Influence of ChatGPT for Essay Writing: Documenting for Transparency and Academic Integrity

Introduction

How to approach ChatGPT for essay writing? Here is where I am as of today with AI use in my classroom. On one hand, there is the academic dishonesty. Not all students will choose to use ChatGPT, but some will. The overuse of study sis like SparkNotes is already common among high schoolers and I feel like it’s only a matter of time before students are commonly using it.

On the other hand, the business world is already implementing and in some cases requiring employees to use ChatGPT assistance. The important word there is assistance. Business experts are touting its use, but not as a replacement for human copy.

So where does that put us? I see our jobs as English teachers as multifold. 

1. We encourage reading and writing in all its forms because they help us understand ourselves and everyone around us. So, we need to keep helping students read and write authentically.
2. We prepare students for reading, writing, and communicating after they leave high school. So, if their world will include leveraging AI, perhaps we should figure out how to help them do so responsibly and ethically.
3. We help students think about the importance of intellectual property and share responsibility for helping them understand the importance of documenting sources. There are MLA guidelines around using generative AI. It makes sense to me that we would give students practice properly documenting AI.

When I was a younger teacher one of my favorite quizzes was to give students a page of SparkNotes and to have them write five details that weren’t present. I liked it because it clued them in to the fact that I knew what was on SparkNotes and also that I was expecting them to do better than what could be found there. For students that ACTUALLY read, it was easy.

Reading quizzes are not really my style these days, but I think the spirit of the assignment can apply here. I want them to know that I know that it exists and to convey that I’m expecting that they don’t deliver me ChatGPT (or Bard or Bing AI or whatever other generative AI comes to pass).

So, what’s the game plan?

The Process of Using ChatGPT for Brainstorming

Before I was a teacher, I had a job in the business world. My mentor told me that they always wanted to make the agenda because then they could control the conversation. This is the way I’m looking at ChatGPT in my classroom.

With this in mind, I’d like to take a moment to talk about language. When documenting the use of generative AI, the Modern Language Association (MLA) has instructed not to give AI credit as an author. I think this is an important distinction. Similarly, I will be instructing students to continue asking these lines as they discuss their use of AI. We can refer to what AI returns as “generated content” and maintain “writing” as a human endeavor. 

I’m reminded of a line from Macbeth. The play revolves around the central question: Is Macbeth driven by fate, or does Macbeth create a self-fulfilling prophecy. When he reflects on his meeting the three weird sisters, he interprets that they have given him his new title, not that he earned it and they foresaw it. If only Banquo was able to correct Macbeth’s perspective at this point and keep Macbeth from his fall from grace. 

Likewise, we have the opportunity to help our students avoid the downward spiral of Macbeth by properly framing their relationship with ChatGPT by encouraging them to maintain their agency as authors and use ChatGPT as a tool, not a replacement for their own creative and intellectual effort. If using generative tools, students must critically evaluate and contextualize the AI-generated ideas within their own writing process.

Step 1: Setting Up and Initiating the ChatGPT Session

So, continuing to control the conversation, here’s the way I am thinking I want students to start their exchange with ChatGPT. 

The first step I would like students to take is to prime ChatGPT to play the role of brainstorming partner. The first step should be for the students to provide context and guidance to ChatGPT. Students can do so with a prompt like this: I am working on an essay. Here’s the prompt [insert prompt]. But before we get into working on the essay, ask me five questions about my thinking that will help you provide me with the best guidance.

After asking and answering the questions, the next step is dependent on the student and their needs.

1. I’m having trouble getting started. Can you suggest an outline based on my responses?
2. Here is the approach I’m planning on taking [describe ideas]. What should I include to be sure I am thoroughly explaining my perspective?
3. I know I want to talk about [x], but I’m not sure what else I could include to have a full argument. What suggestions can you give?

Step 2: Documenting the Dialogue and Use of ChatGPT for Essay Writing

If we set this up right, our students’ use of AI can help inform where we need to give students additional support so that the next time they are given a similar task they do not need ChatGPT in the same way. For this reason (among reasons), I am going to ask students to give me a log of their conversation with ChatGPT. 

Documenting AI use can provide transparency, demonstrate academic integrity, and support critical reflection.

Step 3: Asking ChatGPT Open-ended Questions

In my playing around with the tool, I’m feeling at least somewhat comfortable with generative AI as a brainstorming partner and also as a check-in. Here are some prompts I like: 

1. What ways can I improve on my text: [insert text]
2. Where can I expand on my ideas? 
3. What is another perspective related to x?
4. How can I improve my organization?

At this stage I plan to encourage students to ask open-ended questions to prompt creative thinking and gather diverse ideas. Not all students are great at questioning techniques, so I expect scaffolding will be needed at this point.

Step 4: Using ChatGPT for Essay Writing by Integrating Ideas Ethically

A question I’m not crazy about: What examples or evidence can I use to support their arguments. 

Here’s where it gets sticky for me. There are pros and cons here. For me, this is potentially the place where students lose their hold on authorship and where students may commit ai-assisted plagiarism. ChatGPT tends to give a lot of information to this prompt, and depending on the content, it could be very wrong. So, an approach might be to have ChatGPT generate examples and require students to fact check, or if assistance is needed at this point ask ChatGPT for suggestions for where students might look for examples. 

But…that might be made up, too. 

I’m a little torn here. It may be good for students to see responses and perhaps see it come out wrong and know some of the limitations for using ChatGPT for essay writing.

I’ve heard of programmers trying to use ChatGPT for code, seeing the mistake and trying to get ChatGPT to fix it and ChatGPT getting increasingly apologetic for the error, but unable to fix it.

Step 5: Organizing and Structuring Ideas

I’m somewhat neutral/haven’t made up my mind about receiving assistance from AI for organizing ideas. Perhaps a prompt like this would work: Based on this chat, give me 10 categories of information could I include in my essay.

With this prompt, students will receive a variety of ideas and they will still have to determine which best make sense for their own thinking.

A prompt that could potentially work: Provide two different potential outlines for this essay, based on our conversation. 

In the previous prompt students might add “include the strengths and weaknesses of each outline.” Depending on the student level that could yield some interesting reflections.

Guidelines for Documenting AI Use

While not a requirement of MLA format, I’m going to ask students to highlight content they quote or paraphrase from ChatGPT. My thinking is we can use the visual to prompt a discussion about what percentage of AI-assisted content seems reasonable. This is something I will have to consider myself over the next few weeks, because I am not sure myself. 

Many students have trouble properly documenting sources that are not AI. Some would argue that for this reason, students will not get this right. My approach for the first go round will be to craft a prompt where the only source will be ChatGPT so we can practice this on its own, or perhaps we will add regular sources as a second layer of research.

Conclusion 

Incorporating ChatGPT as a brainstorming partner in the essay writing process can be a powerful tool for students. By properly framing their relationship with AI, students can maintain their agency as authors and use ChatGPT as an assistive tool rather than a replacement for their own creative and intellectual effort.

Drawing inspiration from Macbeth, we can see the importance of properly interpreting and contextualizing the ideas generated by ChatGPT. Just as Macbeth’s skewed perspective led to his downfall, students must critically evaluate and contextualize AI-generated ideas within their own writing process. When using ChatGPT for essay writing, they should approach it as a valuable tool that provides guidance and sparks creativity, but it should not replace their own thinking and analysis.

By embracing AI tools responsibly and teaching students to navigate them ethically, we equip them with the skills to adapt and excel in an ever-evolving world.

Natural Next Steps After an Assignment using ChatGPT for Essay Writing

After exploring the soulless nature of AI, looking more at the connection of humans to nature may be in order. Check out more with this post: Exploring AI in Education Through Transcendentalism: Navigating the Implications and Important Discussions for High School English Teachers

This post approached the process of writing an argumentive or persuasive essay. If you would like ideas about how to use AI with narrative writing, check out Annotated ELAs post about this topic.