From Idea to Journal Submission: A 3-Day Ethical AI Research Paper System

DAY 1: Thinking Like a Researcher (Foundation Day)

From vague topic → publishable research question

What learners will do:

• Learn how real researchers think before writing
• Stop guessing topics and start problem-driven research
• Understand where AI should and should NOT be used

Key Modules Covered:

1. Step 0: Problem Thinking (Human-First)
   • Topic vs problem vs research question
   • The Explain-to-a-Non-Researcher test
   • One-sentence research problem framework
   • Converting a problem into a testable research question
2. Ethical AI Boundary Setup
   • When to open AI (and when not to)
   • Using AI only for verification, not idea generation
   • Safe prompts for checking originality & saturation
3. Step 1: Research Question Refinement
   • How editors silently judge research questions
   • The 4 Editor Filters: scope, method, context, contribution
   • Journal scope mapping using AI (ethical use)
   • Human-led refinement of the final research question

Deliverables by End of Day 1:

• ✔ Clear, one-sentence research problem
• ✔ Final, publishable research question
• ✔ Shortlist of 2–3 suitable journals

DAY 2: Literature Review Without Plagiarism or AI Detection

Find less, think more, write better

What learners will do:

• Learn how to find only relevant literature
• Avoid drowning in PDFs
• Build a review that sounds human, critical, and original

Key Modules Covered:

1. Step 2: Ethical Literature Discovery
   • Using AI as a research librarian, not a writer
   • Identifying core and anchor papers
   • Inclusion–exclusion logic (what to keep, what to drop)
   • Detecting debates, contradictions, and gaps
   • Creating a clean theme map
2. Thematic Structuring (A–B–C Model)
   • Author A agrees
   • Author B contradicts
   • Author C extends
   • Avoiding summary-style literature reviews
3. Step 3: Human-Written Literature Review
   • Sentence-by-sentence synthesis framework
   • Why AI-written LRs get rejected
   • How to sound critical, not descriptive

Deliverables by End of Day 2:

• ✔ Curated literature set
• ✔ Thematic table (thinking aid)
• ✔ Structurally ready literature review draft

DAY 3: From Review to Submission-Ready Paper

Methods, results logic, integrity & submission

What learners will do:

• Convert literature into objectives & hypotheses
• Build a clean conceptual framework
• Understand results, methodology, and integrity checks
• See the complete paper journey end-to-end

Key Modules Covered:

1. Step 4: Writing the Introduction (Editor-Safe)
   • Standard journal introduction flow
   • Why introductions written first fail
   • AI used only for structure, not prose
2. Step 5: Objectives, Hypotheses & Conceptual Framework
   • Gap → objective → hypothesis logic
   • Clean variable mapping
   • Beginner-friendly conceptual framework design
3. Step 6: Methodology (High-Risk Section)
   • Research design options
   • Sampling & sample size logic
   • Measurement using validated scales
   • SPSS & PLS-SEM overview (no fake data)
4. Step 7–10: Results to Submission
   • Results structure & reporting conventions
   • Discussion & conclusion logic
   • Abstract writing & plagiarism reality
   • Cover letter & live submission checklist

Deliverables by End of Day 3:

• ✔ Complete research paper structure
• ✔ Journal-ready abstract & cover letter
• ✔ Ethical AI confidence (no fear of detection)
• ✔ Clear submission roadmap