Enhancing academic writing with AI: Strategies, opportunities and considerations [webinar]

Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students often struggle with honing their academic writing skills. Recognising this, this workshop is designed to build HDR student capability by helping them integrate Generative AI, like ChatGPT, into their writing toolkit.

This workshop is about enhancing the writing process and making informed decisions on the use of generative AI while ensuring academic integrity.

Workshop Content

The workshop is designed to be an engaging and hands-on learning experience, starting with an in-depth look into Generative AI tools, with a focus on ChatGPT, and their emerging role in the academic landscape. The content will delve into both the opportunities these tools present and the critical discussions surrounding their impact on academic writing integrity.

The workshop will explore practical examples and exercises that demonstrate the principle of “garbage in, garbage out”, highlight the risks of crafting academic content solely with AI, and provide strategies for effectively incorporating AI into your writing process to enhance, rather than replace, your intellectual contributions. The workshop will use ChatGPT as a primary example to ground our discussions and activities.

Prior to the workshop, participants are encouraged to engage with selected readings on academic writing and Generative AI to prepare for a richer, more informed discussion:

• https://www.science.org/content/article/thought-i-could-conquer-academic-writing-on-my-own-until-i-learned-better
• https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-8551.12781

Participants are also encouraged to bring a piece of writing, such as an abstract or introduction, of up to 500 words that hasn’t yet benefited from generative AI. This will serve as a foundation for practical exercises designed to directly apply the insights and techniques discussed.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• Comprehensive awareness of generative AI tools and how they are being used to support writing.
• Develop understanding on how to integrate generative AI into a comprehensive writing toolkit.
• Develop understanding of the potential downsides of an overreliance on generative AI for academic writing.

Presented by Associate Professor Stan Karanasios from the University of Queensland Business School. Stan is an Associate Professor of Information Systems at the University of Queensland Business School and holds a Visiting Professor role at Southampton University. His academic journey includes significant tenures at RMIT University and the University of Leeds. Dr. Karanasios’s research ambitiously explores the nexus between emerging information and communication technologies, such as AI, and societal impacts. He has published over 20 “A*” ranked Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) journal articles, including in leading information systems journals: MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Journal, European Journal of Information Systems, Journal of Information Technology, Journal of Strategic Information Systems and the Journal of the Association for Information Systems. He has been awarded research grants from a range of government and industry sources. In addition to his research work he has undertaken a range of consulting work for industry and international bodies. He is a Senior Editor for Information Systems Journal and Associate Editor for the European Journal of Information Systems.

You must attend at least 75% of the session otherwise you may be marked absent.