Abstract:

This paper presents an innovative application of AI chatbots in teaching academic writing at the graduate level within an independent online course framework. The course is not linked to any specific course, but serves as a support course and appears on all graduate students’ and faculty’s Moodle LMS (Learning Management System). While the online course provides foundational instruction on the principles and conventions of scientific writing using the IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion/Conclusions) framework, the core innovation lies in the development and implementation of specialized AI chatbots that enhance the writing support process.

The Socratic chatbot system consists of dedicated AI assistants for each section of a scientific paper, offering two primary functions. First, they serve as interactive writing guides by prompting questions and answering student queries about section-specific requirements, conventions, and best practices. Students can engage in real-time dialogue with chatbots that enable iterative improvement through questioning, immediate feedback, and clarifying their understanding of various aspects, from structuring research questions in the Introduction to presenting statistical analyses in the Results, and others. Second, the chatbots provide detailed feedback on students' written work, analyzing both structural elements and content coherence within each section.

Initial implementation suggests that this AI-enhanced approach could significantly improve the writing support experience by providing round-the-clock assistance, consistent feedback, and personalized guidance. In addition, it would serve to further develop learner autonomy and agency, especially in the complex area of scientific English writing for publication. We suggest that this AI-enhanced approach creates a tiered support system where AI chatbots handle routine writing queries and structural feedback, freeing human instructors to focus on complex aspects like argument development and disciplinary perspectives.

Keywords:

Independent study, IMRaD structure, AI chatbots, writing guidance, writing feedback.