AI and Writing Textbook

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A clear, thoughtful, and practical guide to writing in the age of generative AI.

AI and Writing is an indispensable guide to composing with generative AI. Sidney I. Dobrin prepares students to use GenAI effectively, ethically, and critically—skills now essential for academic and professional success. The book tackles core questions: What tasks do these tools best support? Where do they fall short? How are they used responsibly?

Dobrin focuses on durable, transferable writing practices, as well as the real-world issues raised by AI, including authorship, plagiarism, copyright, bias, and the material consequences of AI. “Provocations” boxes spark critical engagement, and each chapter concludes with a sequence of exercises and activities that move students from analysis to hands-on experimentation and reflection.

Contents

• Preface
• A Note to Instructors
• A Note to Students
• Acknowledgements

PART I: UNDERSTANDING GENERATIVE AI

Chapter 1. Change

• Introducing GenAI
• Automated Writing: It’s Not Really New
• History of Writing Technologies and Cultural Panic
• Conceptual and Applied AI
• Human–Machine Collaboration
• So What?
• Users Aren’t Losers

Chapter 2. Generative AI

• AI’s Origins
• The New AI
• Generative Artificial Intelligence
• How Generative AI Works
• Assistive AI
• Hallucinations
• Recent Developments in GenAI

Chapter 3. Integrity

• Academic Integrity
• Plagiarism
• Copyright
• Show Your Work
• Citation

PART II: OPPORTUNITIES AND APPLICATIONS

Chapter 4. Writing With GenAI

• Invention and Prewriting
• Research
• Drafting
• Revising
• Editing and Proofreading
• Climbing Mount Everest

Chapter 5. Prompts

• Writing Effective Prompts
• Refining Prompts
• Know Your Audience
• Engineering Prompts

Chapter 6. Visuals

• Image Generation Technologies
• Visual Rhetoric and GenAI
• Visuals and Ethics

Chapter 7. Contexts of Use

• Academic Contexts
• Professional Contexts
• Civic Contexts
• Personal Contexts

Chapter 8. Workplace Readiness

• What Is Workplace Readiness?
• Skills for Developing and Applying GenAI
• Workplace AI Literacy

PART III: CHALLENGES

Chapter 9. Bias

• Types of Bias
• Identifying Bias in GenAI Outputs
• Equitable Access
• Recent Developments

Chapter 10. Materiality

• Points of Material Impact
• The Cradle: Extraction
• The Grave: Disposal and E-Waste
• AI and Water

Notes
Image Credits
Index

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Sidney I. Dobrin is Professor and Chair of the Department of English at the University of Florida and for ten years directed its writing program. He is the Founding Director of the Trace Innovation Initiative, serves as a Digital Thought Leader for Adobe, and is a member of the Florida Institute for National Security, which is part of the University of Florida’s Artificial Intelligence Initiative. Dobrin is the author and editor of numerous books and articles about writing, technology, and ecology.

He is available to consult with post-secondary institutions about generative AI, including policy development, curricula, and the development of faculty training programs. Please contact him for further information.

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