My most recent Philosophy course just started, and for the first class, we were assigned a short story to read. From there, we had to write a one-page paper summarizing what we took from it.
Here’s the exact guidance we were given for the paper:
You will give the paper a title to orient the reader from the start, and then introduce your topic clearly in the first paragraph. Keep in mind that a convincing paper needs to be clear and coherent, and exhibit a judicious use of pertinent detail. It should also possess a natural flow from paragraph to paragraph to maintain the reader's attention. The goal of the paper is to help you crystallize thoughts and ideas around a single topic.
I thought, “Okay, I got this. Easy enough; this is pretty much what I do all day for my client work.”
Well, I did the reading and whipped up my little one-pager on the key theme I gathered from it, including how it related to my personal experience and philosophy, and sent it off.
I’d be lying to you if I didn’t give myself a little pat on the back post-submission. “You’re so good at this,” I told myself. “If he pulls a few example papers, one will probably be yours.”
(Ahem, reader: let me tell you, I am very aware of how cringe this little egomaniacal thinking is in hindsight and I already talked about it in therapy so get off my back!)
That said, you can imagine my surprise when, during class, my paper was not chosen as one of the strong examples.
In fact, the two that were chosen took a wildly different approach than I had. They’d gone much deeper on the reading, leveraging their critical thinking skills, whereas my perspective only skimmed the surface of the topic.
A bit of context so you have a frame of reference:
My paper examined a high-level, fairly obvious theme and then connected it to my personal experience and way of living.
The example papers took two different approaches:
One took a very specific piece of the story and extrapolated how it was a subtle theme throughout the plot, reinforced over and over via metaphor (so, think of how an art historian would look at a painting and call out the historical context and symbolism)
The other took a more quizzical approach and went into detail on the questions the story posed for the reader, going into the conclusions he could posit based on what he gleaned from a very close reading of the text, paying attention to minute details like verb tense and emotional adverbs used. 🤯
Read more: How to Take a Stance in Writing
Now I’m going to say the quiet part out loud.
I was a little nervous I’d missed the mark on the theme I took from the story, so before I submitted it, I prompted ChatGPT with a few questions about the story to see if it came up with similar assessments.
It did. And that is a point I want to make in and of itself. My surface-level assessment was in line with ChatGPT-quality responses. That should’ve been my clue.
ChatGPT doesn’t produce complex, detailed insights, it doesn’t excel at nuance, and it certainly isn’t known for its critical thinking.
As humbling as this experience was, it was a great lesson for any writer: You can (and should!) go deeper. You can read more closely, think more deeply, and write in a way that goes well beyond the obvious surface content.
So here’s what I want to say to you: If you’re writing at a ChatGPT-equivalent level, that’s probably a sign you need to go deeper.
Go back and read your brief, the source material, the research, whatever supporting documentation you have, and engage your critical thinking skills.
Take a fine-toothed comb to it, and rather than just stating the obvious, engage your humanity by deploying your ability to assess, synthesize information, and draw new connections to share the deeper meanings you discover from that hard work.
AI-powered writing tools can state the obvious.
But humans have a unique ability to kick our brains into high gear and produce insightful, reflective, and detailed analyses of the things we read, learn, and see.
It’s not easy work, but in a world where, these tools can cover the generic bases, it’s more important than ever to leverage our human advantage here.
Read more: Writing Tips from a College Professor
Use. Your. Brain.
So. Excuse me while I go start the reading for next week. I’ve got some work to do. 😅