Generative AI has the potential to be a powerful assistant for revision and proofreading. This work is the type of work that typically requires "another set of eyes" on it. While a writing tutor or good peer editor will typically be able to provide better feedback on "global" issues, such as the effectiveness of your argument or analysis, GenAI can be useful for some middle and later order concerns, such as organization, clarity, conciseness, and proofreading.
If you choose to use GenAI for revision or proofreading, I have several suggestions for how to do so effectively while still maintaining your ideas, writing voice, and style.
All of these approaches will require you to share your writing with the GenAI tool. If you are concerned about privacy or sharing information with GenAIs, I recommend working with a writing tutor at the Academic Success Center instead.
There are several approaches you can take to using GenAI for revision and/or proofreading.
Ask GenAI what needs to be revised
Ask for specific revision suggestions
Ask GenAI to assist with specific revision
Ask GenAI what specific grammatical issues you need to address
Ask GenAI to assist with proofreading.
See below for more information on each of these approaches.
This approach can work well when you aren't sure where to start with revision.
Benefits of this approach
Maintains your writing voice and ideas
Can help you get started
Lower likelihood of GenAI accidentally changing your ideas or meaning
Drawbacks to this approach
Suggestions may not fit with the assignment goals and requirements.
It may take more work to figure out how to implement the changes.
Instructions
For this approach, you will need a completed draft and a prompt.
Example Prompts
What should I revise for the following paper? Do not make changes for me, just give me a list of suggested areas of revision that I could focus on. [paste paper below the prompt]
This approach can work well when you know what areas you are likely struggle with but aren't sure how to fix it.
Benefits of this approach
Maintains your writing voice and ideas
Lower likelihood of GenAI accidentally changing your ideas or meaning
Can help you improve your writing skills and knowledge by learning what issues you may struggle with
Drawbacks to this approach
Suggestions may not fit with the assignment goals and requirements.
It may take more work to figure out how to implement the changes.
Instructions
For this approach, you will need a completed draft and a prompt.
Example Prompts
Give me suggestions on how to revise this paper for better organization. Do not make changes for me, just give me suggestions. [paste paper below the prompt]
This approach can work well when suggestions for revision aren't working (see #2)—particularly with sentence-level issues.
Benefits of this approach
Can help with rewording or demonstrating the revision that needs to occur
Drawbacks to this approach
Output needs to be very carefully reviewed; further revision/editing may be necessary.
Output may change meaning if too much rewording is done.
Output may remove your voice and make the writing overly bland/uninteresting.
Instructions
For this approach, you will need a completed draft and a prompt. With the exception of having it demonstrate how to reorganize an entire paper, I strongly recommend that you do not copy/paste more than one paragraph at a time into AI for this approach. The more you put in, the harder it is to see what it changed and adjust as necessary.
Example Prompts
Revise this paragraph for clarity. Do not change the ideas or remove my writing voice, just focus on areas that are unclear. paste paragraph below the prompt]
Then review the output very carefully. You can also add something to the prompt like "only make minimal changes" to help it not overwrite your writing style and voice too much.
This approach can work well to help you learn what grammar and mechanics issues you have in your writing. You can then focus on those issues to help improve your writing skills.
Benefits of this approach
Can help you learn what later order concern issues (i.e. mechanics/grammar/etc) you need to focus on
Can help you improve your writing skills
Drawbacks to this approach
It may be time consuming to find the issues in your draft.
Instructions
For this approach, you will need a completed draft and a prompt. Similar to #3, I strongly recommend that you do not copy/paste more than one paragraph at a time into AI for this approach. The more you put in, the harder it is to see what it changed and adjust as necessary.
Example Prompts
For the following paper, what grammar and mechanical areas do I need to focus on for revision? Do not change any of my writing; just explain what issues I tend to have with my writing, focusing on trends. [copy and paste paper below prompt]Proofreading often requires a second "set of eyes" since we're unable to see our own errors as efficiently as we can often see others. Part of the reason for this may be that we don't know what we don't know, but often with academic papers, it's also because we've been working on this paper intensively for a week or two and just can't see the errors anymore. (If you have ever looked back at an old paper and immediately seen a whole bunch of errors, you know what I'm talking about.)
This is also a stage in the writing process where outside help is typically considered appropriate, such as having a friend help with proofreading or getting proofreading help from a writing tutor.
Benefits of this approach
Can help automate proofreading and final polishing work
Saves time
More likely to catch most (if not all) major issues
Drawbacks to this approach
Output needs to be very carefully reviewed; further revision/editing may be necessary.
Output may change meaning if too much rewording is done.
Output may remove your voice and make the writing overly bland/uninteresting.
Instructions
For this approach, you will need a completed draft and a prompt. Similar to #3, I strongly recommend that you do not copy/paste more than one paragraph at a time into AI for this approach. The more you put in, the harder it is to see what it changed and adjust as necessary.
Example Prompts
Proofread this paragraph for grammatical and mechanical issues. Do not change the ideas or remove my writing voice; just focus on areas with major problems. [paste paragraph below the prompt]
Then review the output very carefully. You can also add something to the prompt like "only make minimal changes" to help it not overwrite your writing style and voice too much.