Navigating Writing with ChatGPT

Utilising ChatGPT as a supporting technological tool for writing can increase productivity. Here, I will share my personal experience with the model; how it assisted my writing practice, and the issues writers must be aware of.

ChatGPT is a large language model developed by OpenAI. It generates human-like responses to questions and performs other language-related tasks based on training data, mainly from the Internet. Its ability to use language, process data and arrive at conclusions has made it one of the top technological developments in 2023 globally. Here are four ways to utilize ChatGPT in your writing process:

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How ChatGPT Improved Textbook Author’s Amazon Book Description

Dr. Margaret Reece, author of Physiology: Custom-Designed Chemistry, recently used AI tool ChatGPT to revise her book’s description on Amazon. The following illustrates how the process worked, including a before and after description and the prompt she used. “I did some minor editing of the AI response, but I think it is much better than the original,” she said.

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Overcome Stalling and Start Writing Your Dissertation

You’ve reached the first dissertation milestone—approval of your prospectus. Great! You couldn’t wait to plunge into the next step, writing the proposal. But now that you’re here, somehow it’s not working. With all the best intentions and surrounded by all your scholarly materials, you’re spending long fruitless hours in your study or the library. The days are slipping away, your friends are out eating pizza, and your family wonders what you’re really doing for all those solitary hours. You feel paralyzed.

To cheer yourself up, remember that the proposal becomes the first three chapters of the real dissertation. But this fact probably offers little consolation. Your completed proposal seems like a sky-high wall with not even a step stool in sight. Where is that danged first step?

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Busy TAA People: Dr. Dannielle Joy Davis Receives SLU’s James H. Korn Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award

TAA member Dr. Dannielle Joy Davis, is the 2023 recipient of the James H. Korn Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award from Saint Louis University’s Reinert Center for her research examining the experiences of marginalized groups in educational settings and the role of policy and practice in academic and occupational outcomes.

The James H. Korn Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award is an annual award established in recognition of Dr. Korn’s many contributions to research on teaching and learning. Professor emeritus in Psychology, Dr. Korn is deeply committed to scholarly teaching; he was also a member of the faculty committee that first established the Reinert Center in 1997.

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TAA Member Phil Wankat: Archival Articles on Textbook Production From the ‘TAA Report’

The fifth installment of TAA Member Phil Wankat’s curation and commentary of the archival issues of the TAA Report (now The Academic Author), Production, is now available. Articles include “A Production Primer for Authors,” Series: An Author’s Garden of Editors,” “A Production Primer for Authors,” Series: “Manuscript to Bound Book,” and “A Production Primer for Authors,” Last in Series: “Your Index: Does it Help Sell Your Book?,” and more.

Wankat selected articles that have information that is still valid today, and included commentary on each. We will be adding these articles to the web page, “Articles from TAA Report Archives (now The Academic Author) with Commentary,” over the next few months. The articles are organized into 10 categories, including Authors Needed, Cartoons, Contracts, Ethics, Money, Production, Recognition and Rewards, Software, Textbooks as Scholarship, and Writer’s Block. 

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TAA’s AI Committee Launches New Survey Aimed at Textbook and Academic Authors: Generative AI, Your Publisher & You

TAA’s AI Committee recently launched a new survey, Generative AI, Your Publisher & You, to collect information that can help members advocate for themselves in conversations with their publisher(s) about Generative Al (like ChatGPT) in contracts, policies, and statements. In addition to sharing the results, the Committee will be using the data collected to offer TAA virtual roundtable discussions on Generative AI in 2024.

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