Guide AI Essay Writer

AI Essay Writer

AI Essay Writer turns a prompt — or your own PDFs and notes — into a structured, cited essay you can edit. The AI reads your sources, writes a first draft directly in Scholarly's page editor, and hands the page back to you to keep editing like any other page.

This used to be called the "Page" create option. It's now named AI Essay Writer everywhere — the home page, the New menu, and folders — so it's clearer what it does.

Creating an Essay

Open AI Essay Writer from the home page bento grid, the New menu, or a folder. The create modal supports the same source types as Scholarly's other AI tools:

  • Prompt AI — describe the essay you want. No source file needed.
  • Upload Files — PDFs, Word docs, PowerPoint, text, images, recordings.
  • Library — pick files you've already uploaded.
  • Google Drive — pull a Doc, PDF, Slides deck, or Word file directly. See Connected Apps.

For PDFs, pick a page range so the essay is grounded only in the relevant chapter.

Customization Options

  • Custom instructions — Free text to steer the essay (length, tone, thesis, audience, structure).
  • Language — Generate the essay in any supported language.
  • AI model — Paid users can pick which model writes the draft. Different models write with noticeably different voices — see Choosing an AI Model.

What You Get

A new page opens with the essay as a real, editable rich-text document. It includes:

  • A clear structure — a thesis, supporting sections, and a closing — instead of one long block.
  • Citations — when the AI uses something from your uploaded source, it cites it inline so you can verify.
  • Headings, lists, and emphasis — already styled, ready to skim or hand in.

Because the result is a regular page, the entire page editor is available — AI autocomplete as you type, tables and equations, inline AI commands, the chat sidebar, and exports.

Editing the Draft

Once the essay is in your page editor, treat it like any other page:

  • Inline AI commands — highlight a paragraph and ask the AI to rewrite, expand, shorten, or change the tone.
  • The chat sidebar — ask follow-up questions about your sources without leaving the page.
  • Manual edits — type, restructure, and add your own arguments.

The essay is yours from this point on — Scholarly doesn't re-touch the draft unless you ask.

Sharing and Exporting

Open the page menu to:

  • Share the essay via a link.
  • Export as PDF or Word.
  • Print with clean formatting.
  • Move to a folder to file it with your other course material.

When to Use AI Essay Writer

  • Beat the blank page. A first pass on a prompt you've been staring at for an hour.
  • Outline-to-draft. Paste an outline as your custom instructions and turn it into prose.
  • Source-grounded summary essays. Upload a paper and ask for a 1,000-word summary in essay form.
  • Argument scaffolding. Get a structured pro/con or comparison essay you can refine into your own voice.

What It's Not

AI Essay Writer drafts a starting point — it doesn't ghostwrite a finished essay you submit untouched. Your job after generation is to edit, fact-check, and rewrite in your voice. If your school requires AI-assisted disclosures, follow them.

Tips

  • Be specific about the thesis. "Why GDP underweights informal labor in developing economies" produces a sharper draft than "an essay about GDP."
  • Cite where the AI didn't. If a paragraph mentions a source you uploaded but the citation didn't land, drop it in by hand.
  • Combine with Deep Research. Run a research session first to gather sources and findings, then open AI Essay Writer with the report as your source.

Limits

AI Essay Writer counts toward your shared AI creation allowance, the same pool as flashcards, podcasts, video lectures, slides, and other AI tools. See Plans and Limits.

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