Here’s a mini tutorial about getting better results from LLM queries from this website “Make Use Of”.
Using ChatGPT to gather data can save you a significant amount of time. But, the accuracy and reliability of the results depend heavily on the quality of the information the model uses. The good news is you can use a few strategies to force ChatGPT to provide responses based only on high-quality sources.
1 Define the Source Type
While ChatGPT has been trained on a vast range of data from various sources (up until its knowledge cutoff), it doesn’t actively search the web when responding to prompts. Instead, it relies on its pre-existing knowledge, which might be out-of-date or incomplete. Now, it can actively search the web if you specify, but it doesn’t always do this automatically.
The first step in ensuring that ChatGPT uses high-quality sources is clearly specifying the type of sources you want. This can be done by including terms like peer-reviewed, academic, official, trusted, government publications, or reputable news outlets in your prompts.
So, for example, if you want to find information about climate change, the search prompt “Tell me about climate change using academic research papers and peer-reviewed studies” will guide ChatGPT toward focusing on higher-quality sources than it might choose otherwise.
2 Use Specific Instructions
One of the unique features of ChatGPT is its ability to generate references and citations when prompted. You can encourage this by specifically asking for citations or sources that are known authorities that are credible and trustworthy.
In order to ensure reliable sources, you can prompt the AI to base its response on well-known academic figures, research papers, or official reports from institutions like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN).
If, for instance, you want to ask ChatGPT for accurate information about the theory of evolution, you can prompt it to reference the studies of Charles Darwin and other renowned genetic researchers and to provide links to the sources.
3 Ask for Updates and Recent Data
Another useful tactic is to explicitly ask ChatGPT for the most up-to-date information it can provide. By specifying a time frame, such as a specific year, you reduce the chances of receiving outdated or less-relevant information. ChatGPT will filter through its training data to focus on the most recent and authoritative data available during its training.
So, for instance, if you want data on climate change, instead of asking ChatGPT to give you relevant info about the topic, you can specify that it bases its results on research and reports from credible institutions and leading universities. As ChatGPT has internet access, it can specifically source the most recent information you require.
By making your request very specific, you increase the likelihood that ChatGPT will generate a response that aligns with the authoritative sources you seek. Essentially, its knowledge is derived from reputable academic texts, scientific journals, and public reports, so being forceful with your prompts increases the chances that the information is the most up-to-date available.
Ultimately, to get the best results from ChatGPT, it’s important to be proactive about the quality of the sources you’re asking it to consider. And, of course, to be totally safe, never rely solely on the content that ChatGPT generates. Cross-checking with trusted platforms and using fact-checking tools or reputable academic databases like Google Scholar or PubMed can help you verify the accuracy and reliability of the information.