Southern Utah University

Course Syllabus

Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Spring Semester 2026

IW: Writing with AI (Face-to-Face)

ENGL 2010-02

Course: ENGL 2010-02
Credits: 3
Term: Spring Semester 2026
Department: ENGL
CRN: 12070

Course Description

The second of the GE writing courses emphasizes the development of an effective academic style in argumentative essays that makes use of traditional rhetorical patterns, culminating in a major research paper. The subtopic of this section is Writing with AI, covering how to write with and about generative artificial intelligence.

Students with ACT English scores below 29 must take ENGL 1010 or ENGL 1010E before enrolling in 2010. (Fall, Spring, Summer) [Graded (Standard Letter)] Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1010 or ENGL 1010E or ACT English Subscore - Prerequisite Min. Grade: D- Prerequisite Test (Min. Score): ACT English Subscore (29) General Education Category: Written Communication

Required Texts

There are no texts to purchase for this course. All texts/readings will be available through Canvas.

Learning Outcomes

  • Sources and Evidence: Locate, evaluate, and integrate credible and relevant sources to achieve various writing purposes.
  • Genre Awareness: Demonstrate critical and conceptual awareness of genre in reading and writing—including organization, content, presentation, formatting, and stylistic choices.
  • Context and Purpose: Analyze rhetorical situations and adapt to the audience, purpose, modalities, and the circumstances surrounding a range of reading and writing tasks.
  • Language Awareness and Usage: Recognize and make intentional, critical, and contextually-informed language choices across a range of rhetorical contexts/situations.
  • Recursive Writing Processes: Develop flexible, iterative, and reflective processes for invention, drafting, workshopping, and revision.

Course Requirements

Assignments and Grading:

15% AI Usage Journals
10% Short Responses 
8% Rough Drafts
7% Peer Reviews
5% Professor Conferences
8% AI Writing Evaluation and Critique
12% Opinion Essay and Feedback Reflection
10% Research Proposal
5% Research Proposal Reflection & Annotation
15% Research Paper
5% Research Paper Reflection & Annotation

Grading scale: A= 90-100%; B+=87-89%; B=80-86%; C+= 77-79%; C=70-76%; D+= 67-69%  D= 60-66%; F= 59% or lower

In order to pass the course, students must complete and submit all three major essays (Opinion Essay, Research Proposal, and Research Paper). Students who do not complete any of those three major essays will receive a final grade of F regardless of their grade in the rest of the course.

Description of Assignments:
AI Usage Journals
Every two weeks, you’ll submit an AI Usage Journal documenting at least three multi-turn collaborative sessions with an AI tool. Across your entries, you should show different kinds of engagement: refining and clarifying prompts, critically questioning or challenging AI responses, and applying AI-generated ideas to your own thinking or coursework. For each session, you’ll also write a short reflection on what you learned, how the conversation evolved, how you used the AI’s responses, and any limitations or problems you noticed. Journals will be evaluated on the depth of engagement, evidence of intellectual curiosity, and the thoughtfulness of your reflections.

Short Responses
Brief, informal writings due at the beginning of class that ensure you come to class prepared for the day’s discussion and/or activity. For the assigned reading complete the following:
  • Ask an AI to summarize the day’s assigned reading in 200–250 words. In your own 150–200 words, critique the AI’s summary:
  • What did it get right?
  • What did it miss or oversimplify?
  • Point to at least one passage in the text the AI ignored.

Rough Drafts
Rough drafts will be submitted for all major essays. Rough drafts will receive feedback from both instructor and peers. Rough Drafts are graded based on completion and timely submission.

Peer Reviews
Peer reviews will be completed on all major essays. Your grade will be determined based on the quality and thoroughness of the review you write for your peer.

Professor Conferences
There will be 3 scheduled one-on-one conferences with me during the semester. These are opportunities to get targeted help and feedback on your writing and revision plans. You are welcome to meet with me beyond these 3 scheduled and required conferences.

AI Writing Evaluation and Critique
An evaluation and annotation of an AI-generated opinion essay (for example, an essay arguing for the “best movie of all time”). You will annotate the AI essay by hand, assign scores using the provided rubric, and write a short end comment that explains the essay’s strengths, weaknesses, and what specific revisions you would recommend to improve it.

Opinion Essay and Feedback Reflection 
A 2-page opinion essay on a “hot take” you genuinely care about (for example, the best or worst movie of all time). You will get feedback on your draft from both an AI tool and a Writing Center tutor, then revise your essay into a polished final draft and write a brief reflection explaining which feedback you used, which you didn’t, and how the revision changed your argument.

Research Proposal 
For this assignment, you will write a 5-page formal proposal for a research paper on a topic related to the course theme.

Research Proposal Reflection & Annotation
This assignment asks you to reflect on your writing experience for the Research Proposal. It will be completed by hand annotating a physical copy of your essay.

Research Paper
An original argumentative 10-page research paper on a topic of your choosing that relates to the course topic.

Research Paper Reflection & Annotation
This assignment asks you to reflect on your writing experience for the Research Paper. It will be completed by hand annotating a physical copy of your essay.

Course Outline

Disclaimer: Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor. In the event that there are changes to the syllabus, I will notify you both in-person and electronically.

Course Schedule:

Week 1

W 1/7

  • In class: Course overview; AI policies; intro to assignments

F 1/9

  • Read (before class): Janelle Shane, “What Is AI?” (PDF)
  • Due: Short Response #1
  • In class: What is AI? Initial discussion

Week 2
M 1/12

  • In class: Overview of first two assignments, AI Writing Evaluation & Critique, Opinion Essay & Feedback Reflection; hot-take brainstorming

W 1/14

  • Read (before class): “Student Guide to AI” (PDF)
  • Due: Short Response #2

F 1/16

  • Due: AI Usage Journal #1
  • In class: Writing Workshop

Week 3

M 1/19 – No class (MLK Day)

W 1/21

  • Read (before class): D. Graham Burnett, “Will the Humanities Survive Artificial Intelligence?” (PDF)
  • Due: Short Response #3
  • Due: AI Writing Evaluation & Critique

F 1/23

  • Read (before class): James Bridle, “The Stupidity of AI”
  • Due: Short Response #4

Week 4

M 1/26

  • Due: Rough Draft of Opinion Essay
  • In class: Feedback Instructions

W 1/28

  • Read (before class): Maya Sulkin, “Man Over Machine: Why AI Firms are Hiring Writers” (PDF)
  • Due: Short Response #5

F 1/30

  • Read (before class): Jane Rosenzweig, “What Happens When a Novice Writer Asks ChatGPT for Editing Advice?” (PDF)
  • Due: Short Response #6
  • Due: AI Usage Journal #2

Week 5

Professor Conference #1 (sign up in class the week before)

M 2/2
W 2/4
F 2/6

Week 6 

M 2/9

  • Due: Opinion Essay and Feedback Reflection
  • In class: Overview of Research Proposal essay assignment


W 2/11

  • In class: Writing Instruction Day: Introductions and Thesis Statements

F 2/13

  • Due: AI Usage Journal #3
  • In class: Writing Workshop

Week 7

M 2/16 – No class (President’s Day)

W 2/18

  • Read: Tom Bartlett, “The Worst Internet-Research Ethics Violation I Have Ever Seen” (PDF)
  • Due: Short Response #7

F 2/20

  • Due: Rough Draft of Research Proposal
  • In class: Overview of peer review process

Week 8

Professor Conference #2 (sign up in class the week before)

M 2/23

  • Due: Research Proposal Peer Review

W 2/25

F 2/27
  • Due: AI Usage Journal #4

Week 9

M 3/2

  • Read (before class): Kashmir Hill, “A Teen was Suicidal. ChatGPT was the Friend He Confided In” (PDF)
  • Due: Short Response #8

W 3/4

  • In class: Writing Instruction: Using Sources

F 3/6

  • Due: Research Proposal
  • In class: Discuss Reflection & Annotation assignment

Week 10 – Spring Break (3/9–3/13)
  • No class

Week 11

M 3/16

  • Due: Research Proposal Reflection & Annotation
  • In class: Overview of Research Paper

W 3/18

  • Read (before class): Anne Kadet, “I Love My New Friend Ray. The Only Problem: He’s Not Real” (PDF)
  • Due: Short Response #9

F 3/20

  • Due: AI Usage Journal #5
  • In class: Writing Workshop

Week 12 

M 3/23

  • Read (before class): Martin Gurri, “Will You Be a Dancing Monkey in the Age of AI?” (PDF)
  • Due: Short Response #10

W 3/25

  • In class: Writing Instruction: Counterarguments

F 3/27 – No class (NULC in Ogden)

Week 13

M 3/30

  • In class: Writing Instruction Day: Organization and Flow

W 4/1

  • In class: Writing Workshop

F 4/3

  • Due: Rough Draft of Research Paper
  • Due: AI Usage Journal #6
  • In class: Set up Peer Reviews for Research Paper

Week 14

Professor Conference #3 (sign up in class the week before)

M 4/6

  • Due: Peer Review of Research Paper

W 4/8

F 4/10

Week 15 

M 4/13
  • In class: Writing Workshop: Style & polishing workshop (clarity, cohesion, citations)

W 4/15

  • In class: Peer Reviews

F 4/17

  • In class: Last Day: optional drop-in conferences

Finals Week
  • Final Research Paper + Research Paper Reflection & Annotation due: Wednesday, April 22, 5:00 pm.

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

You will turn in most of your major assignments online. It is your responsibility to make sure that your submission goes through, which means going back after you have uploaded your assignment to double check that it is there. Computer problems are not a valid excuse for late or missing work. If you are having trouble uploading an assignment from your home computer, go to the library and upload it from there. Plan ahead.
 
Major assignments that are turned in late will be deducted 10% for each 24-hour-period after the stated deadline. In-class work cannot be made-up.
 
Extensions are negotiable. If you anticipate needing more time for an assignment, you must get in touch with me at least two days before the assignment is due. Together we will arrive at a later due date. I will hold you to that new due date and deduct points if you miss it. Do not email me the day before something is due to ask for an extension; I will refuse. Plan ahead. I reserve the right to refuse extensions.

Attendance Policy

Attendance Policy:
For this semester, individual students will choose between the following two attendance options. You will need to select either option by the end of the first day of class (or the first day that you are enrolled in the course). You are free to choose the option that best suits your needs, learning style, and work/family obligations. Some students benefit from external accountability measures; some students benefit from greater flexibility. This opt-in attendance policy allows each student to select the option that best suits their individual needs.

Once you select an attendance option, you cannot change to the other option. 

Option 1: Mandatory attendance. Attendance will be required and recorded. If you miss fewer than 2 classes all semester you will receive extra credit equal to a half letter grade added to your final grade in the course. If you miss more than 6 classes, your final grade in the course will drop by one full letter grade. If you miss more than 10 classes, you will fail the course regardless of your other grades. Being more than 5 minutes late to class will be considered an absence under this policy.

Option 2: Attendance is neither mandatory nor recorded. There is no reward and no punishment tied to your attendance. No extra credit will be given. As a courtesy to other students and to avoid being disruptive, if you are more than 5 minutes late to class, please reconsider your attendance.

Tardiness:
This is a morning class. An early morning college class is not the same beast as an early morning high school class. If you are not capable of waking up and arriving to class on time, please consider enrolling in a different section of ENGL 2010. Arriving late to class means you miss out on important information about the schedule and assignments, as well as important lecture content. Feel free to bring coffee, tea, other caffeinated beverages and breakfast to enjoy in class in order to be fully present and alert. 

Generative AI Policies

AI Usage Philosophy: Instead of treating AI tools with simple “yes, you can use this” or “no, you can’t” rules, this course focuses on helping you learn how to use them thoughtfully and responsibly. Think of using AI tools like a restaurant menu: there are many options, but not every option is right for every situation. For each assignment, you’ll choose the AI tools and uses that best support your learning and meet the goals of the task. My role as the instructor is to help you understand the options, suggest what might be most helpful for each task, and support you in making thoughtful, responsible choices.

AI usage in this class typically falls into the following categories:
  • Recommended = Best ways to use AI for this assignment; strongly encouraged.
  • Use sparingly = Okay in small, limited ways; don’t let AI take over the work.
  • Strongly discouraged = Technically possible, but likely to weaken your learning and/or your grade because it undermines the assignment’s goals.

Three Principles: Generative AI (artificial intelligence that can produce content) is now widely available to produce text, images, and other media. I encourage the use of such AI resources to inform you about the field, to understand the contributions that AI can make, and to help your learning. However, keep the following three principles in mind: (1) an AI cannot pass this course; (2) AI contributions must be attributed and true; (3) the use of AI resources must be open and documented.

To pass this course: AI generated submissions cannot achieve a passing grade. This is necessary to ensure that you are competent to surpass generative AI in the future – whether in academia, research, the workplace, or other domains of society.

General writing: In principle you may submit material that contains AI-generated content, or is based on or derived from it, as long as this use is properly documented. This includes, for example, drafting an outline, preparing individual sections, combining elements and removing redundant parts, and compiling and annotating references. Your documentation must make the process transparent – the submission itself must meet standards of attribution and validation. 

Referencing and validating: You are taking full responsibility for AI-generated materials as if you had produced them yourself: ideas must be attributed and facts must be true.

AI and Factual Accuracy: AI is prone to writing factually incorrect statements, inventing fake quotes from real sources, and inventing entirely fake sources. It is your responsibility to double-check that any AI-assisted work you submit is free from these errors. Work containing obvious factual errors or fictitious quotes or sources will receive a zero. If the problematic work is a final draft of a major essay, you will be allowed to rewrite and resubmit it by the last day of class (4/17). The Final Draft of the Research Paper cannot be revised or resubmitted.  If the problematic work is in any other type of assignment, you will not be allowed to rewrite or resubmit it. Submitting more than one assignment with these types of errors will result in you failing the class.

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.