Mark Twain is supposed to have said, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one.”

The point is, it’s hard work to be brief. It’s so easy to just start writing and keep going and going and going. That’s fine if it’s just for you. But bosses won’t take the time to read it. Neither will clients. And when you’re trying to convey complicated technical information, it can be even harder to “write short.”

So for this assignment, you’re going to find a technical or scientific article about something you’re interested in and is part of your technical or professional field, and write a 500-word summary of that article. Here’s the assignment as the department has written it:  

Individually, you will write a 500-word summary of a technical or scientific article that demonstrates: 1. ability to identify key processes and concepts in a professional science or technology article. 2. ability to describe complex processes and concepts clearly and concisely. 3. an awareness of audience. The summary should cite the article and any quotes following APA format.

We’re going to use this assignment as a way to examine the role of ChatGPT and other AIs in technical writing — the good and the bad, the useful and the problematic.

Procedure:

  1. In Perusall, Read and Annotate: 1) Video on ChatGPT and Technical Writing, and 2) ChatGPT and Education — we’ll be using these as well as your own experiences with an opinions about AI-generate text to create a code of ethics as we start.
  2. Find an article: Pick something from the field you’re going into (Engineering, Emerging Media, Computer Systems, etc). You can either use Google or the Library’s database system to find one.
  3. Using the template below, review what is included in a 500-word summary.
  4. Load the article into the AI of your choice, and prompt it to generate a summary of the article.
  5. Review the summary for correctness.
  6. Add at least two quotes that explain or expand on specific points being made in the article.
  7. Add the bibliographic information.
  8. Workshop with each other.
  9. Submit to the class Google Drive folder labeled 500 word summary.

Template for 500 word summary

500-word-summary-templateDownload
500-words-summary-student-draftDownload
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