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Writing
10
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of the topic, you should be able to:
1. Work with other writers on an assignment;
2. Gather information from various sources; and
3. Analyse data collected, evaluate the group members various
interpretations and synthesise the ideas of the group.
X INTRODUCTION
According to Collins English Dictionary (2002), collaboration means to work
with another or others on a joint project. In the context of writing, collaborative
writing refers to sharing written documents during the process of writing. You
may share the draft of a piece of written work with one or two others with the
goal of getting suggestions for improvement. In a collaborative writing process,
people write together in groups towards completing a written piece of work.
Collaborative writing projects are quite common in real-life settings such as
regular classrooms and business corporations.
On the other hand, learners using the preliminary strategy debate on an idea or a
topic as preparation for writing papers. Members of the group gather supportive
information for their positions, which then becomes shared material for the
group papers.
ACTIVITY 10.1
ACTIVITY 10.2
How essential is effective communication in collaborative writing?
Discuss.
However, collaboration is not without its own set of problems which sometimes
arise and bring about negative results. Such problems include:
(a) Unsatisfactory negotiations;
(b) Non-acknowledgement of ideas/opinions;
(c) Over-zealous editing;
(d) Missed deadlines/non-delivery; and
(e) Non-understanding of subject matter.
ACTIVITY 10.3
Too many cooks spoil the broth. How do you think this saying
applies to team communication in collaborative writing?
More creative energy as well as better quality product will emerge as a result of
team-work. In addition, students working as a team maximise the use of resources
and improve their profile. The use of technology may also help to ensure that their
product will be of better quality.
The group must analyse the task to be done so that each member has the same
interpretation. They must consider the major questions to be answered concerning
the writing project. The objective is to resolve related problems so that the task can
be completed on time.
Deadlines affect group writing tasks constantly as the group must not only find a
common time to get together but must also ensure that each section of the project
gets accomplished in a reasonable amount of time.
The next important task is to manage the writing, where to begin and what
things to include in the contents. To keep the writing on schedule, it is a good
idea to post a large chart or graph on the bulletin board, displaying both the
names of the sections to be completed, estimated dates of completion and the
names of the members or individuals who are supposed to do the task. As each
task is finished, it can be shaded; everyone can then see at a glance how the work
is progressing. An alternate idea would be to post sections of the work itself,
using a type of story-board format.
The writing task should be divided into sections. The group can then decide
which individuals or teams will work on which section and plan how long each
activity should take. The easiest way to do this is to make an outline of the
document or the steps in the writing process. The approach is then used to divide
the tasks. When the group members have identified the work that is to be done,
they must make decisions regarding the following:
Finally, we need to know how to manage our document in stages - the steps to be
taken, the rules to be followed and what to edit or not to edit. In a large writing
project, keeping track of the document itself can be a problem, both at the
beginning when the work is spread out and later when the individuals start
making revisions. Often, writers complete as many as six or eight revisions.
When this happens, it becomes difficult to know if the revision you are reading is
the latest one. Therefore, writers need to find a way to keep track of what is being
written in each revision.
ACTIVITY 10.4
Figure 10.3: Necessary processes for the management of effective team writing
ACTIVITY 10.5
You can use notes, cautions and warnings. Remember to organise your
key points or instructions into five or six sub-categories, with appropriate
sub-headings, and create diagrams and illustrations accordingly.
Some collaboration has to take place in the mind before the art of creation
can be accomplished. Some marriage of opposites has to be consummated.
Virginia Woolf (2000).
ACTIVITY 10.6
For this activity, form a team with three or four of your coursemates.
Your local tourism board, which is updating its tourism brochure, feels
that certain attractions in your town or city should be described in more
detail. Your team has been asked to draft a 350-word description of sites
and activities which might interest tourists. Three to five photographs
should be used to illustrate the description.
Get your team to brainstorm, research, outline, draft and revise the
material which will be submitted to the Tourism Board.
Having said that, it definitely helps to have a standard manual and format of
writing. In order to produce a good group project/assignment, you should
have a user manual ready. The guidelines in the manual should be clear,
straightforward and easy to understand. Figure 10.4 illustrates the guidelines
which should be considered when preparing a manual.
In addition to that, there are some general rules of style for writing. For instance,
titles of films, books, TV shows and magazines are written in italics (Berita
Harian); titles of individual articles, entries or songs, are put in quotations (for
example, We are the world, We are the leader and innovator in open
learning). Except for such titles, keep capitalisation of words to a minimum. Use
quotation marks for short quotations and block quotes for those over three lines
in length.
Writing as a group, is not so different from writing a paper. The steps are the
same researching, synthesising, organising, preparing the materials and
presenting. While the following guidelines often refer to writing, they may
easily be adopted by groups whose major project is an oral presentation rather
than a written paper.
Like other tasks, collaborative writing tends to take a bit more time than writing
alone. Each writer might have different ideas on what to write, how to write and
how much to write. This could become an issue. If at all possible, the group
should lay out a detailed series of deadlines and dates for meetings in order to
eliminate as much of the last-minute rush as possible. Like other group tasks,
collaborative writing also has the potential to be far superior to individual
writing, because the weaknesses and inadequacies of individuals are checked by
team members and all the strengths of the individuals are pooled together.
ACTIVITY 10.7