How to Write with Ai

You’ve probably had a report or essay due within a day, which happened to be the day after a hard night out. With a headache booming in your skull, you sat down at the computer, queued up the ChatGPT app and instructed it to write a paper. And then you saw the errors or inconsistencies. If not you, your supervisor or professor did. Ai is not magic for writing a paper or professional document, but if you use it as a tool and not a crutch, it could be the greatest tool you’ve used.

Basic Writing Skills

I once asked an Ai bot about the Supreme Court’s overturning of abortion, and the Ai assured me abortion laws hadn’t been overturned, but they had. The decision had happened less than a week earlier, and when I told the Ai bot this, it corrected itself. This shows how out of date some of the information is that Ai might distribute.

The above noted, in order to successfully use Ai for writing, you have to have a basic understanding of writing or at least research. Although Ai might make very few grammar or punctuation errors, this technology is prone to making errors in information. Part of the writing process is research and double checking the accuracy of your sources and information.

When using Ai, you must double check the information as you would behind a human. Doing so ensures you do not submit an informationally flawed document. Without doing your due diligence, you run the risk of being called out by your supervisor, teacher or professor.

Citing Sources

If Ai writes a paper for you, it might miss documenting who the sources are, what kind of source it is, where it came from and other crucial information. Failure to cite your sources puts you at risk of plagiarism or creating a weak document. You could be barred from college for a plagiarism accusation.

To be more successful, instead of having Ai write an entire paper for you, use it to help you build an outline and retrieve sources. With an outline, you know what your paper will be about, the primary topics and what thesis you want to prove. Although Ai can write enough words to complete an essay, it cannot create a flowing document that makes sense end-to-end, but you can.

The Takeaway

Ai can be a powerful tool in writing, but only if used as a tool and not a crutch. Misusing Ai technology could lead to your being disciplined by your supervisor or professor. Always double check the information given to you by Ai, and be careful in how you employ it.

This article was written by Jermaine Reed, MFA, the Editor-in-Chief of The Reeders Block, who also works an Adjunct College Professor and director. Join the email list to get notifications on new articles and books. This article is 100% human-written. And remember, if you see an error, that’s what makes us human. Subscribe and share.