Case A — the original: SOC 101 argumentative essay
Context (fictional): Lakeside State University — a fictional US public university preparing for ADA Title II digital accessibility compliance. SOC 101 Introduction to Sociology is a first-year general-education course with 180 students, run by one lecturer and two TAs. This brief is realistic but fictional; no real course or student work is used.
The original assignment brief
SOC 101 — Essay 2 (25% of course grade)
Task. Write an argumentative essay of 1,500 words on the following question:
Does social media use harm adolescent mental health?
Take a clear position and defend it. Your essay must:
- State a thesis in the introduction and sustain it throughout.
- Use at least five scholarly sources (peer-reviewed journal articles or academic books), cited in APA 7 style.
- Engage with at least one counter-argument.
- Conclude with implications, not a summary.
Submission. A single Word or PDF document via the LMS, 11:59 pm Friday, week 9.
Academic integrity. Plagiarism or use of AI writing tools will be investigated under the university’s academic misconduct policy.
Rubric. See below (20 points).
The original rubric (20 points)
| Criterion | 5 (excellent) | 3–4 (good) | 1–2 (weak) | 0 (absent) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thesis & argument (5) | Clear, contestable thesis; sustained, logically ordered argument | Clear thesis; mostly consistent argument | Vague thesis; argument drifts | No discernible thesis |
| Use of evidence (5) | ≥5 relevant scholarly sources, accurately cited and integrated | 5 sources, mostly relevant; minor citation issues | Fewer than 5 or mostly non-scholarly sources | No scholarly evidence |
| Analysis & depth (5) | Counter-argument addressed; implications drawn; nuance shown | Some analysis beyond description; counter-argument present | Mostly summary or assertion | Descriptive only |
| Writing & organization (5) | Fluent, well-organized, error-free APA 7 | Clear writing; minor errors | Disorganized; frequent errors | Unintelligible |
What the teaching team actually does with it
- The two TAs grade ~90 essays each against this rubric, in about 15–20 minutes per essay.
- Turnitin’s similarity score is checked; there is no AI-detection policy beyond the sentence above.
- The same question has been used for six semesters. Instructors report increasing suspicion about “essays that don’t sound like my students” but no formal review of the task since 2023.
Why this case matters
This is the most common assignment shape in higher education: a take-home essay marked against a generic rubric. If generative AI can satisfy this rubric, the grade no longer certifies what it claims to certify. The stress test shows which criteria are at risk; the redesign rebuilds the task around them.
- 1. Original assignment ← you are here
- 2. Stress test
- 3. Redesign
- 4. Student brief
- 5. New rubric
- 6. Faculty notes