From ChatGPT
8/15/2025
You said:
I teach college composition courses.
How can you help my students without actually writing essays for them?
ChatGPT said:
I can be useful to your composition students without crossing into “doing
the work for them” by functioning as a thinking partner, skills coach, and
feedback tool rather than a ghostwriter.
Here’s how that might look in practical terms:
1. Prewriting & Idea Development
- Brainstorming prompts: Offer structured brainstorming
exercises to help students find a topic or angle.
- Question-driven guidance: Ask them Socratic-style
questions to clarify their stance or refine a thesis.
- Mind-mapping help: Suggest how to group their ideas
into themes, or show them common essay structures (argumentative,
analytical, compare/contrast).
2. Research Skills & Source
Evaluation
- Finding credible sources: Teach them how to identify
scholarly articles, credible news, or primary sources.
- Summarizing practice: Show examples of how to
paraphrase without plagiarism.
- Source analysis: Walk through how to determine a
source’s bias, scope, and relevance.
3. Thesis & Structure Coaching
- Help them test their thesis
statements against criteria (specific, arguable, supportable).
- Offer outline templates
for different essay types.
- Demonstrate how to sequence ideas
logically (e.g., strongest-first vs. building-to-climax structures).
4. Style & Clarity
- Grammar tutorials: Give mini-lessons on common
issues (comma splices, fragments, subject–verb agreement).
- Tone adjustments: Show how to shift from casual to
academic voice.
- Sentence variety: Provide examples of how to break
up choppy writing or streamline overly complex sentences.
5. Revision & Feedback
- Rubric-based checklists: Students can self-assess before
submission.
- Modeling revision: Show how to take a vague
paragraph and make it concrete, without giving them the final answer.
- Feedback on drafts: Highlight strengths and point
out areas needing more evidence or clarity—but leave the rewriting
to them.
6. Academic Integrity Support
- Explain what counts as plagiarism
(including “patchwriting”).
- Teach citation basics (MLA, APA,
Chicago).
- Provide sample in-text citations
and works cited entries for the sources they bring.
Sample “Boundaries” for My Help
✅ Explain concepts, structures, and strategies
✅ Give examples on a different topic than the student’s
✅ Help them revise their own words
✅ Teach citation and research skills
❌ Write paragraphs for them
❌ Supply fully formed thesis statements on their actual assignment topic
❌ Insert evidence or arguments they didn’t find themselves
If you’d like, I can put together a “composition help menu” you
could give to your students so they know exactly what kinds of AI-assisted
guidance are ethical and useful in your class. That way, they can get help
without crossing into academic dishonesty.
You said:
Yes, please.
ChatGPT said:
Here’s a “Composition Help Menu” you could hand to your students
so they understand what kind of AI-assisted guidance is ethical and effective
for your course.
College Composition – AI Help Menu
How to get writing help without crossing into academic dishonesty
✅ Ethical &
Helpful Uses
You can ask AI to:
- Understand the Assignment
- Rephrase your professor’s
instructions in simpler terms.
- Explain differences between
essay types (argumentative, analytical, narrative).
- Plan Your Essay
- Generate brainstorming questions
to explore your topic.
- Suggest possible angles or
approaches (but you choose the topic).
- Create outline templates you can
fill in.
- Strengthen Your Thesis
- Test your thesis statement
against clarity/arguability criteria.
- Suggest how to make your claim
more focused or specific.
- Improve Organization
- Show models for essay structure.
- Suggest logical flow of points
without adding new ideas.
- Practice Writing Skills
- Explain grammar rules and give
practice examples.
- Demonstrate how to vary sentence
structure or improve clarity.
- Enhance Revision
- Identify vague or unsupported
sections in your draft.
- Point out overuse of passive
voice or unclear pronouns.
- Offer general ways to make a
paragraph more engaging.
- Support with Research Skills
- Explain how to evaluate a
source’s credibility.
- Show proper MLA/APA/Chicago
citation format for the sources you provide.
❌ Not Allowed
You should not ask AI to:
- Write any part of your essay for
you.
- Give you a finished thesis
statement for your assigned topic.
- Find sources and insert them
directly into your paper.
- Rewrite your draft so extensively
that it no longer sounds like you.
- Provide “ready to submit”
paragraphs or essays.
💡 Pro Tip for
Academic Integrity
Always keep a record of your work before and after AI help.
This proves that the ideas and final writing are yours—and that AI was used as
a tool, not a ghostwriter.
Example of Ethical AI Use
Before AI: “I want to write about social media, but I don’t know how to focus my
topic.”
AI Help: Suggests questions like: “How does social media affect
self-esteem?” or “Should schools limit social media use?”
After AI: Student picks one question, develops their own thesis, does
their own research, and writes the essay.
You said:
What limitations do you have when it
comes to helping college composition students?
ChatGPT said:
When helping college composition students, my main limitations fall into three
categories—ethical, pedagogical, and practical.
1. Ethical Limitations
These protect academic integrity and prevent ghostwriting:
- No original work for graded
assignments
I can’t write thesis statements, paragraphs, or essays on their specific assigned topic in a way that would count as submitting AI-generated work as their own. - No direct insertion of research
I can’t pick sources for them and embed them into finished drafts—they need to find and read the sources themselves. - No heavy rewriting
I can’t rewrite so extensively that it changes the voice to the point where it’s no longer the student’s work. - No bypassing learning
My role is to guide thinking and skill-building, not to complete the work that the course is designed to teach.
2. Pedagogical Limitations
These are about helping them learn instead of simply fixing
their papers:
- I can’t replace reading or class
participation
If they haven’t read assigned texts or participated in class discussions, I can’t supply that experience. - I won’t give “final answers”
without explanation
I can model an example, but I’ll explain why and how so they can replicate the process themselves. - I can’t guarantee a specific
grade
Writing quality is judged by the instructor’s criteria, which I can’t override. - I won’t skip the struggle stage
Some confusion and trial-and-error are part of becoming a stronger writer.
3. Practical Limitations
These affect how well I can give feedback:
- I can’t read the student’s mind
I need them to tell me their intended audience, tone, or purpose for the piece. - I may not have access to
course-specific rubrics
If they don’t share the grading rubric, I can only give general writing advice. - I can’t check against proprietary
plagiarism databases
I can explain plagiarism rules and show how to paraphrase or cite, but I can’t scan their work like Turnitin does. - I can’t replicate an instructor’s
unique style or grading quirks
Every professor has personal preferences—my advice will be based on general best practices unless they share your exact expectations.
ChatGPT said:
Here’s the Boundaries of AI Help in College Composition handout in
a clean, ready-to-copy format.
Boundaries of AI Help in College
Composition
How to use AI responsibly while keeping your work your own
1️⃣ Ethical Limitations
AI will not:
- Write original work for graded
assignments – no thesis statements, paragraphs, or essays on your assigned
topic.
- Insert research for you – you must find, read, and
evaluate your own sources.
- Heavily rewrite your work – AI won’t change your writing
voice into something unrecognizable.
- Replace the learning process – AI is a guide, not a
ghostwriter.
2️⃣ Pedagogical Limitations
AI will not:
- Replace reading assigned texts or
participating in class.
- Give “final answers” without
explaining why.
- Guarantee you a specific grade.
- Skip the necessary struggle
stage of writing that builds lasting skills.
3️⃣ Practical Limitations
AI cannot:
- Guess your intended audience,
tone, or purpose unless you tell it.
- Access your specific course
rubric unless you share it.
- Check plagiarism the way Turnitin
or other databases can.
- Mimic your instructor’s personal
grading style or preferences exactly.
💡 Reminder:
AI is a learning partner, not a shortcut. Use it to clarify, practice,
and strengthen your skills—never to replace your own thinking and writing.
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