How to Use ChatGPT or Claude for an Assignment

ChatGPT and Claude can meaningfully help with assignments: understanding the question, planning your approach, reviewing a draft, and finding gaps in your argument. What they cannot do is replace your thinking without putting your grade — and your learning — at risk. The practical goal is to use them so you are doing the work and they are making it better.

Tools like fenbs let you keep the assignment brief, your sources, and your session notes outside any one AI chat, so you can pick up where you left off in ChatGPT, Claude, or any other connected assistant without losing the thread of your research.

Check your course's AI policy first

Every institution and instructor handles AI tools differently. Some courses prohibit AI assistance entirely. Others allow it for brainstorming or grammar checks but not for generating content. Some require disclosure. There is no universal rule, and the policies are changing quickly.

Once you know what is allowed, you can plan which parts of the assignment you will use AI for and which you will do entirely on your own.

Start with your own thinking

The most common mistake is opening ChatGPT before you have thought about the question yourself. When you skip that step, you get an answer shaped by the AI's interpretation of the prompt rather than your own understanding. Read the assignment carefully, note what you already know, and write a rough outline before asking the AI for anything.

Your own notes — however rough — give you a basis for judging the AI's response. When the AI says something different from what you expected, you can ask why, which is where real learning often happens.

How to work from an assignment rubric

1. Paste the assignment instructions or rubric into the chat. Ask ChatGPT or Claude to summarize what the assignment is asking for and what criteria will be used to grade it. Check whether the summary matches your own reading.
2. Ask the AI to identify the two or three most important questions your answer must address. Compare that list to your notes. Add or adjust your outline based on what you find.
3. Write your own first draft. Do not ask the AI to write the draft for you at this stage — the argument and the evidence should come from you.
4. Paste your draft and ask for feedback on one specific thing: argument clarity, logical gaps, or whether you have addressed each rubric point. Targeted feedback is more useful than a general review.
5. Revise your draft based on the feedback you agree with. Ignore suggestions that change your meaning, introduce factual claims you cannot verify, or sound like a different writer than you.

Verifying the sources ChatGPT suggests

ChatGPT can suggest plausible-sounding sources that do not exist. It can also summarize real sources inaccurately. If your assignment requires citations, treat every source the AI mentions as unverified until you find it yourself — through your library database, Google Scholar, or a direct search.

Before you cite something, find the original document, read the relevant section, and confirm that the AI's description of it is accurate. A citation you cannot verify is one you should not use. See how to use Claude vs ChatGPT for how each handles research and sourcing differently.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Submitting AI-generated text as your own without checking your course policy. This can result in academic penalties.
• Copying AI output directly. The AI's voice and sentence structure differ from yours in ways instructors and plagiarism tools may detect.
• Accepting invented citations. Always verify sources independently before citing them.
• Using AI to understand a topic without ever checking a primary source. AI summaries can contain errors that a real source would immediately clarify.
• Letting AI change your argument. If a suggestion rewrites your thesis, you are no longer working on your assignment — you are working on the AI's version of it.

How to do this with fenbs

1. Create a free account and add a project for the course or assignment.
2. Paste the assignment brief and rubric into the project as a context note. Include your instructor's AI policy so any connected assistant knows the rules.
3. As you find sources, add them to fenbs as Links so they are easy to find in the next session.
4. Connect ChatGPT or Claude to fenbs from Integrations. Ask it to read the project context before working so it understands the assignment scope and any restrictions.
5. At the end of each session, save what you completed, which sources still need checking, and what the next writing step is in Where we left off.

fenbs does not import your ChatGPT or Claude chat history automatically. You add the facts worth keeping. For other approaches to working with AI efficiently, see how to use ChatGPT efficiently and the related AI at work guides. For comparing ChatGPT to Claude for academic and study work, Claude vs ChatGPT covers the key differences.