1. Wherever you found the article you want to read, be sure to download either the PDF or HTML full text. This option will look very different depending on where your article lives.

   

   
    
2. Can you highlight the text in the file you just downloaded? If not, we'll need to run OCR on it so that the AI can more easily see the words on the page. Open the file in Adobe Acrobat PRO DC on campus.
    
3. On the right menu, choose "Scan & OCR"

   

   
    
4. Then choose "Recognize Text" > "In This File"

   

   
    
5. Now click the blue "Recognize Text" button to begin recognizing words in the document.

   

   
    
6. Save the file.

   

It's time to upload our file to Google Gemini (or any generative AI capable of reading an uploaded document) in order to start analyzing our article.

On Google Gemini's homepage, click the "+" button in the lower left of where you would enter your prompt. This will allow you to upload files from your desktop or Google Drive. Upload the file you want to analyze here. 

Note:

• Check the upload instructions for whatever AI tool you're using.
• Not all generative AI have the option to upload files.
• Some AI lock uploading documents (or limit the size or amount of uploads) based on a paid subscription.
• Some vendors may have restrictions on whether or not you are allowed to upload their sources into AI for processing.

Just like when generating keywords, we need to be clear and direct about what we want with AI. Especially when we use AI to help read and understand an article, we want to ensure that we are asking for something helpful without putting us at risk of plagiarism.

The best way to avoid plagiarism is by making sure the AI doesn't give us full and complete thoughts in the first place. That way all of our thoughts and words at the end of the day are our own.

Additionally, it's important to read the article for ourselves. Don't simply rely on AI summaries. Instead use it to create a roadmap (an outline) to help guide your reading and note taking.

As a result, it's useful to structure your prompts like this:

• Give context

  • ““I'm trying to read the attached article.”

  • In this case the article itself is our context.

• Ask for something specific

  • “Please translate this article into an outline so that I can use it to take my own notes.”

  • We still need to read the article. Explain that as a part of your prompt to help focus and limit its response.

• Clarify how you want the AI to respond

  • “Keep each bullet point as short as possible. Do not use sentences.”

  • If we prevent the AI from forming complete thoughts and sentences, it's much easier to be confident that the words we right and the conclusions we draw are our own.

Now that the AI has access to our article, we can ask it questions to help us better understand and use this source.

Outline

Ask the AI to summarize the article for you in order to translate the information into simpler language. Phrase questions/commands like:

• Create an outline for this article
• Outline the Methodology used in this article

Again, we should never rely exclusively on these summaries. It's possible that the AI has missed something important or even misrepresented part of the article. Instead, use these outputs as tools to help you identify the key points as you read. Edit the outline with your own notes and corrections.

Question: "I'm trying to read the attached article. Please translate this article into an outline so that I can use it to take my own notes. Keep each bullet point as short as possible. Do not use sentences."
Sources: The Construction of the Hidden Curriculum: messages and meanings in the assessment of student learning

Answer

Here’s a concise outline of the attached article "The Construction of the Hidden Curriculum: Messages and Meanings in the Assessment of Student Learning" in bullet-point form for easy note‑taking:

I. Introduction

Definition: Hidden curriculum in assessment

Distinction: Stated intentions vs. unintended messages

Purpose: Examine students’ interpretations in higher education

II. Background & Literature

Origins of hidden curriculum concept

Related work in schooling and higher education

Influence of assessment on learning approaches

Role of prior experiences and student orientations

III. Research Context

Setting: UK university

Study focus: Innovative assessment methods

Method: 13 case studies, qualitative interviews

IV. Key Findings

Students as active constructors of meaning

Variation in interpretation of assessment purposes

Persistent influence of prior exam experiences

Assessment strongly linked to grading

Perceived functions: accountability, motivation, feedback, learning

Differences in independence and responsibility toward assessment

[...]

Evaluate

A big part of research involves understanding the relevance and importance of our sources as a part of the larger scholarly conversation. Ask the AI questions like:

• Who is the author?
• When was this published?
• What other articles cite this one?
• What other research on this topic does the author cite that has been published in the last 5 years?

Verify the answers yourself using the article and library databases, but use these responses to help guide you towards current research from other experts in your discipline.

Question: What are some recent academic articles on the hidden curriculum that cite the uploaded article?
Sources: The Construction of the Hidden Curriculum: messages and meanings in the assessment of student learning

Answer

The file itself is from 1998 and does not cite any recent academic papers on the hidden curriculum published after that time. However, based on a quick search, here are some examples of more recent academic papers that have explored the hidden curriculum concept:

1. Alsubaie, M.A. (2015). Hidden curriculum as one of current issue of curriculum. Journal of Education and Practice, 6(33), 125-128.
This paper discusses the hidden curriculum in the context of the Saudi education system and how it impacts students' values, beliefs and behaviors.
[...]

While this is not an exhaustive list, these papers published within the last decade indicate that the concept of the hidden curriculum remains an active area of research and discussion across various educational contexts and disciplines. The 1998 paper provides important foundational concepts that have been built upon by more recent scholarship.

Question: Who are the authors, and what are the credentials that make them experts on this topic? 
Sources: The Construction of the Hidden Curriculum: messages and meanings in the assessment of student learning

Answer

The authors of the article are Kay Sambell and Liz McDowell.

Based on the information provided in the first page of the article:

• Credential/Affiliation: They are affiliated with the Centre for Advances in Higher Education at the University of Northumbria in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

This affiliation indicates that their professional focus is on higher education research, pedagogy, and development, which directly relates to the article's topic of assessment, the hidden curriculum, and student learning within a university setting [...]

Verify

Whenever possible, ask the AI for specific quotes to back up it's answers. This makes it much easier to find the passage in the original article being referenced -which makes it easier for us to verify as well.

Question: Can you give me a direct quote from this article that explains the author's main finding?
Sources: The Construction of the Hidden Curriculum: messages and meanings in the assessment of student learning

Answer

Certainly. A key quote that encapsulates the authors' main finding is:

"The data presented here suggest that students actively construct messages about the nature and demands of learning in higher education from their experiences of assessment, and that these messages may differ from those intended by their teachers."

This quote highlights the central idea that students interpret and create meaning from their assessment experiences, often in ways that diverge from what their instructors intended. It underscores the existence and importance of the hidden curriculum in higher education assessment, which is the main focus of the article.