By  Nicholas Minjares
Staff Writer 

Erika Montenegro, a librarian at East Los Angeles College, organized an understanding generative AI workshop on April 20 to help students create effective prompts.

While these tools can help with outlines, summaries, revisions and more, they require clear instructions to be effective. 

Montenegro designed the workshops to teach students how to write strong academic prompts and avoid plagiarism when using AI tools.

“The workshop is created based on what I saw here in the library, but also what I want to learn about AI as well,” Montenegro said.

Montenegro said the first step when using AI tools is to check with professors. If a professor does not allow AI use in class, students should follow that policy.

Computers were opened to the ELAC Generative AI Guide for each participant. The guide, researchguides.elac.edu/AI, was created by the library after students frequently asked questions about AI.

The guide defines generative AI, explains what it can be used for, addresses whether its answers can be trusted and what are prompts and how to design them effectively.

Before practicing, Montenegro described what made a bad prompt.

She said a poor prompt lacks reflection on the topic and does not specify needs.

Montenegro identified the biggest mistake as pasting entire assignments into an AI tool, which can lead to plagiarism concerns.

In contrast, she explained the anatomy of a good prompt, which includes:

  • Providing background information such as the class, topic, assignment type and academic level.
  • Clearly state what the AI should do.
  •  Describe the desired format, such as outline, paragraph, list or table.
  •  Setting specific constraints, such as word limits, tone and requirements

In a handout given to participants, sample prompt starters were provided to help students create well-written prompts.

At the bottom of the handout, it states it was adapted and edited from generative AI, Microsoft Copilot Chat and ChatGPT.

Montenegro said the workshops also serve as open forums where students can discuss their issues with AI, rather than only receiving instruction.

For example, in her last workshop a student mentioned a complex situation in which their group wasn’t clear about their use of AI on an assignment.

“They were all creating content on their own, and one student used AI to generate all of their content,” Montenegro said.

“Even though the other students didn’t use AI, the whole assignment was flagged.” 

That is an issue Montenegro had not thought about, plans to discuss more about plagiarism in upcoming workshops. 

The next Understanding Generative AI workshop will take place May 13 in the library, Room F3-101, from noon to 1 p.m.