Module 6: AI, Agency, & Authorship
Composition I by Tiffani Tijerina and Magnus Florini is licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International
Composition I by Tiffani Tijerina and Magnus Florini is licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International
Evaluate the rhetorical possibilities and limitations of generative AI in drafting, brainstorming, and editing, distinguishing between AI-generated patterns and authentic human voice.
Treat AI prompts as a specific genre with distinct conventions (context, role, constraints, output expectations) to control and evaluate output quality.
Formulate a personalized stance on ethical AI usage aligned with institutional policies, identifying when AI assists vs. when it undermines critical thinking.
The following five videos are a quick series on AI in college writing. They are short videos, I promise. Please watch them all.
Did you know that character creation in role-playing games (RPGs) such as Dungeons & Dragons is composition? That's right! Designing an RPG character requires defining voice, motivations, flaws, and constraints (the exact same rhetorical skills used to build narrative voice, establish perspective, and write targeted AI prompts for AI tools).
This week, we are putting generative AI to the test by running a live experiment with the actual assignment instructions for Assignment 2 in our class.
Instead of writing the paper yourself, you will act as a critical evaluator of AI's ability to complete the assignment for you. You'll prompt an AI agent to complete Assignment 2, run a "peer review" on the AI's draft, and compare notes with your classmates to uncover the patterns, limitations, and "robotic tell-tales" of AI-generated academic writing.
The AI Experiment: Copy Parts 1 and 2 of Assignment 2 and paste it as-is with no changes into an AI agent of your choice (e.g., Gemini, CoPilot, ChatGPT). Add the following line at the bottom: "Write a complete draft for the assignment instructions above using the music video for [insert chosen song and artist]."
Share the Output: Paste the AI's generated essay into your discussion post. Be sure to state which AI model you used!
Conduct a "Peer Review" of the AI: Evaluate the AI's draft using the instructions in Part 3 of Assignment 2 as a guide.
After your peer review, answer these key evaluation questions:
Thesis & Argument: Did the AI make a specific, insightful rhetorical argument about the video, or did it just summarize the plot/lyrics?
Visual & Audio Evidence: Did the AI cite actual visual details (camera angles, color palettes, lighting) and sound design, or did it rely entirely on generic observations?
Voice & Tone: Where does the essay sound cliche, repetitive, or artificially "academic" (e.g., overusing words like delves, tapestry, testament, juxtaposition)?
To analyze how AI processes writing prompts across different accounts and tools, reply to at least two classmates using this 3-part critique framework:
Output Cross-Examination: Compare the AI draft your classmate received to the one you generated. What structural patterns, phrasing hab its, or arguments did both AI tools recycle?
Spotting the Glitches: Point out one specific moment in their AI's essay where the tool made an error, hallucinated a detail, or offered a surface-level observation that a human writer would easily catch.
The Human Advantage: Based on these AI outputs, what is one critical element (e.g., personal cultural perspective, deep visual analysis, emotional resonance) that you will make sure to include in your own future writing to ensure your voice stands out?