Help me identify what I don't understand
Sometimes, we don't know what it is that we don't understand about a concept. Here, we chat through an example of how to prompt AI to unpick these blocks and get working again.
Help me identify what I don't understand
Tagline
Purpose
Education is about being at our intellectual limits. This regularly means we encounter ideas that we do not understand. Working with AI, we can develop a sense of what part of the process we are struggling with and work to understand it.
Explanation
The key to making prompting from this position of "not knowing" work is fully accepting that confusion. This means that we can start from the very basics and build a strong understanding that will last.
Example prompt
"Hello, I am a first-year undergraduate student studying English Literature and I'm struggling to understand what Edward Said is discussing in "Orientalism". Would you be able to start by giving a simple explanation of the concept with references to the text so that I can read your definition and read the text alongside it? Thank you!"
AI response
Absolutely! Here’s a clear, simple way to understand Edward Said’s concept in Orientalism, while linking it to the text so you can read alongside:
Simple Explanation of Orientalism
Key Idea:
- Orientalism refers to the way Western scholars, writers, and artists have historically represented “the East” (Asia, the Middle East, North Africa) in a way that makes it seem exotic, backward, or fundamentally different from the West.
- Said argues that these representations are not neutral; they are shaped by power and politics and often serve to justify Western dominance over Eastern societies.
How to Read the Text Alongside This:
- Chapter 1: Introduces the idea of Orientalism as a framework of knowledge that portrays the East as “the Other.” Look for examples where Said describes how Western writers generalize about Eastern societies.
- Chapter 2–3: Discuss how Orientalist scholarship has influenced politics and culture. Note passages where Said examines specific texts or authors — these are concrete illustrations of the concept.
- Key takeaway: As you read, ask yourself: How is the East being represented? Who is speaking, and what power do they have? This will help identify the points you might not fully understand yet.
Tip for Clarifying Difficult Points:
- Highlight phrases or examples that confuse you.
- Try summarizing each paragraph in your own words after reading — even one sentence helps.
- Compare your summary with the explanation above to see if it matches the concept.
Additional considerations
- Use the AI summary as a gateway, not a destination: Compare the AI summary to your own notes, those of your lecturers, and the text itself. The aim is for the AI summary to help you break down and understand the original, not to take the AI summary at face value.
- Check for bias: Just as with the sources it is trained on, the AI model may produce biases, misreadings, or oversimplifications. Be sure to check for these. You can book an appointment with Skills for Academic Success to chat through this (click here to book).
- Consider "learning by teaching": This flips the roles and puts you in the place of the teacher. This can expose any biases or errors in the original output by getting the AI model to look at this from a different angle. It also deepens your own understanding by engaging from that different angle. Access the section on "learning by teaching" in the prompt bank.
