Let's be honest: writing a paper isn't just "sitting down and writing." It's structuring ideas, revising again and again, paying attention to language, adapting the tone... and all while trying to maintain scientific rigor.
Now, what if you could speed up part of that process without losing quality? This is where the well-designed prompts.
Yes, AI can help you write a paper… but only if you know how to ask it.
What is the purpose of AI when writing a paper?
Before you start copying and pasting text, there's something important to understand: AI shouldn't write your paper for you.
But it can help you with many key tasks:
- structure the document
- Improve writing
- reformulate ideas
- generate initial drafts
- review consistency and style
In other words, it acts more like a scientific writing assistant as a substitute.
What should a good prompt for writing scientific articles include?
Not all prompts are suitable for writing a paper. In fact, generic ones often produce quite poor results.
A good prompt should include:
- Context: topic, discipline, technical level
- AimWhat exactly do you want (to summarize, write, improve…)
- Part of the paperIntroduction, methodology, discussion…
- Format or styleformal, technical, concise
The more specific you are, the better the result.
Prompts for each part of a paper (with examples)
Introduction
Basic prompt: “Write an introduction about artificial intelligence”
Optimized prompt: “Write an introduction for a scientific article on the use of artificial intelligence in medical diagnosis. Include current context, relevance of the topic, and objective of the study. Use a formal and academic tone.”
State of the art
“Summarize the main lines of research on language models applied to biomedicine, highlighting recent advances and current limitations. Organize your response into coherent paragraphs.”
Methodology
“Help me write the methodology section for an observational study in molecular biology. Describe the study design, data collection, and analysis, using clear and technical language.”
Results
“Draft the results section using this data: [add data]. Describe the findings objectively, without interpreting the results.”
Discussion
“"Develop a scientific discussion based on these results: [add summary]. Compare with previous studies, mention possible limitations, and suggest future lines of research."”
Prompts to improve what you've already written
Here is one of the most powerful (and least risky) uses:
Improve writing
“Rewrite this paragraph to have a clearer, more formal style, appropriate for a scientific article: [text]”
Reduce extension
“Reduce this text to a 50% while maintaining the main ideas and academic tone”
Correct consistency
“Analyze this text and point out possible inconsistencies, repetitions, or improvements in the argumentative structure.”
Common mistakes when using AI to write papers
This is where many fail:
- Using overly generic prompts
- Copy directly without checking
- Not adapting the language to the scientific context
- Asking too much in a single prompt
- Do not iterate or adjust
Remember: The AI proposes, you decide.
How to integrate these prompts into your workflow
It's not about using AI only at the end. You can integrate it at various stages:
- To structure the paper
- To generate first drafts
- To improve writing
- To check consistency
Start slowly. You don't need to change your entire process all at once.
Well-designed prompts can turn AI into a real ally, but the scientific value remains yours. AI doesn't do the research for you. It helps you communicate your research more effectively..
Biotechnologist and biostatistician specializing in data analysis and artificial intelligence applied to research. Founder of Maxymia, combines science and technology to develop solutions and training in automation for the scientific field.
