PHYS 280 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Electronic submission of RE4v1 due 1st April at 10 PM.

For RE4v1, you will write a report using the scenario and the guidelines described below. Your RE4v1 will be graded by your writing lab TA, who will use the following RE4 rubric.

Scenario

You are an intelligence analyst for the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), which brings together analysts and specialists from the CIA, FBI, DoD, and other federal agencies. With personnel changes arising from the transition between two presidential administrations, you are in charge of writing and disseminating a brief report that establishes a shared baseline for incoming staff. The January 2026 report from the Department of Homeland Security's Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office (CWMD), which documented over 1,000 operations, engagements, trainings, and exercises across 48 states and territories in Calendar Year 2025, underscores the ongoing urgency of this briefing. Your report should explain the NCTC's accepted definition of terrorism, the key distinctions between types of terrorism relevant to a nuclear context, and the principal avenues by which terrorist actors might seek to acquire nuclear-explosive materials or intact nuclear weapons. The report will serve as an introductory document to facilitate a more productive and informed discussion of nuclear terrorism threats among new Center personnel.

The body of your report should begin with a brief summary of the report's content and purpose, include an introduction that establishes the stakes and context of the issue for your specific audience, address all required content in a logical and well-organized sequence of sections, and conclude with a brief reflection on the broader significance of the issue for your audience. Unlike previous required essays, no further structural guidance will be given; determining the most logical and effective organization is part of the assignment, and RE4v0 is designed to help you work that out before you begin drafting.

Required Essay 4, Version 0 (RE4v0), due March 30th after the writing labs.

Produce a draft before your Writing Lab and finalize it in the WL. Electronic submission due at the end of the Writing Lab. No AI should be used for RE4v0.

In real technical writing, we are often not given much more direction than the prompt above. RE4v0 is meant to help you identify the tasks you need to complete before you begin drafting, as well as the important writing elements to consider, such as style choices. It is also the basis for determining how to structure the body of your RE4v1: the organization of your sections, the order of your arguments, and the genre conventions you will follow are all decisions you should work out here before you begin drafting. For RE4v0, write 2 to 3 bullet points that describe important aspects of each of the following categories:

Notice that these categories are the same categories that appear in the grading rubrics for RE1, RE2, and RE3. The purpose of RE4v0 is not only to develop the skills needed for prewriting but also to enable the creation of the RE4 grading rubric. Here is a template for RE4v0 that we encourage you to use.

To facilitate this prewriting task list, identify the following:at 

RE4v0 is worth 5% of your RE4v1 grade.

In the Writing Lab on March 30th, you will finalize your rubric suggestions and discuss them with your classmates to collectively develop the assessment rubric. After receiving your suggestions, submitted as RE4v0, the course staff will compile the key aspects discussed into a formal collective rubric. You will use this rubric to guide your first draft and your peer response.

Here is the rubric suggestion submission template that you will use.

Required Essay 4, Version 1 (RE4v1)

Guidelines

Required Procedure for the Use of AI Tools in this Assignment

For RE4, your AI tool will serve as a critical reviewer of your analysis. After writing your own complete draft, you will use the AI to stress-test your reasoning about acquisition pathways.

Write your own complete standalone draft (no AI use) of the report. This draft should reflect your best effort to conform to the genre conventions.

Provide your completed draft and the sources you used to your AI tool. Prompt it to critique your discussion of the possible pathways by which terrorist actors might seek to acquire fissile materials or a nuclear device, and to evaluate your choice of the highest-risk pathway.

Compare the AI's response to your own analysis. Write a paragraph explaining why you either accept or reject the AI's assessment, using specific evidence from your course readings and slides.

Using what you learned from this exchange, revise your draft where necessary.

Prepare the final version of RE4v1.

Note: the goal of this procedure is not to replace your own analysis with the AI's. It is to sharpen your reasoning by comparing your conclusions to an outside perspective and defending your choices with evidence. Your final report should be entirely your own.

All AI prompts and outputs, including your written comparison, must be included in the writer's memo.

AI Disclosure Statement

Discloses the use of AI in technical writing. The statement specifies the tool used and briefly describes how it was used. It includes a certification that the author takes responsibility for the verification of all facts and content.

Writer's Memo for RE4v1

Note: Writer's memos and AI disclosure statements do not count toward an assignment's length requirement.

For the RE4v1 writer's memo, please compose 3 to 5 questions for your peer review partner. These can address content, genre conformity, organization, or any aspect of the writing you are uncertain about. Please also include:

Your RE4v1 submission must include:

Submission must be in one file.

Your RE4v1 submission must include:

  1. Your RE4v0
  2. Your RE4v1
  3. Your AI disclosure statement
  4. Your writer's memo for RE4v1

Submission must be in one file.