Helping Students Research Smarter with AI Prompts
Practical strategies from The Educator’s AI Prompt Book, part of the AI For Educators Series
Welcome
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This is Week 2 of The Gift of Prompts: A Holiday AI Series for Educators. Each week in December, I’m sharing ready-to-use prompts from my newest release, The Educator’s AI Prompt Book: Copy-and-Paste Prompts for Lesson Planning, Libraries, and Learning. It’s part of my AI For Educators Series, created to help teachers and librarians use AI in practical, ethical ways with students.
Notebook LM DeepDive:
Prompting for Research
Prompts aren’t just for lesson planning — they can transform how students approach research.
📖 In The Educator’s AI Prompt Book, I write:
“AI can be a brainstorming partner, not a replacement for research. The right prompts can help students refine their questions, discover new keywords, and practice evaluating sources critically.”
By giving students structured prompts, we help them learn not only to gather information but to question it.
Sample Prompts (From the Book)
Research Question Development
“You are a research coach. Suggest 5 possible research questions about [insert topic] that are open-ended, specific, and suitable for a [grade level] research project.”Keyword Generation
“You are a librarian helping a student. Generate a list of 10 keywords and related search terms that could be used to research [insert topic] in a library database.”Source Evaluation
“Evaluate the credibility of this source: [paste text or URL]. Provide reasons why it may or may not be reliable for use in a school research project.”
💡 These come straight from the Student Research & Media Literacy section of my book.
Classroom Idea
Middle/High School: Have students generate research questions with AI, then peer-review them before choosing one to pursue.
Library Programming: Run a “Source Smackdown” where AI evaluates two competing sources on the same topic. Students then critique AI’s evaluation — was it right or wrong?
AI Ethics Corner
AI can suggest questions and sources, but it shouldn’t decide what’s credible for students. Librarians and teachers play a crucial role in teaching students how to identify bias, verify facts, and think critically about the origins of information.
📖 AI Reading List
AI Literacy: A Guide for Academic Libraries — Lo, C&RL News / ACRL crln.acrl.org
Inquiry, AI, and Pedagogy in the Library Classroom — Harrison / Virginia Libraries Journal Virginia Libraries
Integrating basic artificial intelligence literacy into media instruction (ERIC / full PDF) ERIC
Enhancing Information Literacy through Generative AI in the Library Classroom — Wetzel & Kani palrap.org
Incorporating Generative AI into Student Research Projects — Poremba / Canadian School Libraries Journal Canadian School Libraries Journal
Conclusion
This week’s prompts demonstrate how AI can assist students in asking more effective questions, exploring keywords, and evaluating sources — all while reinforcing critical media literacy skills. Paid subscribers will unlock the expanded set, including fact-checking prompts and a classroom-ready activity on misinformation.
📘 Want more? Grab The Educator’s AI Prompt Book and the AI For Educators Series on Amazon: http://bit.ly/4gHBShG.