AI and the Writing Process
Guidance to help you work with Artificial Intelligence tools responsibly when planning and drafting your written work.
Writing with AI tools to support your learning
Copying your assignment brief into a Generative AI tool such as Copilot or ChatGPT, or using Grammarly to rewrite your assignment with fewer words, in a different style, is not the way to academic success.
The purpose of assessment is to measure your progress against the intended learning outcomes for your programme. It allows you to demonstrate your understanding and ability to analyse and apply the knowledge and skills gained through your learning. Submitting an output from Generative AI in place of your own writing, or relying on tools to an extent that takes you away from good academic practice, won't demonstrate your learning. So how can you successfully write with AI and build AI tools into the planning, drafting and editing stages of the writing process?
Whilst you must ensure any work you submit for assessment is your own, working critically and responsibly with AI can be a useful learning tool. The key thing to think about is that in order to get the best from these tools, we need to focus on their capacity to help us develop and articulate our own ideas, rather than expecting them to generate or communicate ideas on our behalf.
Why can’t AI write my assignment if it will produce better work?
Even if AI tools were capable of producing a flawless piece of writing, your markers wouldn’t want to see it instead of yours. Your markers don’t want to see the best possible work; they want to see your best possible work. They want to hear your voice, your ideas and see what you have learned within the module or during your programme.
It is also important to consider the long-term cost for your learning and progression through your programme. Using AI technology to write or edit your work may seem like a ‘quick fix’ for your assessments but your assessments are designed to help you build on knowledge and transition between stages and levels of study. As with most quick fixes, you will be creating much more work for yourself in the future.
Your voice is important, not AI's
It can be challenging to see yourself as a writer especially if it is not something that comes naturally, that you have not had opportunity to practice, or something that you lack confidence in. Remember that all writing at university is about communication. Writing in any style for an academic purpose, whether it is for a report, essay or reflection should be a bridge, not a barrier, between you and the reader.
As you progress through your degree, your knowledge will develop, and your ideas will become more nuanced and sophisticated as you encounter increasingly challenging course material. The purpose of improving your academic writing is to support and reflect this process, and to allow you to become better at expressing your increasingly complex ideas. No one’s writing is perfect, at any level, and your markers genuinely favour authenticity over fake perfection.
It’s also important to be mindful of the limitations of Generative AI, especially in how the tools are trained and build content.
Maintaining good academic practice
When used responsibly digital tools, including AI, can help you succeed at university. The tools themselves do not cause poor practice or academic misconduct, it entirely depends how you have used them and for what purpose. To help you maintain good academic practice throughout your studies, raise your awareness of the importance of academic integrity and acknowledging when, and how, you use AI in your assessed work.
