Did You Write It Yourself? How Your First Draft Can Protect You From AI Accusations
A video from Jenny, Writing Coach discussing why your rough draft is more important that your good copy in the age of AI.
Hey, it’s your writing coach Jenny here.
I’m going to tell you about something that every writer, whether you’re writing for work, for school, or for yourself, needs to know in the age of AI.
How to write a rough draft.
Your rough draft is one of the best ways to demonstrate the originality of your work. If anyone ever claims that you used AI to create your work, you can use your rough draft to help demonstrate that the work is your own and that you developed it yourself.
So, let me show you how to create a proper rough draft that helps protect the authenticity of your work.
Start With a Blank Page
The first step is simple: open up a blank page, whether that's in a notebook or on your computer.
Handwriting is a great way to do this because it can be difficult to fake. Especially if you date your notebook on each page that you've written on, you have a record of when your work was created.
Handwriting also makes it harder to correct yourself as you go. You'll naturally have your errors and changes sitting there on the page, which is actually something I want you to keep in your rough draft.
Typing is also perfectly fine. I understand that typing is a preferred way for many people to write, and it's much quicker when you need to make edits. If you're doing this for school or work, typing often makes more sense.
You can absolutely create an authentic rough draft digitally. You just need to take a few extra steps.
Date and Name Your Rough Draft
When you open your new page, put the date on it.
Whether you're handwriting or typing, you want the date to be clearly visible.
Then name the document something obvious, such as:
Rough Draft – [Assignment or Project Name]
This makes it clear what the document is and when you started working on it.
Turn Off Auto-Correction
If you're typing your rough draft, there's another important step.
Before you start writing, turn off the features that automatically correct your writing.
In Microsoft Word, you can go into your settings and find the proofing options. Turn off things such as:
“Check spelling as you type”
“Mark grammar errors as you type”
AutoCorrect's “Replace text as you type”
The reason for doing this is simple: you want your rough draft to actually be rough.
We're so used to correcting ourselves as we go that it can feel strange to leave mistakes sitting there. But that's exactly what you want at this stage.
Don't correct your rough draft until it's finished and saved.
Your rough draft might have typos, awkward sentences, spelling mistakes, or ideas that aren't fully developed. That's okay.
Those imperfections are part of the writing process.
Write in Your Own Voice
Now you're ready to start writing.
If you're doing a school assignment, read through the assignment instructions first. If you're writing something for work, read through what you're expected to accomplish.
Get an idea of what you need to do, but don't stress too much about the details yet.
Then start writing.
What I want you to do is get the gist of what you're supposed to do in your own language.
Don't try to polish it at this stage.
Don't try to be someone else.
Don't try to be the perfect student you think your teacher wants you to be. Don't worry about making everything sound incredibly professional.
Write the way you naturally write.
Think about how you'd write an email to your teacher. You might still want to keep it somewhat professional, but it should sound like you.
This is particularly important if you're a student.
If a teacher sees that a student's submitted work is extremely polished, but they have watched that same student struggle with basic spelling and writing in class, they may naturally wonder whether AI was used to produce the final work.
If your rough draft reflects the kind of writing you naturally produce, it can help demonstrate that your final work developed from your own writing process.
Don't Fix Everything in the Rough Draft
When you're writing your rough draft, don't constantly stop to fix things.
Just keep going.
Get your ideas onto the page.
Your rough draft doesn't need to be perfect. In fact, it shouldn't be.
The goal is to get the main ideas out of your head and onto the page.
You can worry about wording, grammar, spelling, formatting, and organization later.
Give Yourself Some Time Between Drafts
Here's another important tip:
Start your rough draft at least a day before you create your good copy.
There are two reasons for this.
First, it creates a clearer record of your writing process.
If your rough draft and your final copy are saved five minutes apart, it may be harder to demonstrate that you developed the work gradually.
If your rough draft was created one day and your polished version was created the next day, you have a much clearer timeline showing that you developed your work over time.
Second, giving yourself that time can actually help you write better.
When you start working on an assignment, your brain doesn't simply stop thinking about it when you close the document.
You might not consciously be thinking about the assignment, but your brain can continue working through the ideas in the background.
By the time you come back to the assignment the next day, you may find that you've figured out solutions to things you weren't sure about before.
The writing can become much easier.
Let Your Rough Draft Be Messy
Don't stress about making everything perfect in your rough draft.
Get the main points down.
Don't feel like you need to constantly check your rubric while you're writing. That's something you can do during the good copy.
Your rough draft isn't supposed to be polished.
It's the place where you can get everything out.
Sometimes writing a rough draft is basically like throwing up your writing onto the page.
Just get it out.
Keep the stress low.
We put so much pressure on ourselves when we're trying to get a good grade or do a good job. Whether we're working on a school assignment, something for work, or even our own book, that pressure to make everything perfect can cause writer's block.
Having a first draft can make a huge difference.
Save Your Rough Draft
Once you've finished your rough draft, save it.
Put it into a folder and give it a clear name, such as:
Rough Draft – [Assignment Name]
One useful thing about saving the document this way is that your computer will record information such as the date it was modified.
That gives you another piece of evidence showing when the document existed.
For example, you might be able to show:
“I created my rough draft on October 8, and my good copy was completed on October 9.”
That provides a record of your writing process.
If a teacher ever questions whether you used AI, you can show them your draft history and explain how you developed the work.
Create Your Good Copy
Once your rough draft is saved, create your good copy.
You can use Save As to create a new document rather than overwriting your rough draft.
For example:
Rough Draft – Assignment Name
becomes:
Good Copy – Assignment Name
Keep both documents in the same folder.
Now you can start polishing your work.
This is where you turn your spelling and grammar tools back on.
You can correct your typos, improve your sentences, reorganize your ideas, and start making the document look polished.
Most importantly, keep the rough draft.
Don't overwrite it.
This Is Where You Use Your Rubric
Your good copy is where you should start working through your assignment rubric.
Your rubric is your best friend.
Go through it carefully and check that you've included everything you're supposed to include.
Ask yourself:
Did I answer every part of the assignment?
Did I include all the required sections?
Did I provide enough detail?
Did I meet the requirements?
Is anything missing?
Is there anything I've included that doesn't belong?
If you're writing a book, you can do the same thing with your outline.
Look at what you originally planned and ask:
Did I actually do all the things I said I was going to do?
If something is missing, decide whether you need to add it.
If something was added that doesn't belong, decide whether it should stay or go.
This is where you start looking at your work more analytically.
Creative Mode vs. Analytical Mode
One of the reasons I like separating the rough draft from the good copy is that they're really two different kinds of work.
The first draft gives you freedom.
You can be creative, get your ideas out, and avoid overthinking everything.
That's especially important with creative writing.
When you're in creative mode, you want to be able to spit ideas out without constantly stopping yourself to analyze whether they're good enough.
Overthinking your writing while you're creating it can hold you back.
Then you switch into analytical mode.
That's when you start digging into the details.
You correct your writing.
You check your research.
You look at your formatting.
You check your citations.
You compare your work against the rubric.
Separating those two processes can make writing much easier.
Use Your Rubric to Polish Your Work
When you're polishing your good copy, remember:
That rubric your teacher gives you is your best friend.
Take your rubric and work through it point by point.
Can you check everything off?
If you can't, go back and revise your good copy.
Add what is missing.
Rewrite what needs work.
You can also have multiple drafts.
In fact, you probably should if you're working on something large.
If you're writing a full-length novel, for example, you're going to make multiple drafts because you're going to need to change things more than once.
The bigger the project, the more work it takes.
Don't stop until you've checked all the boxes.
Do Your Research During the Good Copy
Your good copy is also where you can dig more deeply into your research.
You might read articles during your rough draft to get an idea of what you're writing about, especially if you're working on a research paper.
But you don't necessarily need to worry about perfect citations, APA formatting, or making sure every quotation is formatted correctly during the rough draft.
You might simply drop a link into your rough draft and make a note to come back to it.
For example:
Research this later.
Then, during your good copy, you can make sure the research is properly completed and formatted.
This is particularly useful when you're writing a book or another large creative project. Your rough draft might simply contain notes reminding you where more research is needed.
Then you can tackle those analytical tasks once the creative work is finished.
Your Rough Draft Is Part of Your Writing History
The most important thing to remember is that your rough draft isn't just a messy version of your final work.
It's evidence of your writing process.
By dating your work, keeping your rough drafts, saving separate versions, and allowing time between drafts, you're creating a record of how your work developed.
In a time when AI-generated writing is becoming increasingly common, being able to show your process can be valuable.
Your rough draft shows where your ideas started.
Your good copy shows how you developed them.
And your final work shows the result.
So don't be afraid of the messy first draft.
Make it messy. Make it yours. Save it.
Then come back the next day and make it better.
Good luck, and go out there and make some messy rough drafts. It's going to be great!