Writing Studies Prompt Library: Expert Approaches to Generative Artificial Intelligence Promptingá

Writing Studies Prompt Library: Expert Approaches to Generative Artificial Intelligence Promptingá

 

CFP: Call for Prompts

We seek contributions to a field-specific generative artificial intelligence (GAI) prompt library that connects expertise in writing studies with prompt engineering. 

Overview 

The effectiveness of a GAI output is dependent upon the effectiveness of its input—that is, the prompt—that a human writer enters into a GAI platform. Prompts not only help determine the effectiveness of a GAI output but prompts also allow human writers to address and often mitigate concerns about ethics and GAI use (Aquilar, 2024; Graham, 2023; Gogan, in press; Gupta, 2024; Ranade et al., 2024). 

The writing of prompts—also called prompt engineering or prompting—presents the field of writing studies with an opportunity to apply our expertise about writing to emergent technologies. Although prompt writing has been referred to as a “new and critical writing-related skill” (Graham, 2023, p. 164), repositories called prompt libraries are emerging in ways that encourage GAI users to uncritically adopt ready-for-use prompts. For instance, many of these prompt libraries are promoted on social media with exaggerated marketing claims, promising users dramatic boosts in productivity and financial success simply by copy-pasting one of the many paid prompts they offer (Gupta & Shivers-McNair, 2024). 

This field-specific prompt library aims to “surface” our field’s expertise about writing in order to help GAI prompters more effectively and ethically engage with prompt writing (Adler-Kassner & Wardle, 2022, p. 4). In fact, Ethan Mollick claims that “Writers are often the best at prompting AI for written communication because they are skilled at describing the effects they want prose to create” (2024, p. 115). By extension, experts in the field of writing studies are well-positioned to curate and collect prompts that have a basis in writing research and that have been empirically tested. 

Prompt Library Goals 

The goals of this field-specific prompt library are to allow users to: 

  • Learn about foundational writing studies concepts that can inform prompting 
  • Explore the efficacy and ethics of different prompting strategies 
  • Practice a range of human-in-the-loop prompting strategies 

Audience 

This library is designed to be used by prompt engineers, educators, and students. 

Publisher 

The library will be published as a born-digital, open-educational resource by the WAC Clearinghouse’s WAC Repository. 

Peer Review Process 

Each submission to the library will undergo an anonymous peer review process by experts in the field. 

Specifications 

Each submission must include six components: 

Prompt Title 

Craft a descriptive title that details what your prompting strategy does. 

Part 1: Prefatory Note or Contextual Headnote about the Writing Studies Concept 

This succinct note should offer discipline-specific, expert context behind the GAI prompt presented in Part 2. The note should be written so that non-experts and students can understand the writing studies concept at work in the prompt input. Think of this note as an accessible and condensed review of the literature in the field about your chosen writing studies concept, the goal of which is to show the reader how the writing studies concept informs the engineering of the prompt. The note should fall between 750 and 1,000 words in length. 

Part 2: Prompt Input 

This input should be the actual text of the prompt. The prompt should be written exactly as it would be inputted into a GAI platform. All styles and structures of prompts are invited. 

Part 3: Prompt Outputs 

The prompt must be tested across a minimum of three different GAI platforms that are free for public use. To document this testing and to demonstrate the prompt’s proof of concept, Part 3 should present exact outputs generated by three different, free GAI platforms in response to your prompt. This part should consist of copy-and-pasted outputs that are labeled with the platform’s name. 

Part 4: Further Reading 

Each contribution should close with a list of at least three references for further reading. Any references included in Part 1 should also be included in this list. References should follow the 7th edition of the APA Style Guide. 

Contributor Information and Biography 

Please include your name, your title, your institution, your email, and a 100-word biography. 

Prompt Library Timetable 

Submission Deadline: August 30, 2025 

Submissions Peer Reviewed: September 1, 2025, through September 30, 2025 

Acceptance Notification: October 7, 2025 

Publication Date: Early December, 2025 

Submission Instructions: 

Please submit your entry to the WAC Clearinghouse’s WAC Repository by August 15, 2025, midnight (EST) by following these steps: 

  • Visit: https://submissions.colostate.edu/submit/ 
  • Create a New Submission by selecting “Submit to a Journal” for Step 1. 
  • Choose “The WAC Repository” for Step 2. 
  • Complete your submission for Step 3 by:
    • Entering a title that details what your prompting strategy does in the “Title” field. 
    • Adding author(s) information in the “Author” field. 
    • Writing “WRITING STUDIES PROMPT LIBRARY SUBMISSION” in the “Brief Description” field. 
    • Uploading Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 of your submission (above) as one Word (.doc, .docx) file in the “Upload at Least One File” field. 
    • Uploading Contributor Information and Biography (above) as a separate Word (.doc, .docx) file in the first “Upload Additional Files” field. 
    • Uploading any other supporting files as necessary. 

For questions about the submission process, contact library editors Brian Gogan (Brian.Gogan@wmich.edu) and Anuj Gupta (anujgupta@usf.edu). 

References 

Adler-Kassner, L., & Wardle, E. A. (2022). Writing expertise: A research-based approach to writing and learning across disciplines. WAC Clearinghouse. 

Aguilar, G. L. (2024). Rhetorically training students to generate with AI: Social justice applications for AI as audience. Computers and Composition, 71(102828), 1-10. 

Graham, S. S. (2023). Post-process but not post-writing: Large language models and a future for composition pedagogy. Composition Studies, 51(1), 162-168. 

Gogan, B., & Heibel, T. (in press). Genre and generative artificial intelligence: Real-world applications for writing prompts across the disciplines. WAC Clearinghouse. 

Gupta, A. (2024, January). Translinguo: Critically Making Chatbot Prototypes by Learning How to Write Generative AI prompts. In C. Schnitzler, A. Vee, & T. Laquintano (Eds.), TextGenEd: Continuing Experiments. WAC Clearinghouse. https://doi.org/10.37514/TWR-J.2024.2.1.01. 

Gupta, A., & Shivers-McNair, A. (2024). “Wayfinding” through the AI wilderness: Mapping rhetorics of ChatGPT prompt writing on X (formerly Twitter) to promote critical AI literacies. Computers and Composition, 74, 102882. 

Mollick, E. (2024). Co-intelligence: Living and working with AI. Penguin. 

Ranade, N., Saravia, M., & Johri, A. (2024). Using rhetorical strategies to design prompts: A human-in-the-loop approach to make AI useful. AI & Society, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-024-01905-3.