“Help Me Understand” Any Text with ChatGPT
In ChatGPT or your favorite AI Chatbot, cut and paste the following prompt to help you or your students understand a passage, paper or text. To get started, replace each bracket with the information for each section.
Help Me Understand… Prompt
I am a [grade level] student reading [book title] by [author] for [type of class]. I want to understand what this passage from [chapter/section/act] means in the context of the [piece/play/book/article].
Example Prompt
I am an 11th grade student reading Macbeth by William Shakespeare for English class. I want to understand what this passage from Act 1 Scene 2 means in the context of the play and the historical context of when it was written.
Make the Prompt Work for You or Your Students
Ask ChatGPT to help fill in the gaps in your knowledge - have the chatbot summarize and analyze the piece in addition to providing the historical and literary context.
Upload an entire passage into ChatGPT to have it analyze it directly.
Have ChatGPT identify any vocabulary words, or define any unfamiliar words.
Use ChatGPT to help you understand how this passage relates to the main themes of the piece. In the example above, you could ask, “How does this scene relate to the play’s key themes, motifs, and dramatic techniques?”
Enlist the help of ChatGPT to prepare for potential assessments, once you understand the passage. In this example you might ask, “What are some ways my teacher might quiz me on this scene? I want to be prepared so that I can study.”
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Developed in partnership with Isabella Ferrer and Brooke Joseph from The Knowledge Society.