Assessment Search
< All Topics
Print

AI-Assisted Text Analysis

Purpose

This assignment’s purpose is to practice conducting a text analysis. Breaking down a text and examining the individual components will help to bring meaning to what you are reading. This is a critical skill that will be essential to thriving in any professional career path you choose. For this activity, you will first conduct a text analysis using specific strategies and then compare and contrast the initial analysis to that of one produced from the AI tool. First, you are going to need a few strategies in your toolbox, so let’s get started!

Learning Outcomes

  • Apply close reading strategies to the analysis of a selected text
  • Identify the associated writing patterns (structure, parts, organization)
  • Examine how writing patterns are used to achieve a specific goal

Instructions

Step 1 | Initial Analysis

  • First, you will need to select a text. This can be a web article, short story, excerpt from an open source or public domain book, etc.
  • Review the following resources
    • Braun, Clare. “What is Close Reading?” Oregon State Guide to English Literary Terms, 24 Oct. 2022, Oregon State University
    • Description: This resource provides guiding questions to support a thorough examination of a text.
    • ASU Tutoring Centers (2024, March 30). Critical Reading & Engaging with Source: Critical Reading Strategies . Arizona State University. Retrieved from YouTube.
    • Excelsior Online Reading Lab. (n.d.) How to Identify Writing Patterns . Excelsior University.
    • Description: This resource identifies and explains the eight most common types of writing patterns which are used to organize ideas.
  • Read the text through one time. Don’t worry about taking notes or conducting any sort of examination on this first run through.
  • Next, read through the text again. However, this time take notes. In your notes and/or annotations include initial impressions, thoughts, perspectives, considerations, opinions, etc.
  • Answer the following questions and provide textual evidence (i.e., excerpts, direct in-text references) that supports your response to each question.
    • What is the author’s intent/purpose?
    • Who is the intended audience?
    • What is the context of the text? (e.g., setting, time period, relevancy, subjects)
    • What types of writing patterns were used to organize ideas? Were these patterns effective and why?
    • What is the explicit meaning of the text?
    • Is there a hidden meaning, purpose, or agenda to the text? If so, provide a rationale and evidence.
    • What types of evidence and/or key supporting details are used to reinforce the central idea/theme/argument/message?
    • What tone is used by the author? Is the use effective or ineffective?
    • Examine potential biases
    • Are there perspectives that are missing?
    • Are there any aspects of the text that may be misleading?
    • If any explicit or implicit biases may be present, identify and explain.

Step 2 | AI Analysis

  1. Access the generative AI tool you selected at the beginning of this activity
  2. Now you are going to create a prompt asking the AI tool to review the selected text and answer the same questions you answered in part one.
    • (Sample prompt) “Review the following text excerpt and answer the following questions. What is the author’s intent/purpose? Who is the intended audience? What is the context of the text? What types of writing patterns were used to organize ideas? Were these patterns effective and why? What is the explicit meaning of the text? Is there a hidden meaning, purpose, or agenda to the text? If so, provide a rationale and evidence. What types of evidence and/or key supporting details are used to reinforce the central idea/theme/argument/message? What tone is used by the author? Is the use effective or ineffective? Examine the text for potential biases. Are there perspectives that are missing? Are there any aspects of the text that may be misleading? If any explicit or implicit biases may be present, identify and explain.”

Step 3 | Compare and Contrast

  • Review the output from the generative AI tool from step two.
  • Compare and contrast your answers from step one with that of the AI from step two.
  • Reflect on the following questions:
    • What are key differences between the initial text analysis and the AI’s answers to the following elements: author’s intent/purpose, intended audience, context, writing patterns, explicit meaning, hidden meaning, evidence and supporting details, tone, potential biases, and misleading information.
    • Did the AI analysis identify elements that weren’t identified in the initial analysis? If so, identify the elements and your perception of whether they are accurate? Provide evidence and/or supporting details to reinforce your claim.
    • Do you notice any glaring gaps in the AI’s analysis of the text? If so, identify the gaps and provide evidence and/or supporting details to reinforce your claim.
    • Did you learn anything new from the AI analysis? If so, explain if/how the alternative perspective alters your original point of view of the text.

Step 4 | Submission

Submit your text analysis report as a single document. The document will include the following elements:

  • Text information – Cite in [insert citation convention]
  • AI tool information – Cite in [insert citation convention]
  • Step 1 | Initial Analysis – Include your answers from the initial text analysis.
  • Step 2 | AI Analysis – Include the prompt submitted to the AI and the output generated.
  • Step 3 | Compare and Contrast – Include your answers to all of the reflection questions.

Evaluation

Text Analysis

Submission includes a thorough analysis addressing key elements of the text and provides detailed insights about the author’s purpose, audience, and context. Close reading strategies are used to interpret explicit and implicit meanings from the student’s point of view. An analysis of potential biases, missing perspectives, and potential misleading elements are used to probe deeper into the analysis. All claims are thoroughly supported with relevant textual evidence from the source text.

Writing Patterns

Accurately identifies more than one writing pattern within the text such as structural elements, organization techniques, obvious and subtle patterns in the author’s writing approach. A detailed and nuanced examination of how writing patterns are used by the author to achieve a specific goal or purpose is present. Compelling connections between specific patterns and their perceived intended effects on the audience are explained. The analysis yields interpretations for how the writing patterns and content work together to enhance the text’s impact.

AI Collaboration

We recognize that students have a range of familiarity, experience, and feelings associated with the utilization of generative (AI) Artificial Intelligence tools in an academic context. Clear guidance is included to help support the selection of an AI tool, engage in ethical use of the AI, and how to cite the tool used. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the instructor.

Which AI tool should I use?

A recommendation is to use the AI tool to which your institution subscribes to. Using technological tools that are supported by the university ensures that if you encounter technical issues or have questions the Academic Technologies department can provide assistance.

When considering the use of an AI tool, consider the following:

  • How can I use AI ethically and responsibly as a student?
    • Suggested actions:
    • Be transparent with how you use AI tools. This might include a brief description of the tasks you used it for. For example, “I used Microsoft Copilot to generate a list of potential titles for my project and an outline for the paper. This helped me to organize my projects, so I had a framework to start from.”
    • Cite which tools you used using the approved convention (e.g., APA, MLA) Refer to Citing AI Use section below.
  • Will using an AI tool in such a way violate the course and/or institution’s Academic Integrity policies?
    • Suggested action: Always reach out to your instructor and consult if you have any concerns. Seeking clarification proactively will help to mitigate unintentional academic integrity violations. Review your academic institution’s Academic Integrity policy / Student Code of Conduct for expectations around permitted, prohibited, and transparent (i.e., citations) use.
  • Will my data be secure or unsecure?
    • Suggested action: Review the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. If you utilize a generative AI tool, other than your institution’s, a recommendation is to review the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use to familiarize yourself with how your data is used, stored, and shared. This is especially important with AI tools because of how they learn based on the prompts that are input into them. Some common generative AI tools also include ChatGPT and Claude. For additional information, review MIT’s Navigating Data Privacy article. When engaging with an AI tool, a recommendation is not to provide personal (e.g., name, address) or sensitive information.
  • Does this tool have known concerns around the generation of false information (i.e., hallucinations)? Review MIT’s When AI Gets it Wrong: Addressing AI Hallucinations and Bias article.
    • Suggested action: Maintain awareness that the tool may produce inaccurate information. Conduct your own research using diverse sources to identify gaps and confirm the relevance and reliability of the information produced.
  • Does this tool have known concerns related to perpetuating harmful biases and stereotypes? If so, how will I know? Review Edutopias Helping Students Check for Bias in AI Outputs article.
    • Suggested actions: Maintain awareness that the tool may reproduce and reinforce biases. Assess AI responses for lack of valid evidence, lack of reasoning/rationale, inaccurate connections, vague examples, missing perspectives, singular perspectives, assumptions, and/or exclusionary language.

Citing AI Use

The responsible use of generative AI tools enhances your learning experience while ensuring that you develop and demonstrate your understanding and skills. When you collaborate with AI, you will need to include the following:

  • Cite use of the tool usings the [insert citation] convention. Refer to the following library guide for format structure and examples.
  • Include the initial prompt
  • Include the output from the AI tool
  • Identify the information used from the output
Posted
Updated
Tags:
Scroll to Top