Reading Group - 3rd Thursdays AI Writing/Research

The 3rd Thursdays AI Writing/Research is the combination of a faculty reading group and the  Davis Humanities Institute's New Digital Worlds: Examining Critical AI Use for Writing and Language Education Reading Group originally proposed and organized by grad students Sophia Minnillo and Nick Stillman in 2023-24. 

The group has explored the latest research on Large Language Models (LLMs) and Generative AI writing systems, which are poised to augment both how we write and how we teach. As this field is undergoing rapid change, it is important that students in the fields of English, Education, Linguistics, Spanish, and Native American Studies dedicate time and energy to keep up with these developments. By forming this research group with expert guests and a curated reading list, WRaCS DE graduate students and faculty have been able to discuss current LLM research, anticipate future developments, and collaborate on research projects that incorporate these powerful tools into our practice.

The group meets 2 to 3 times per quarter during the current academic year for an hour and a half. (Usually we meet on the 3rd Thursday of every month, hence the "3rd Thursday AI Writing Research" nickname for the group). The meetings have one of two formats: (1) presentation of research completed by group members or (2) member-facilitated discussion of curated readings. 

Participants:

  1. Nicholas Stillman, PhD student in English
  2. Sophia Minnillo, former PhD student in Linguistics
  3. Sabina Simon, former PhD student in Education
  4. Mikenna Modesto, former PhD student in Education
  5. Ana Ruiz, PhD student in Spanish
  6. Wendah Alvarez, PhD student in Native American Studies
  7. Eve Perkins Booker, PhD student in Linguistics
  8. Ashley Keaton, former PhD student in Linguistics
  9. Sydney Sullivan, former PhD student in Linguistics
  10. Sam Davidson, former PhD student in Linguistics

Faculty Participants:

  1. Carl Whithaus, Professor in the University Writing Program
  2. Lisa Sperber, Continuing Lecturer at the University Writing Center
  3. Marit MacArthur, Continuing Lecturer at the University Writing Center
  4. Kenji Sagae, Professor in Linguistics and Computer Science

Selections from out Past Reading Lists

Bender, E. M., Gebru, T., McMillan-Major, A., & Shmitchell, S. (2021). On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? 🦜. Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency, 610–623. https://doi.org/10.1145/3442188.3445922

Buriak, J. M., Akinwande, D., Artzi, N., Brinker, C. J., Burrows, C., Chan, W. C. W., Chen, C., Chen, X., Chhowalla, M., Chi, L., Chueh, W., Crudden, C. M., Di Carlo, D., Glotzer, S. C., Hersam, M. C., Ho, D., Hu, T. Y., Huang, J., Javey, A., … Ye, J. (2023). Best Practices for Using AI When Writing Scientific Manuscripts. ACS Nano, 17(5), 4091–4093. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.3c01544

Godwin-Jones, R. (n.d.). Partnering with AI: Intelligent writing assistance and instructed language learning. Language Learning, 20.

Hendrycks, D., Burns, C., Basart, S., Critch, A., Li, J., Song, D., & Steinhardt, J. (2021). Aligning AI With Shared Human Values (arXiv:2008.02275). arXiv. http://arxiv.org/abs/2008.02275

Kalmbach, J. (1996). From liquid paper to typewriters: Some historical perspectives on technology in the classroom. Computers and Composition, 13(1), 57–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/S8755-4615(96)90035-3

Lønvik, A. T. (n.d.). An overview of Artificial Intelligence; Application, user experience and ethical problems. 16.

MacArthur, M. (2023, August 7). Saving Expertise, or Critical Editing as Manslaughter-by-AI Prevention Strategy. Digital Rhetoric Collaborative. https://www.digitalrhetoriccollaborative.org/2023/08/07/saving-expertise-or-critical-editing-as-manslaughter-by-ai-prevention-strategy/

MacArthur, M. J. (2023, September 28). AI, Expertise and the Convergence of Writing and Coding. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved October 8, 2023, from https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/views/2023/09/28/ai-and-convergence-writing-and-coding-opinion

Mahowald, K., Ivanova, A. A., Blank, I. A., Kanwisher, N., Tenenbaum, J. B., & Fedorenko, E. (2023). Dissociating language and thought in large language models: a cognitive perspective. arXiv preprint arXiv:2301.06627.

MLA-CCCC Joint Task Force on Writing and AI. (2023, July). MLA-CCCC Joint Task Force on Writing and AI Working Paper: Overview of the Issues, Statement of Principles, and Recommendations. https://aiandwriting.hcommons.org/working-paper-1/

Mollick, E. R., & Mollick, L. (2023). Assigning AI: Seven Approaches for Students, with Prompts (SSRN Scholarly Paper 4475995). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4475995

Nazari, N., Shabbir, M. S., & Setiawan, R. (2021). Application of Artificial Intelligence powered digital writing assistant in higher education: Randomized controlled trial. Heliyon, 7(5). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07014

Warschauer, M., Tseng, W., Yim, S., Webster, T., Jacob, S., Du, Q., & Tate, T. (2023). The Affordances and Contradictions of AI-Generated Text for Second Language Writers (SSRN Scholarly Paper 4404380). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4404380