Jainab Tabassum Banu
North Dakota State University
This assignment invites undergraduate writing students to explore AI-assisted professional writing through a task titled “Situational-based Email Writing,” which involves drafting and refining workplace or academic emails using generative tools such as ChatGPT or Gemini. By working with provided prompt templates, students will reframe communication scenarios into audience-specific messages while assessing the effectiveness of AI-generated drafts. The assignment creates opportunities for students to critically examine how well these tools capture the nuances of tone, clarity, and rhetorical appropriateness required in professional correspondence. By evaluating and revising AI outputs, students will sharpen their own authorial voice, deepen their understanding of context-driven communication, and develop ethical awareness around the role of AI in writing.
Learning Goals
Original Assignment Context: Undergraduate-level Business and Professional Writing course for junior and senior college students.
Materials Needed: Access to inclusive access version or print version of Successful Writing at Work. Chapter 4.2: Email Writing, and chapter 5.3: Letter Writing of Successful Writing at Work. Students also need a computer, internet connection and an active ChatGPT account (free version works well).
Time Frame: This assignment is designed to be completed over a two-week period in an online asynchronous class. For in-person or synchronous formats, the assignment can be completed across four 75-minute class sessions, allowing time for guided AI interaction, peer feedback, revision and reflection.
In asynchronous sections, a narrated video lecture or PowerPoint presentation is used to model email writing and demonstrate effective use of AI tools like ChatGPT. In contrast, synchronous or in-person sessions allow for real-time, pedagogically guided demonstrations of AI engagement, which can deepen student understanding through live discussion and collaborative critique.
Overview: This assignment was conceptualized for Business and Professional Writing, a course designed for college students across diverse majors and academic backgrounds. It was originally implemented in online, asynchronous sections, each comprising 22 students, and conducted twice over the span of one year. Although designed within a U.S.-based instructional context, the assignment is highly adaptable to professional writing courses in any geographic or institutional setting, particularly given the global reach and relevance of AI writing tools like ChatGPT.
The assignment is structured to meet several core learning outcomes. First, it teaches students how to craft professional emails using standard conventions such as purposeful subject lines, appropriate greetings, clearly organized message bodies, and polite closings. These rhetorical features are often overlooked, yet they are essential in distinguishing effective email communication from informal or disorganized messaging.
Each email prompt is based on a realistic workplace scenario, requiring students to think critically about the situation, understand their audience, identify the purpose of their message, and adapt their tone accordingly. Prompts also include contextual information about the recipient, which enhances students’ audience awareness.
A key component of the assignment involves guided engagement with AI tools such as ChatGPT, paired with a critical reflection component. Students begin by generating AI-written drafts of their assigned emails and then compare them with their own writing. This process encourages them to identify the affordances and limitations of AI-generated communication. While AI can offer immediate drafts, model tone, and suggest structural patterns, students often notice its tendency toward generic or overly formal language. By analyzing these limitations, they come to better appreciate and trust their own writerly voice. The assignment thus reduces overreliance on automated tools. More broadly, students develop foundational AI literacy. They learn to use AI tools ethically and effectively while reflecting on how these tools impact rhetorical choices in professional contexts.
Ultimately, the assignment is designed to foreground the rhetorical dimensions of professional communication. In a world increasingly shaped by AI-assisted writing, students must learn not only to use these tools without judgment but to critique them. Grounded in real-world scenarios, the assignment helps students develop both practical writing skills and critical digital literacy.
Week 1, Day 1
Task 1: Write (Think and Ink)
Compose two situation-based emails using the prompts provided in class.
Week 1, Day 2
Task 2: Role Play: ChatGPT as a Writer
Use the same prompts from Task 1 and ask ChatGPT to generate two emails for you.
Task 3: Review ChatGPT’s Work
After each AI-generated email:
Week 2, Day 1
Task 4: Role Play: ChatGPT as a Feedback Provider
Use ChatGPT to receive feedback on both your own emails and the AI-generated ones.
Task 5: Evidence of Revision ( Rethink, Tweak, and Revise)
Using the feedback you received from ChatGPT in Task 4, revise both of your original emails.
Week 2, Day 2
Task 6 (Reflective Author’s note):
Write a 1–2 page reflective note that thoughtfully responds to your experience of using ChatGPT during the email-writing process. Use the questions below to guide your reflection:
Part 1: Reflecting on ChatGPT-Generated Emails
Part 2: Reflecting on Your Revision Process