18 ✨AI Enhanced Activity: Socratic Seminar – Building an Essay Through Guided Inquiry

This activity uses AI as a Socratic guide, prompting you with questions to help you develop your essay’s introduction, body, and overall structure. The AI won’t provide answers or write anything for you; its role is to facilitate your thinking process.

Instructions:

1. Choose a Broad Topic: Select a broad topic area that interests you. Avoid narrowing it down to a specific argument at this stage.

2. AI Interaction: Introduction Development through Inquiry: Use an AI writing tool (e.g., ChatGPT, Bard, etc.) as your Socratic guide. Start by telling the AI your broad topic:

   “I’m working on an essay about [your broad topic]. I’m starting to think about my introduction. Can you ask me some questions that will help me brainstorm ideas for what to include?”

   Then, engage with the AI’s questions. Answer them thoughtfully and use them to generate ideas for your introduction. Here are examples of the kinds of questions the AI might ask (The AI should generate its own, not use these exactly, but if it is struggling to understand what you want, you could mention some of these as examples and then go from there.):

   • “What is the current state of knowledge or understanding about this topic?”
   • “Why is this topic important or relevant?”
   • “Are there any common misconceptions or misunderstandings about this topic?”
   • “What is the historical context of this topic?”
   • “What are some key terms or concepts that need to be defined for the reader?”
   • “What is a compelling way to grab the reader’s attention and introduce this topic?”

3. Craft Your Introduction: Based on your answers to the AI’s questions, write your introduction.

4. AI Interaction: Subtopic Identification through Inquiry: Once you have a draft of your introduction (or even before, if you prefer to work on introduction and body concurrently), tell the AI you’re ready to start thinking about the body of your essay:

   “I’m now starting to think about the main sections or subtopics I should cover in the body of my essay. Can you ask me some questions that will help me identify potential subtopics related to [your broad topic or a specific argument you are considering]?”

   Again, engage with the AI’s questions. Answer them thoughtfully and use them to generate ideas for your subtopics. Example questions the AI might ask:

   • “What are the key aspects or components of this topic that need to be explored?”
   • “What are the different perspectives or viewpoints on this topic?”
   • “What evidence or examples could be used to support different arguments about this topic?”
   • “What are the potential challenges or counterarguments that need to be addressed?”
   • “What are some real-world examples or case studies that illustrate this topic?”

5. Identify Your Subtopics: Based on your answers to the AI’s questions, identify 2-3 key subtopics that will form the basis of your body paragraphs or sections.

6. AI Interaction: Structuring Your Argument through Inquiry: Once you have your subtopics, tell the AI you’re ready to think about how to structure your argument:

   “I have these subtopics: [list your subtopics]. Can you ask me some questions that will help me determine the best order to present them in my essay?”

   Engage with the AI’s questions to determine the most logical and persuasive order for your subtopics. Example questions the AI might ask:

   • “Which subtopic is the most foundational or needs to be understood first?”
   • “Which subtopic builds most naturally upon the previous one?”
   • “Which subtopic is the most compelling or impactful and should be placed strategically for maximum effect?”
   • “Which subtopic addresses potential counterarguments and should be placed accordingly?”

7. Outline Development: Create a detailed outline for your essay, incorporating your introduction, subtopics (in the order you determined), and potential supporting evidence for each subtopic.

8. Reflection: Write a short reflection on your experience. How did the AI’s questions help you develop your ideas for the introduction, body, and overall structure of your essay? Did you feel like the AI was guiding you through the thinking process, or was it doing the thinking for you? How will you use this question-driven approach in future essay writing?