Writing Your Deep Dives Assignment

What is Packback Deep Dives?

Packback Deep Dives is a tool for long-form writing assignments and reflections that helps you improve your written communication and independent research skills.

Deep Dives will coach you through your growth as both a researcher and a writer. Think of it like going to the writing lab without having to leave your home!

Find your Deep Dive Assignment

When it’s time to start your Deep Dive assignment, you’ll need to navigate to the Writing Assignments page within your Packback community. Here’s how to do that:

1. Access your community on Packback. On the left hand sidebar navigation, click Writing Assignments.
2. In the Open Assignments tab, find the assignment that you are working on and click the title.
3. Before beginning, you’ll want to read through all the necessary information provided to ensure you understand the goals, objectives, and expectations of your Deep Dive assignment. Click through these tabs:
   • Overview: Here is where your instructor has written your prompt and instructions for your submission. There may also be guiding questions and helpful resources to help you stay on track with your assignment!
   • Rubric: See how you’ll be graded on this assignment by checking out how points will be awarded.
   • Submission: After you start your Deep Dive, you will be able to access your assignment and see details about it on this tab.
4. Once you’re ready to begin writing, click the “Start My Deep Dive” button at the top of the page.

Plan your Deep Dive Assignment

Before you begin writing your Deep Dive assignment, you will be brought to the Planning space for your assignment, where you can begin organizing your thoughts. You’ll be prompted with the option to insert the assignment prompt or an outline template to the Planning space to help you get started. If you would prefer, you can skip this step and start with a blank page. 

Think of the Planning space as your notepad where you can take notes, organize your thoughts in an outline, or do whatever is going to help you get that writing muscle working. Content on the Planning page is private and not visible to your instructor while you’re drafting or when you submit your assignment.

In the Writing Assistant sidebar, you’ll find the following tabs with useful resources as you get started:

• Tools: You can view your assignment prompt and rubric and insert an outline template from here.
• Chat: You can chat with Packback’s AI Assistant for tips on how to get started or feedback on what you have so far. Check out our starter prompts if you’re not sure what to ask!
  • Note: This feature is not available if your instructor has chosen to disable features that use generative AI. 
• Sources: You can add your sources here as you conduct your research. Our Writing Assistant will give you feedback on their credibility and guidance on how to format proper citations if you decide to use them in your assignment.
  • PRO TIP: Add a URL or a title of a book, academic journal, etc to the Planning space. You can highlight and right click it to mark it as a source which is then automatically included in your works cited!
• History: You can view and restore previous versions of your assignment draft here.

Write your Deep Dive Assignment

Navigate to the Writing space when you are ready to get started with your assignment content. Review the sections below to get the most out of your Deep Dive experience:

Write and Format

As you compose your essay, you have a toolbar which will assist you in formatting your writing, inserting images and formulas, and adding formal style elements like title sections and page headers. You also have several viewing options, so you can write comfortably and submit your work with confidence. 

• Standard formatting options: Add text (bold, italics, etc.) and paragraph-level (line spacing, bullet lists, etc.) formatting as you shape your writing into its final form. You can also insert elements like images, code, and formulas to support your work. See some recent additions here.
• Formal formatting options: Access “Page Elements” if you would like to change your essay’s font, or add an APA, MLA, or Chicago style element like a title section or page headers. Your essay’s style is determined by your instructor and can be found in the Writing Assistant sidebar. 
• Editor View: You can view your writing in Page View, which shows your essay as it would appear on standard US letter paper, or you can switch to an Adaptive View, which adapts to the width of your screen.
• Document View: At any time, preview your formatted essay in the Document Preview or export your work by downloading it as a .docx file. See this article for more information.

• PRO TIP: Anything you write is automatically saved as a draft! You can submit your assignment when you’re ready and even then, keep editing until the deadline or until your instructor has started their evaluation, whichever comes first. 

Review Feedback

This is where the magic happens! As you begin writing your Deep Dive essay, you’ll receive instant feedback from our Writing Assistant. Make sure to do all your writing in Packback or you will miss a lot of the value of the Deep Dives.

In the Feedback Summary section, you’ll find insights about:

• Word Count, Word Choice, & Depth: See if your draft meets the word count requirement for your assignment, if applicable. You can also get feedback on the vocabulary used in your draft.
• Flow & Structure: Suggestions to improve organization, coherence, and logical flow.
• Formatting & Presentation: Ensures alignment with assignment formatting standards.
• Grammar & Mechanics: Real-time corrections for spelling, grammar, and sentence clarity.
• Research Quality: Insights about the credibility of your sources and the relevance of the sources to your draft.

When you see “Smart Highlights”, you can click through the places in your text where feedback is noted.

In addition to writing feedback, you can also generate an Originality Fingerprint to get feedback about any potential plagiarism concerns. You can learn more about the Originality Fingerprint here. 

• Note: This feature is not available if your instructor has chosen to disable the Originality Fingerprint for Deep Dives drafts. If this is the case, you will be able to view your Originality Fingerprint on the submission page for your assignment after it is graded. 

Chat with AI Assistant 

In the Chat tab, you can use our starter prompts to get holistic feedback about your writing! By chatting with our AI Assistant, you can uncover new ideas or ways of thinking about your writing, especially if you feel stuck or want to make sure you’re submitting your best work!

Note: This feature is not available if your instructor has chosen to disable features that use generative AI. 

Cite Sources

In the Sources tab, you can keep track of books, articles, websites, journals, or other sources that inspired your work. To add sources to this tab, follow these steps:

1. On the Sources tab, click the Add Source button.
2. A pop up will appear prompting you to select a Source Type (i.e. book, website, academic journal, etc.) and to include the URL, DOI, or ISBN
   • ISBNs can be found on the lower portion of the back cover of a book above the bar code and on the copyright page.
   • DOIs can be found on the first page of an academic journal either below the title or in the header or footer. 
3. Click Search next to the URL, DOI, or ISBN you’ve entered to verify the source. Then click Save and Close for it to be added to your Sources tab!
   • If our Writing Assistant identifies any discrepancies, you’ll see a red Alert appear next to the source after it’s been added. Click this button to see the feedback!
4. To include a source on your Works Cited or References page, be sure to click the “Include in Works Cited” or “Include in References” button for that source. 

View History

Need to look back at a previous version of your draft? You can view and restore your history in the History tab within the Writing Assistant sidebar.

Submit your Deep Dive Assignment 

When you are satisfied with your Deep Dive assignment, click the red “Submit” button in the upper right-hand corner of the page. If your assignments has word count or source requirements, you may be shown an informational pop-up, where you have the choice to “Keep Editing” or “Submit.”

After submitting your assignment, you will be brought to the Submission screen, where you can view additional information about your assignment and leave a comment for your instructor. To add a comment, simply click “Add Your Comment”, write text in the box, and click “Save.” 

If the Writing Process Report feature is turned on for your assignment, your submission will include a summary of the actions you took in Packback to complete your assignment. This helps make your writing process visible to you and your educator. You can learn more about it here.

Have questions?

If you need technical assistance or have questions about writing your Deep Dives assignment, please reach out to our Support Team at help@packback.co.