Generative AI

This resource is designed to:

• Enhance your understanding of how GenAI can assist with editing your work, including improving clarity and proofreading.
• Develop your skills for creating effective prompts to tailor GenAI responses to meet your editing goal/s.
• Recognise the potential need for acknowledging GenAI use in assessments to ensure academic integrity.

Generative AI (GenAI) can be a useful tool to enhance the structure and clarity of your work. It can carry out many proofreading functions, including highlighting spelling and grammatical errors, as well as provide tailored feedback based on the prompts you provide.

Key ideas to remember before using GenAI for editing:

• Understand the difference between editing and generating: AI can refine but not create the work.
• Maintain ownership of what you have written and learned: Students must do the thinking and writing themselves.
• Make sure you use AI ethically: AI should be treated like a writing assistant, not a content provider.

Examples of tools you would be permitted to use include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Grammarly: This tool provides real-time spelling, grammar, and style suggestions to improve clarity and conciseness. It can help identify passive voice, suggest alternative phrasing, and ensure your writing is grammatically sound.
• Writefull: Designed specifically for academic writing, Writefull offers AI-powered feedback on grammar, word choice, and sentence structure. It also provides discipline-specific language suggestions and checks for consistency in academic tone.
• Copilot: Integrated into Microsoft Word and other applications, Copilot helps refine your writing by summarising long passages, restructuring sentences for better readability, and offering contextual improvements. It can also assist with generating alternative wording to enhance precision and flow.

Note: While these tools can enhance your writing, it is important to critically evaluate AI-generated suggestions to ensure they align with your intended meaning and maintain academic integrity.

Acceptable use of GenAI for editing

Step 1: Provide the GenAI tool the context.

• For example: "I am a xth year university student in Australia studying xxxx. I am writing an assignment about xxxxx. The final work should be of an academic tone."

Step 2: Expand prompt according to your focus area.

Try adding one of the following prompts in Table 1 below. Make sure to adjust to your context and the editing area you want to focus on.

Unacceptable use of GenAI for editing

It is unacceptable to use prompts that violate academic integrity. As a general rule, any prompt that askes GenAI to "write", "rewrite", "generate", or "create" is unethical. Table 2 provides examples of unacceptable prompts that should NOT be used:

Step 1: Finish your first draft

Before you use AI, make sure you save a full draft (even a "messy" one is fine!). Remember that you may be required to provide your draft as part of your acknowledgement of GenAI use, even after submission, so make sure to keep a copy of your original draft.

Step 2: Choose your editing focus

Pick one area you want help with, such as grammar and punctuation, clarity and readability, academic tone, or word choice and conciseness. For more ideas for editing focus areas, review Table 1 above.

Step 3: Use a SMART AI Prompt

Provide the context of the assignment first, and then expand on the specific focus area you would like help with.

• Example Prompt: "I am doing a university assignment on [context]... Please review my writing for [insert focus, e.g., grammar and sentence flow]. Highlight any awkward sentences, unclear ideas, or grammar mistakes. Suggest improvements to make the writing more polished and clearer. Make sure the meaning of my ideas stays the same."

For more example prompts, have a look at Table 1 above.

Step 4: Review the AI Feedback Carefully

This is a crucial step! Keep suggestions that improve clarity, structure, or professionalism. Watch out for suggestions that change your meaning — your voice and ideas matter!

Step 5: Revise Your Draft

Save a copy of your original work (before making any GenAI edit suggestions) - this is VERY important as it demonstrates your original work and may also be required for submission. Then, thoughtfully use the GenAI suggestions to make any changes. You are the final editor, not the AI!

• Note: When accepting edits from GenAI, always ensure your writing still clearly conveys the point you intended to make. Sometimes suggestions can unintentionally change the meaning of your original message, so it’s important to review and adjust as needed.

Step 6: Acknowledge that you have used AI

Provide the appropriate acknowledgement for your AI use according to assignment instructions. For more details on how to acknowledge GenAI use, please see the below library guide: