Bad Ideas about AI and Writing: Generative Practices for Teaching, Learning, and Communication
Edited by Christopher Basgier, Anna Mills, Mandy Olejnik, Miranda Rodak, and Shyam Sharma
Copy edited by Don Donahue. Designed by Mike Palmquist.
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is changing the way we learn, teach, and practice writing. Amidst this communicative landscape, old myths about writing resurface and new myths emerge, from the old idea that good writing is only about surface style to the new idea that we must ditch all our writing assignments because GenAI can do them for us. We call these “bad ideas” when they are ill-informed, unethical, or harmful to students who seek to learn, think, and communicate. To counteract such bad ideas, the contributors to this edited collection offer “generative” ideas about GenAI and writing, ideas that spur creative new directions in the education and practice of writing. Collectively, they illustrate the ongoing importance of rhetorical awareness, critical literacy, and human-centered practices, with and without GenAI in the mix.
Table of Contents
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Preface, Drew M. Loewe
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.1.1
Introduction. From Faulty Ideas to Productive Practices: Writing and Learning in the Age of AI, Christopher Basgier, Anna Mills, Mandy Olejnik, Miranda Rodak, and Shyam Sharma
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.1.3
Part 1. Debunking the Hype
Chapter 1. Generative AI Will Make Knowledge Work Easier, More Productive, and Faster ✨ Critically Examine Generative AI from Economic and Cultural Frameworks, Paul Cook
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.01
Chapter 2. AI Knows Everything ✨ AI Can Perpetuate Ignorance, Prejudices, and Epistemic-Rhetorical Harms Globally, Shyam Sharma
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.02
Chapter 3. Generative AI Tools Are Color-Blind ✨ Counterstorytelling Can Help Generative AI Tools Address Their Embedded Cultural Biases, Aamir Zulfiqar and Sue Hum
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.03
Chapter 4. AI Is Revolutionary ✨ AI Is Conventional, Tyler Easterbrook
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.04
Chapter 5. AI is Completely Unlike Any Other Writing Software ✨ AI Is Strange and Rhetorical Just Like Other Writing Software, Matthew D. Bryan
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.05
Chapter 6. AI Can “Do It All!” ✨ We Have Work to Do, Together, Charles N. Lesh
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.06
Part 2. Gaining AI Literacy
Chapter 7. AI Use is a Natural Skillset ✨ AI is a Learned Literacy, Lisa Bell and Joni K. Hayward Marcum
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.07
Chapter 8. AI-Generated Reading Summaries Are Enough ✨ AI Tools Can Rhetorically Support but not Replace Reading, Christopher Eaton
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.08
Chapter 9. Traditional Information Literacy Instruction Prepares Students to Evaluate AI Texts ✨ Expert Readers Use Lateral Reading to Evaluate the Credibility of Texts, Angela Laflen
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.09
Chapter 10. Good Prompts Are Sufficient to Produce Good Written Products ✨ Effective Use of Generative AI in Writing Requires Critical AI Literacy, Sindija Franzetti and Amy Wanyu Ou
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.10
Chapter 11. Generative AI Can Do My Research for Me ✨ Researchers Should Always Evaluate and Contextualize Search Results, Leslie Allison, Tiffany DeRewal, and Amy Reed
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.10
Chapter 12. Automated Feedback Programs Provide Invaluable Guidance Throughout the Writing Process ✨ Automated Feedback Is One Resource Within a Larger Writing Environment, Mark Bennett and Jeffrey C. Kessler
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.12
Chapter 13. AI Detectors Can Stop International Students from Plagiarizing ✨ Educators Should Prioritize Conversation, Trust-Building, and Lived Experience as Part of Critical AI Literacy, Priscila Schilaro Santa Rosa and Sherry Rankins-Robertson
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.13
Part 3. The Social and Human Nature of Writing
Chapter 14. AI Output Is Neither Social nor Rhetorical ✨ Human-AI Collaboration Is a Complex Social and Rhetorical Practice, Cydney Alexis and Theresa Merrick Cassidy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.14
Chapter 15. Generative AI Does All the Work for the Writer ✨ Writing with AI Requires Human Rhetorical Agency, Chris M. Anson and Kirsti Cole
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.15
Chapter 16. Writing Means Producing Written Words that Look Like They Are from Educated Humans ✨ Human Writers Can Revise AI Output as They Think About Purpose, Audience, and Context, Charles Bazerman
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.16
Chapter 17. Generative AI Replaces Technical Writers ✨ Generative AI Augments the Capabilities (and Responsibilities) of Technical Writers, Dana Comi
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.17
Chapter 18. Generative AI Can Write Better Than Me ✨ Embodied Experience Is Vital for Writing (with and without Generative AI), J Palmeri
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.18
Chapter 19. We Should Ignore Our Emotions about Generative AI ✨ We Should Examine Our Complicated Emotions about AI, Steven Engel and Staci Shultz
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.19
Chapter 20. AI Writing Tools Can “Think” ✨ Human Writers Are Always the Real “Thinkers”, Alex Helberg
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.20
Chapter 21. We Can Simply Rely on AI for Alt-Text ✨ AI Should Support but Not Lead Accessibility Measures in Writing, Brett Oppegaard
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.21
Part 4. Ethical Impacts of AI Writing Technologies
Chapter 22. Generative AI Can Be Accessed for Free ✨ AI Poses Significant Hidden Costs to Individuals, Society, and the Planet, Whitney Lew James
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.22
Chapter 23. Generative AI Can Write without Damaging the Environment ✨ Writers Must Consider the Digital Damage They Cause when They Use Generative AI, Lydia Wilkes
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.23
Chapter 24. Reading Generative AI Terms of Service Is a Waste of Time ✨ Reading Generative AI Terms of Service Supports a Broader Understanding of Technology’s Impact, Morgan C. Banville and Charles Woods
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.24
Chapter 25. Commercial Generative AI Is a Good Idea for Teaching Writing! ✨ Schools Should Insist that Teachers Lead the Development of AI Educational Technologies, Marit J. MacArthur
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.25
Part 5. How AI Impacts the Learning and Writing Process
Chapter 26. AI Can Write Like an Expert in Any Discipline ✨ AI Can Help You Understand How Experts Use Writing, Christopher Basgier and Mandy Olejnik
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.26
Chapter 27. AI Will Empower Non-Native English Writers to Master “Standard Academic English” ✨ AI that Reflects Global Englishes Usage and Language Diversity Can Support Students’ Writing, Alice Gruber
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.27
Chapter 28. Outlining Ideas Is a Writing Process Unworthy of Practice (that Students Should Outsource to AI) ✨ Learning to Write Involves Dissecting, Assembling, and Understanding Structure, Emma C. Johnson
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.28
Chapter 29. AI Creates Shortcuts for Good Thinking ✨ AI Creates Opportunities for More Complex Critical Thinking, Aurora Matzke and Nora K. Rivera
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.29
Chapter 30. Using AI Tools Detracts from Student Voice ✨ Not Every Use of AI Detracts from Student Voice, Xiao Tan and Paul Kei Matsuda
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.30
Part 6. Writing Programs and Writing Centers in the Age of AI
Chapter 31. AI Won’t Add to The Workload of Writing Program Administrators and Writing Center Directors ✨ They Need Sustainable Practices in the Face of AI, Emily Wierszewski and Kim Pennesi
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.31
Chapter 32. AI Can Clean Up First-Year Writing ✨ First-Year Writing Courses Should Embrace the Epistemic “Messiness” of Writing, Fiona Harris-Ramsby and Mary R. Boland
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.32
Chapter 33. AI Can Replace Writing Instruction and Writing Instructors ✨ Teach AI Literacy to Emphasize the Human, Multilingual, and Multimodal Aspects of Writing, Reda Mohammed and Khadidja Belhadi
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.33
Chapter 34. Writing Instructors Can’t Be Replaced by AI ✨ Recommit to “Composition” as a Disciplinary and Curricular Name, Roger Thompson
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.34
Chapter 35. Generative AI Will Make the Writing Center Obsolete ✨ Writing Centers Thrive by Fostering Human Connections, Kristi Girdharry
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.35
Chapter 36. Writing Center Tutors Should Introduce AI into Sessions ✨ AI Assistance Is Not Conducive to Most Writers’ Processes, Learning Preferences, and Affective Needs, Rebecca Hallman Martini
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.36
Chapter 37. AI Can Serve as a Morally Responsible Writing Tutor ✨ Human Tutors Are Indispensable Because They Are Moral Agents, Kyle W. Thompson
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.37
Part 7. How Writing Pedagogy & Assessment Are Affected by AI
Chapter 38. We Must Act Fast to Address AI in Writing Classrooms ✨ Slow Design Can Build More Sustaining Classroom Practice with (or without) AI, Leah Heilig and Josh Chase
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.38
Chapter 39. Teachers Should Abandon Longstanding Assignments that Students Can Now Do with AI ✨ Teachers Should Revise Assignments to Account for AI and Emphasize Writing to Learn, Thomas Deans
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.39
Chapter 40. We Should Suspect Our Students Are Using AI ✨ Instead of Mistrusting Our Students, We Should Embrace a Pedagogy of Trust and Joy, Noël Ingram
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.40
Chapter 41. Generative AI Should Be Used Similarly Across Writing Courses ✨ Since Writing Courses and Contexts Vary, Generative AI Use Should Be Situationally Informed, Laura Proszak
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.41
Chapter 42. Generative AI Provides Great Revision Feedback ✨ Generative AI’s Revision Feedback Should Be Used with Caution, Dani Nyikos and Kristi McDuffie
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.42
Chapter 43. Now that We Have AI, We Can Ditch Human Feedback! ✨ AI Feedback Should Be Used in a Human-Centered Process, with Peer Feedback, Lisa Sperber
Related Resources: PAIRR OER Packet | Getting the Most out of AI Feedback
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.43
Chapter 44. AI Gives Good Feedback on Student Writing ✨ Good Feed-back Demonstrates Knowledge of The Writer and Their Purpose for Writing, Shane A. Wood
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.44
Part 8. Writing Instruction Policy and Academic Integrity
Chapter 45. It’s Impossible to Tell Whether a Student Has Used Generative AI, So It’s Not Worth Trying to Find Out ✨ Educators Can Investigate Suspected Unsanctioned Generative AI Use Based on Writing Studies Theory and Practice, Zack K. De Piero
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.45
Chapter 46. Writing Programs Should Quickly Create Unilateral AI Policies ✨ Faculty Development Should Precede Any Collective AI Policies, Ariel M. Goldenthal and Courtney Adams Wooten
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.46
Chapter 47. Exclude Students from Institutional Conversations and Policy Making Around AI ✨ Students Should Be Included in Institutional AI Policy Conversations, Annika Hauser-Brydon, Margaux Smith, Jonathan Walker, Seth Byle, Nadia Theders, Jacquelyne Thornton, Kate Fedewa, and Dànielle Nicole DeVoss
Related Resources: GenAI Guidance for Faculty | GenAI Reminders and Guidance for Students
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.47
Chapter 48. AI-Powered Research and Citation Platforms Will Enhance Academic Integrity ✨ Generative AI Technologies Emphasize the Role of Engagement in Integrity, Laurie A. Pinkert and Jonathan Beever
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.48
Afterword. Ten Directions for Writing and Learning in the Age of AI, Traci Gardner
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.3.2
About the Editors
Christopher Basgier is Director of University Writing at Auburn University. His research, which has appeared in numerous journals and edited collections, spans writing across the curriculum, genre, threshold concepts, and digital rhetoric.
Anna Mills, who has taught writing in California community colleges for 20 years, has published work on GenAI in publications including The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, and TextGenEd: Continuing Experiments.
Mandy Olejnik, the Assistant Director of Writing Across the Curriculum at Miami University, focuses her research on graduate-level writing instruction, writing across the curriculum, and the impact of GenAI in the classroom and university ecosystem.
Miranda Rodak, Senior Lecturer and Associate Director of the Communication and Professional Skills Program at Indiana University Bloomington’s Kelley School of Business, examines AI and digital literacies through the lens of metacognitive learning and high-impact pedagogy.
Shyam Sharma, Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at SUNY Stony Brook, focuses his research on writing in the disciplines, cross-cultural rhetoric, international education, language policy, and the changing dynamics of knowledge production in the context of artificial intelligence.
Publication Information: Basgier, Christopher, Anna Mills, Mandy Olejnik, Miranda Rodak, & Shyam Sharma (Eds.). (2026). Bad Ideas about AI and Writing: Generative Practices for Teaching, Learning, and Communication. The WAC Clearinghouse; University Press of Colorado. https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777
Web Publication Date: May 26, 2026
Print Publication Date: TBD
ISBN: 978-1-64215-277-7 (PDF) 978-1-64215-278-4 (ePub) 978-1-64642-868-7 (pbk.)
DOI: 10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777
Contact Information:
Christopher Basgier: crb0085@auburn.edu
Anna Mills: annarmills@gmail.com
Mandy Olejnik: olejnimr@miamioh.edu
Miranda Rodak: rodak@iu.edu
Shyam Sharma: shyam.sharma@stonybrook.edu
Perspectives on Writing
Series Editors: Rich Rice, Texas Tech University, and J. Michael Rifenburg, University of North Georgia
This book is available in whole and in part in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF). It will also be available in a low-cost print edition from our publishing partner, the University Press of Colorado.
Copyright © 2026 Christopher Basgier, Anna Mills, Mandy Olejnik, Miranda Rodak, and Shyam Sharma and the authors of individual parts of this book. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License. 384 pages, with notes, figures, and bibliographies. This book will be available in print from University Press of Colorado as well as from any online or brick-and-mortar bookstore. Available in digital format for no charge on this page at the WAC Clearinghouse. You may view this book. You may print personal copies of this book. You may link to this page. You may not reproduce this book on another website. For permission requests and other questions, such as creating a translation, please contact the copyright holder.