Writing, Research, and Ethical AI Use

First-Year writing in the Department of Writing Studies takes a pluralistic, discipline-specific, and pedagogically grounded approach to artificial intelligence (AI) in the teaching and practice of writing. Rather than issuing a single, uniform stance on AI use, we support faculty in making context‑specific decisions about when, how, and whether AI tools are appropriate in their courses, guided by disciplinary knowledge, course goals, and shared values about writing and learning.

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  • Writing Is Rhetorical and Contextual

    Writing is shaped by audience, purpose, genre, and situation. Any use of AI in writing instruction must be attentive to these rhetorical conditions and to the specific communicative contexts in which writing circulates.

  • Writing Is a Process of Making Meaning

    Writing is not simply the production of text, but a recursive process of inquiry, reflection, drafting, and revision. We encourage approaches to AI that support writers’ engagement with this process rather than substituting for the intellectual labor of composing and decision‑making.

  • Writing Enacts and Shapes Knowledge

    Writing is a way of thinking and learning, not just a way of recording ideas. Because AI systems generate language without human understanding or accountability, we encourage students and instructors to remain critically attentive to how knowledge is produced, represented, and attributed when AI tools are involved.

  • Writing Is Social, Ethical, and Situated

    Writing always involves relationships, including readers, communities, institutions, and sources. Our approach to AI foregrounds issues of authorship, responsibility, transparency, and power, including questions about whose knowledge is represented, how labor is valued, and how technologies shape participation and access.

  • Writing Knowledge Is Transferable but Not Automatic

    Learning to write alongside AI requires explicit instruction, reflection, and practice. We support pedagogies that help students develop AI literacy: the ability to make informed, critical, and ethical choices about technologies as they encounter new writing situations inside and beyond the university.

Faculty Choice and Pedagogical Support

Consistent with these principles, First-year Writing affirms faculty autonomy in determining AI expectations for their courses. Instructors may choose to restrict, permit, or actively integrate AI tools, provided those choices are clearly communicated to students and aligned with course learning outcomes.

At the program level, we are committed to:

  • Supporting faculty through shared resources, professional development, and ongoing dialogue 
  • Encouraging experimentation grounded in writing studies research
  • Treating AI as part of an evolving literacy landscape that invites critical inquiry rather than fixed answers

We believe that meaningful engagement with AI in writing instruction requires care, reflection, and disciplinary expertise, and that writing studies is uniquely positioned to lead those conversations.

Writing Center

Faculty are encouraged to make an appointment in the Writing Center for additional support related to artificial intelligence and writing pedagogy.

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