Before you can even get started writing an essay, you need to flesh out the idea. When professors assign essays, they generally give students a prompt that gives them leeway for their own self-expression and analysis. As a result, students usually have the task of finding the angle to approach the essay on their own.

If you have written an essay recently, you know this step is often the trickiest part. This is where ChatGPT can step in and help. 

Also: I wish I had ChatGPT when I was in college. But not for the reason you might expect

All you need to do is input the assignment topic, include as much detail as you’d like — including what you were thinking about including — and let ChatGPT do the rest. For example, based on a paper prompt I had in college, I asked:

Can you help me come up with a topic idea for this assignment, “You will write a research paper or case study on a leadership topic of your choice.” I would like it to include Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Leadership Grid and possibly a historical figure. 

Within seconds, the chatbot produced a response that provided me with the title of the essay, options of historical figures I could focus my article on, and insight on what information I could include in my paper with specific examples of a case study I could use. Writer’s block no more. 

Once you have a solid topic, it is time to start brainstorming what you actually want to include in the essay. To facilitate the writing process, I always create an outline including all the different points I want to touch upon in my essay; however, the outline writing process is usually tedious in itself. 

With ChatGPT, all you have to do is ask it to write it for you. 

Also: ChatGPT productivity hacks: Five ways to use chatbots to make your life easier

Using the topic ChatGPT helped me generate in step one, I asked the chatbot to write me an outline by saying: 

Can you create an outline for a paper “Examining the Leadership Style of Winston Churchill through Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Leadership Grid” 

After a couple of seconds, the chatbot outputted a holistic outline divided into seven different sections, with three different points under each section. 

This outline is thorough and can be condensed for a shorter essay or elaborated on for a longer paper. Don’t forget, if you don’t like something or want to tweak it further, you can with instructions and a quick send. 

Now that you know exactly what you want to write, it is time to find reputable sources to get this information from. If you don’t know where to start, like with all of the previous steps, you can just ask ChatGPT. 

All you need to do is ask it to find sources for your essay topic. For example, I asked it the following: 

Can you help me find sources for a paper “Examining the Leadership Style of Winston Churchill through Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Leadership Grid.”

Also: The best AI chatbots: ChatGPT and other interesting alternatives to try

The chatbot output seven sources with a bullet point for each that explained what the source was and why it could be useful. 

The one caveat you will want to be aware of when using ChatGPT for sources is that it does not have access to information before 2021, so it will not be able to suggest the freshest sources. However, it is a start.  

Now, for the part you have been waiting for: Yes, you can ask ChatGPT to write the essay for you. It is worth noting that if you take the text directly from the chatbot and submit that, it could be considered a form of plagiarism, since it is not your original work.

In most educational institutions, the penalties for plagiarism are severe, ranging from a failing grade to expulsion from the school, so proceed with caution. Now that I’ve gotten the disclaimer out of the way, here is how you can do it. 

Also: ChatGPT is changing everything. But it still has its limits

All you have to do is tell ChatGPT the topic of the essay you want it to write for you, the desired length, and watch it do the magic. For example, I input the following text: 

Can you write a five paragraph essay on the topic “Examining the Leadership Style of Winston Churchill through Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Leadership Grid”?

Within seconds the chatbot output exactly what I asked for: a coherent, five paragraph essay on the topic. I would recommend using this feature to aid and guide you in your own writing to maximize the grade you get without breaking the honor code.

Once you write your essay, you can use ChatGPT’s advanced writing capabilities to edit it for you. 

You can simply tell the chatbot what you specifically want it to edit. For example, I asked it to edit for essay structure and grammar, but other options could have included flow, tone and more. 

Once you ask it to edit your essay, it will prompt you to paste your text in. Once you do, it will output your essay with all of the necessary corrections. I think this could possibly be the most useful tool as it can edit your essay more thoroughly than a basic proofreading tool could, going beyond spelling. 

You could also co-edit with the chatbot, asking it to take a look at a specific paragraph or sentence and asking it to rewrite or fix it for clarity.