Editing Text as Data (Spring 2026) (section)

=== Use of AI Tools ===

For the ''Applying'' days on the syllabus, you will be asked to write code in Python or R. As I said in the section on [[#Daily Problem Sets]], you are welcome—encouraged in fact—to use AI coding tools for these assignments. There are a range of these out there including [https://code.claude.com/docs/en/overview Claude Code], [https://copilot.microsoft.com/ Microsoft Copilot], and so on. You can also simply paste things into chatbots like Google Gemini or OpenAI's ChatGPT. There is no requirement to use these tools, but I strongly suspect these tools are the future of coding and I think it's probably a good idea to start building familiarity with them.

That said, your coding agents are making fundamental decisions that will not only ''affect your analysis''—they will ''be your analysis''. As the person who is going to publish work done by coding agents in the future, you will be responsible for every single line that goes into your analysis. The same will be true and I will ask you to explain them in front of the class.

That means you need to be able to read and understand every single line of code that is being produced. This fluency comes from experience reading code. Luckily, coding agents and AI chatbots are pretty good at explaining code. If an AI tool gives you code you do not understand, you can prompt it to rewrite the code in a different or simpler way or you can ask it what the code does and why it works the way it does. Remember, I'm going to ask you to explain your code in class as part of the [[#Daily Problem Sets]]. If you have any doubt about your ability to do this, you need to spend more time studying "your" code to build your confidence.

Unless otherwise noted, everything other than code that you produce for this course must be your own work. Using generative AI outside of coding tasks for anything turned in to the course will be considered academic misconduct and subject to investigation.

<!-- The assignments in this class have been designed to challenge you to develop creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. Using AI technology will limit your capacity to develop these skills and meet the learning goals of this course. -->
If you have any questions about what constitutes academic integrity in this course or at the University of Washington, please contact me to discuss your concerns.

Please note that I do not consider grammar/spellchecking a prohibited use of AI.

:<font size="-1">''Text adapted from: [https://teaching.washington.edu/course-design/chatgpt/sample-ai-syllabus-statements/ UW sample syllabus statements].''</font>