Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is being increasingly integrated into academic writing helping to streamline and enhance your academic writing. Powered by Large Language Models (LLM), these tools operate as stand-alone platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude etc. but are also integrated into word processors such as Copilot in Microsoft Word, Gemini in Google Docs etc. For example, they can contribute in different ways to the steps in writing processes from suggesting potential topics, assisting in planning your draft, engaging with source material, summarising texts, as well as proofreading and editing. They can also provide feedback on your writing and even help you identify relationships between your work and the instructions and criteria for a writing task.
Writing ethically, appropriately and effectively with GenAI are academic and job-ready skills that we all need to develop. However, writing with new tools requires careful consideration and developing good writing habits.
To maximise benefits of GenAI, you need to use it throughout the writing process. This begins with understanding your task requirements, planning the structure and content, and deciding the most effective ways of using GenAI along the process. To ensure that the GenAI tools are used effectively to enhance your academic writing, it is crucial to critically evaluate the AI-generated content and thoughtfully integrate it into your own work.
Keep in mind that, if you are allowed to use GenAI in any written task, that use must be properly acknowledged in your submission. By doing so you can elevate your academic writing while maintaining your unique voice and using GenAI ethically.
Watch the video below for an overview of how you might integrate GenAI into your writing process. This video was produced in partnership with Monash University students.
Note
It is important to check whether GenAI is allowed for your assessment, and how it may be used. Some assessments have strict requirements, such as only allowing GenAI for planning, or not allowing GenAI at all. To determine if GenAI is allowed in your assessments, carefully review the instructions and
guidelines for each task on Moodle. Check for any mentions of GenAI tools and their usage restrictions. If the information is unclear or missing, consult your instructor for clarification before using GenAI in your assessments.
Understand the writing process Familiarise yourself with the stages of writing. Each stage, from understanding the task through to final proofreading, requires different approaches and tools. Knowing the stages of writing helps you use GenAI tools more effectively.
Identify where and how GenAI can assist Recognise which parts of the writing process can benefit from GenAI tools, and use GenAI to support those areas.
Understand the writing task Grasp the requirements and content of your task. Break down the task instructions to ensure you understand all aspects. You can use GenAI to clarify complex instructions and identify the main objectives, but confirm your understanding with your educators.
Repeat, revise, experiment Continuously refine your approach with GenAI tools. Experiment with different GenAI tools and features to find what works best for each individual writing task. Always ask for multiples before you proceed to review, evaluate, and fact check. Use GenAI suggestions
as well as your critical thinking and evaluative judgement to regularly revise and improve your drafts.
Be critical Remember, GenAI is a tool that requires your input and oversight. Always critically evaluate the content generated by GenAI. Ensure it aligns with your task requirements and intended voice.
Acknowledge use of GenAI appropriately Ensure that you adhere to guidelines on GenAI use and acknowledgement. Follow Monash guidelines on GenAI usage to properly acknowledge
any AI-generated content used in your work. This can also help you avoid academic integrity issues that result from not appropriately acknowledging use of GenAI.
Keeping track of your contributions
You must keep track of when and how you use GenAI in your writing tasks. This is especially important for marked assessments, as acknowledging GenAI use in those cases is a requirement at Monash University. While specific requirements for declaring GenAI can vary from one task to the next, properly documenting the use of GenAI ensures transparency and maintains academic integrity. Keeping track of the contributions of GenAI to your writing also allows you to reflect on the writing process and the development of your ideas.
One way to keep track of GenAI use this is by keeping copies of the prompts you use, as well as copies of the output. This allows you to show exactly how the GenAI contributed to your work and provides a clear record for reference. Additionally, using colour-coding in drafts can help distinguish between content generated by GenAI and your original writing, making it easier to track and review the GenAI's contribution.
Writing as a process
Writing is a process of active and critical thinking, crafting, drafting, reflecting, revising, and learning, which results in a final product. Understanding writing as a process is crucial for producing high-quality academic work. The process typically involves four key phases: understanding the task, planning, drafting, and revising. Each stage has distinct tasks and objectives and often requires several iterations. AI tools can contribute in different ways at each stage so that you can simultaneously develop and deliver the work while you build a range of critical thinking and writing skills. As such, decide where and how GenAI can assist you at different stages of the writing process. Also, decide if it would also be helpful to have personalised advice from a learning adviser or your tutor.
Understanding the requirements, objectives and relevant marking criteria for a writing task is the first crucial step. This stage sets the foundation for your entire writing project and ensures that your work addresses the requirements and expected standards. By effectively utilising GenAI tools during this phase, you can enhance your understanding of the task instructions and requirements, and streamline your approach to the task.
Your role
Potential role for GenAI
Breaking down the task instructions: Start by breaking down the task instructions into manageable parts and looking for specific instructions regarding the format, length, expected structure, and academic genre.
Determining what needs to be done: Determining what is needed to succeed involves identifying the task objectives and how it is being evaluated. This makes it crucial to pay attention to any rubrics and guidelines that are provided.
Analysing task instructions: Consider using GenAI to break down the task for you and highlight specific instructions regarding the format, length, and structure. It can also highlight how to complete the task successfully based on the assessment objectives, marking criteria and guidelines.
Identifying key requirements: GenAI can highlight the key words such as "critical analysis", “persuasive writing”, and "use of peer-reviewed sources” in the assessment brief, helping you focus on the critical elements that need to be addressed in your work.
Clarifying the academic genre: GenAI can help you understand specific conventions and requirements of the academic genre (type of writing), such as an argumentative essay, lab report, research proposal, or literature review. This should help you tailor your approach to the task and meet genre-specific expectations. You should always clearly structure your work and present your arguments with supporting evidence. GenAI can sometimes help with examples appropriate to your field/discipline.
Here is an example prompt for this stage of the writing process:
By leveraging GenAI tools during this stage of your writing, and integrating your own knowledge, evaluative judgement, and critical thinking, you can ensure that you have set a good foundation on which to develop your draft.
Planning is a critical stage in the writing process where you organise your ideas and content into an expected structure before diving into the drafting phase. Depending on the task structure and other expectations, this stage can involve outlining your structure, developing a thesis statement and main arguments, and organising your ideas and resources. By effectively utilising GenAI tools during this phase you can brainstorm ideas, and organise your response to the task, and, based on these, prepare a draft outline. If you use GenAI during this stage, it is essential to integrate your own understanding, content knowledge, and critical thinking throughout the stage. For example, while GenAI can offer suggestions for sub-points, it is crucial to build these out using your own understanding, content knowledge, and research findings. Here are a few things that GenAI can help you with at the stage of planning your response.
Your role
Potential role for GenAI
Researching: Start by researching and compiling necessary resources for your writing task. This can involve: conducting a preliminary search to gather background information on the topic.
Reading and note-taking: Continue by reading and annotating your sources, analysing and synthesising them, identifying key themes, and paraphrasing and summarising relevant sections from them.
Create a plan: Create a plan that addresses the task requirements. In this stage, you should create an outline that includes sections such as an abstract, introduction, body paragraphs, and/or conclusion as needed.
Main and supporting arguments: Another crucial step in planning involves formulating your main points and supporting arguments. During this stage you can also reach out for personalised advice from a learning adviser, a librarian, or your tutor.
Consolidating your understanding of the task: You can ask GenAI to generate questions from the instructions to ensure all aspects are covered. For example, if the instructions ask you to discuss the impact of climate change on agriculture, you can ask GenAI to create a few sub-questions such as "How does climate change affect crop yields?" or "What are the economic impacts on farmers?" for you. This analysis helps ensure that you do not miss any critical components and provides a clear direction for your research and writing.
Helping to brainstorm for ideas and relevant information: GenAI can assist by summarising potential source materials such as academic articles and book chapters, identifying key themes. Also, and only if relevant and allowed in your assessment, GenAI can suggest specific journals, books, and articles that could be relevant to your topic. For example, if your topic is on renewable energy, GenAI can provide summaries of source material, helping you quickly build a strong foundation of knowledge. Understanding the type of sources that are most appropriate for your academic genre, such as sources for a research proposal or scholarly articles for a literature review, will further refine your planning process and improve the quality of your writing.
Clustering and organising ideas and resources: GenAI can assist in several ways by:
mind mapping to visually organise your main points, sub-points, and evidence and help you see the connections between different parts of your draft
resource management to help you categorise and annotate your research materials, making it easier to integrate them into your writing
reference list formatting based on the required citing and referencing system.
Proposing an outline for your draft structure: GenAI can assist in several specific ways by:
suggesting outline templates as a starting point for organising your thoughts
evaluating and adjusting the structure of your outline and suggesting reordering of sections for better coherence, clarity, and flow
expanding outline details to ensure the depth and accuracy of your writing.
If asking for outlines, it is advisable to always ask for multiples, three to five, and then use your evaluative judgement to decide and synthesise those suggestions.
Example prompt chain
Initial prompt
I am a [insert some background information about yourself; for example, second year student of literary studies] planning my response for a written task. The topic of the writing is [insert the general topic, instructions or task]. Your task is to 1. suggest at least [12] highly relevant
concepts for my writing 2. suggest an outline for my writing draft for this task in the form of a/an [insert the expected structure of the draft such as essay, report, paragraph], with a [insert word limit; for example, 2000] word limit. Don't give me any suggestions about sources or references.
Subsequent prompt 1
Now, I am sharing with you a PDF file of my writing assignment instructions. I am also sharing with you my and your proposed outlines for my response to this written task.
Here is my proposed outline
[insert outline]
Here is your proposed outline
[insert outline]
Your task is to 1. read the task instructions from the PDF file 2. highlight task requirements and marking criteria of the task 3. use the task requirements and marking criteria to list the strengths of my proposed outline and strengths of your proposed outline separately 4. give me reasons why you have chosen each strength in 3. 5. use the strengths from 3 to give me a new outline for my response for this writing task.
Subsequent prompt 2
Now, I am sharing with you an outline for my written task here:
[insert outline]
I am also sharing with you some concepts and ideas for my written task here:
[insert concepts and ideas]
Your task is to 1. use the concepts and ideas to expand the outline by adding sub-points and supporting details into my outline. 2. organise the concepts and ideas in the outline in a clear and logical way.
By employing GenAI tools during the planning stage while integrating your own knowledge, research, and critical thinking skills, you can ensure that your writing is well-organised, your arguments are robust, and your resources are effectively managed, setting a strong foundation for the drafting phase.
The drafting stage is where you develop your content and arguments based on your outline. This phase involves writing initial drafts, integrating research and evidence, and expanding on key points. You could start with human drafting content to fill in the outline and then check and revise with GenAI. Alternatively, you could start with a GenAI developed draft that you later expand and refine. You can also give the final draft to a GenAI and ask it to improve. GenAI tools can provide valuable support during this stage, but it is crucial to rely on your own understanding, research, and critical thinking to ensure the quality and originality of your work.
It is always important to confirm to what extent GenAI can be used in your task first. If GenAI is allowed to be used for drafting, you must still refrain from using GenAI to write the draft itself. However, you can get it to look at your rough draft and make suggestions for paragraph structure and sentence expression. Here are some ways AI can help you during the drafting stage.
Your role
Potential role for GenAI
Developing your argument and content: Focus on developing your arguments and content according to your outline.
Your voice: While GenAI can provide an outline in the planning stage, you need to ensure that the paragraphs are structured logically in a way that expresses your argument and reflects your own voice.
First draft: A useful starting point for the drafting stage is to write the first draft yourself, using the outline co-generated with GenAI.
Feedback: You can then input this into the AI platform to ask for feedback and suggestions for improvement.
Critical judgement: It is essential that you use your critical judgement to evaluate any suggestions that come from GenAI.
Ensuring the coverage of all main points from the outline: By posting your outline and your draft into the AI platform, you can prompt GenAI to determine whether you have covered all of the points in the outline.
Improving coherence and flow: GenAI can analyse your draft for coherence and flow, suggesting improvements to ensure your ideas are logically organised and connected and your argument progresses smoothly. In particular, AI can
Evaluate your draft to ensure it is using effective paragraph structures, such as TEECL or TEEL
Suggest transitions between paragraphs or sections
Reorder sentences for better clarity, flow, and readability.
Refining language and style: GenAI can provide feedback on your language use, such as identifying overly complex sentences, suggesting synonyms for repeated words, or recommending more academic language where appropriate. It can also help ensure your writing style is consistent throughout the essay.
Identifying gaps in your arguments: GenAI can pinpoint areas in your draft where the development or clarification of arguments is needed. This ensures that your arguments are robust, well-substantiated, and logically presented. For example, GenAI can identify where you may have forgotten to define a term, or where a concept may require more explanation or academic evidence.Once again, it is important to remember that it is ultimately up to you as the writer to critically evaluate the feedback, make necessary revisions, and ensure that your arguments are truly solid and persuasive.
Formatting reference lists: You can use AI-assisted tools such as Endnote, Zotero or Mendeley to help you organise and format your references. These programs are known as reference-management software (RMS) and do not include GenAI functionality. As you insert citations, the RMS will automatically format them according to the selected citation style such as APA, or MLA. It will also create a corresponding entry in the bibliography or reference list. Before finalising your work, always double-check the generated references against the original sources to ensure accuracy and completeness.
Remember, while GenAI can provide valuable support during the drafting stage, it is crucial to critically evaluate its suggestions and maintain your own voice and understanding in your work. Always use your evaluative judgement to ensure the final draft aligns with your original ideas and arguments, and meets the requirements of your writing task.
A process for evaluating a draft is to submit a draft into GenAI and request specific improvements. You can then contrast and compare drafts to identify what changes were made. This comparison can highlight areas where the AI's suggestions have enhanced clarity, coherence, or grammar, and where your original ideas have been preserved or improved. By systematically analysing these differences, you can better understand the strengths and weaknesses of your writing, and effectively incorporate GenAI's feedback to produce a refined final draft. This method not only improves the quality of your work but also hones your editing and critical thinking skills.
Example prompt chain
Initial prompt
I am a [insert some background information about yourself; for example, first year student of marketing], and I have written a rough draft for my assessment on the topic of [insert topic or instructions].
The final writing must be in the form of an [essay, report, …], with a [2000] word limit.
Here is my draft:
[insert your draft]
And here is the outline I used for my draft:
[insert your outline]
Your task is to
1. ensure that I have included all main points from my outline in my draft
2. identify any areas in my draft that may need further development or clarification.
Subsequent prompt 1
Based on your feedback from the previous prompt, I have made some revisions to my draft.
Here is my revised draft:
[insert your draft]
Your task is to
evaluate my draft to ensure it is in TEECL
analyse my revised draft for coherence and flow
suggest improvements to ensure my ideas are logically connected and my argument progresses smoothly
Subsequent prompt 2
I have incorporated your suggestions from the previous prompt into my draft.
Here is my final draft:
[insert your draft]
Your task is to give a final review of my draft to ensure all arguments are fully developed and points are clearly communicated.
Don’t give me any suggestions about sources or references.
GenAI can be used during the editing and proofreading process to check the structure, grammar and clarity of your writing. GenAI can evaluate the overall structure to ensure logical flow and a consistent tone, identify grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, and provide alternative word choices and sentence structures, and suggest changes to maintain a consistent style. Some tools use AI-enabled features that are specifically designed for editing and proofreading. However, as with any other GenAI tool, they can make mistakes, and it is important to incorporate critical thinking and judgement when using GenAI for editing and proofreading.
Many tools, such as Office 365, now use GenAI proofreaders alongside their traditional proofreading tools, allowing for more detailed advice and recommendations (Microsoft, 2024). The same considerations should be applied as for any other GenAI use.
Your role
Potential role for GenAI
Check: As always, your first task is to ensure that GenAI is allowed to be used for this task in this assessment. To edit and proofread effectively, you should understand the task requirements, and carefully construct other key elements such as your thesis statement and your key arguments.
Your voice: When using GenAI to edit and proofread, you will need to ensure changes adhere to the task requirements and maintain your own voice. One suggestion is to read the entire draft out loud from beginning to end to ensure the draft has a consistent tone, clear arguments and a coherent logical structure. There are also AI tools that can read documents to you.
Evaluating logical flow: GenAI can highlight sections of your draft where the argument may be weak or disconnected, and can recommend ways to better align paragraphs to enhance overall coherence.
Identifying grammatical inconsistencies and errors: GenAI can detect common grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement, tense consistency, and punctuation errors, and can suggest a range of alternative options. It can offer correct alternatives to ensure your writing is grammatically sound. However, you must still critically evaluate all suggested corrections to ensure that the meaning is preserved and that the tone remains consistent.
Refining phrasing and word choices: GenAI can suggest clearer ways to express complex ideas. This works best when you isolate a specific sentence or paragraph you feel could be more clear. GenAI tools can recommend synonyms to avoid repetition and to use more academic language consistently.
Here is an example prompt and output from Microsoft Copilot for this part of the writing process:
Example prompt
Example output
Here are some further example prompts:
Example prompt chain
Initial prompt
I have uploaded a [insert details of task, including format]. The topic is [insert topic or purpose of the writing task] and the thesis statement is [insert main argument or perspective]. [Include any other relevant instructions.] Review this essay to identify areas where the writing, structure and
word choices could be more academic. For any identified issues, explain the issue and provide an alternative wording.
Subsequent prompt 1
Based on your feedback from the previous prompt, I have made some revisions to my draft.
I have uploaded my revised draft.
Check this essay to identify any grammatical errors. For each error, explain the error and suggest an alternative.
Subsequent prompt 2
I have incorporated some suggestions from the previous prompt into my draft.
I have uploaded my final draft. The topic is [insert topic or purpose of the writing task] and the thesis statement is [insert main argument or perspective].
Review the essay for overall tone and consistency. Ensure the tone is appropriate [insert audience and purpose]. For areas where the writing lacks coherence, explain the issue and provide an alternative.
Note
AI can be helpful, but you must also check manually to ensure your draft maintains a consistent tone and that your argument is clear. Use a checklist such as the one here.
Some final considerations
GenAI should be used as a support tool, an assistant or "copilot", rather than a replacement for your own critical thinking and writing skills. While GenAI tools can offer valuable suggestions and insights, their output should always be reviewed and cross-checked to ensure accuracy, relevance, and alignment with assessment criteria. When utilising these tools for academic writing, it is important to approach them with a critical and evaluative mindset. It is your own responsibility to check and confirm the content for accuracy.
Combining outputs from multiple GenAI sources can lead to richer, more nuanced content, but selectivity is key when choosing what to incorporate. Production processes are iterative, so always go through a few rounds, whether in designing and testing prompts or asking for information and asking follow up questions and adjustments. For example, you can always ask for multiples, then review, evaluate, fact check, and proceed.
To optimise the benefits of GenAI while minimising potential drawbacks, apply these tools thoughtfully, purposefully, selectively, and strategically. It is also crucial to understand the ethical implications and limitations of GenAI use in writing, ensuring transparency and adherence to academic integrity guidelines. You must always be able to explain how you used GenAI and acknowledge its contributions, setting a balance between AI assistance and your unique voice, skills, and understanding.
Tips for writing with GenAI
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