Topic X Collaborative

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.

10.1 STAGES IN COLLABORATIVE WRITING

According to Margaret Fleming (1988), there are three stages of collaborative
writing that we need to consider as we organise, plan and write a research paper.
These stages are shown in Figure 10.1:

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

150 X TOPIC 10 COLLABORATIVE WRITING

Figure 10.1: Three stages of collaborative writing

10.1.1 The Invention Stage

In the invention stage, learners are engaged in preliminary discussions of ideas
and approaches using the following strategies note-sharing and preliminary
debating.

In the note-sharing strategy, learners brainstorm about the topics by sharing

notes. They can trade materials with others.

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.

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

 TOPIC 10 COLLABORATIVE WRITING W 151

10.1.2 The Drafting Stage

There are three models in the drafting stage, namely the:

(a) Chunk Model

The chunk model merely divides the writing of a project into sections,
with each student writing one part. The advantage of this model is that
everyone participates, but the danger is that this may result in an
incoherent paper. To avoid this pitfall, all group members should be aware
of the parts or sections to be written, such as its introduction, conclusion
and transitions.

(b) Blended Model

The blended model will only work if learners have enough time to work
together. They have to be present in the same place at the same time and
discuss every aspect of the paper.

(c) Compiler Model

In the compiler model, each group member does the whole assignment.
Each members work is then assessed by the whole group and the best parts
will be selected to create the final draft.

10.1.3 The Revision Stage

Finally, in the revision stage, members of the group have to revise the paper once
the draft has been completed. The following are some of the ways to accomplish
this task:
(a) The group members can revise one anothers drafts.
(b) The best writer of the group can become the chief editor of the draft.
(c) Other group members can give comments or suggestions.

ACTIVITY 10.1

Reflect on your previous experiences with collaborative learning:

1. What did you find helpful?
2. What problems did you encounter?

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

152 X TOPIC 10 COLLABORATIVE WRITING

10.2 TEAM COMMUNICATION

Effective writing teams know why they exist and what they intend to accomplish.
They know their responsibilities, resources, strengths and weaknesses. They know
how to communicate well. Some characteristics of effective team communication
are listed in Figure 10.2:

Figure 10.2: Characteristics of effective team communication

ACTIVITY 10.2
How essential is effective communication in collaborative writing?
Discuss.

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

 TOPIC 10 COLLABORATIVE WRITING W 153

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?

10.3 TEAM MANAGEMENT

Other than the effective communication in a team, there are also other aspects
that need to be considered, such as team building and task analysis.

10.3.1 Team Building and Task Analysis

Students working on a project usually spend a great deal of time together and at
some point may be asked to put team goals ahead of their own. Therefore, they
need to make a conscious effort to find out more about each other. Practising
democracy is another aspect of team building. Every member needs to be given the
chance to speak, and respect must be shown for each persons ideas or opinions.

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.

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

154 X TOPIC 10 COLLABORATIVE WRITING

10.3.2 Management of Time, Writing and Documents

Good management of time, writing and documents is essential in collaborative
writing.

Your first priority as a member of a team should be to meet deadlines or be on

time. You must be strict about time management.

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:

(a) Group versus Individual Work

Members have to decide which activities are to be done as a group and
which are to be done by individuals. Be realistic about expectations. Do not
waste the groups time if an individual can do the task well. However, do
not assign an individual to a task which requires group consensus every
step of the way.

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

 TOPIC 10 COLLABORATIVE WRITING W 155

(b) Equivalency of Tasks

Each group member should have an equal amount of work. This will help
the group complete the job as quickly as possible and ensure fairness.
Before agreeing on individual assignments, review the tasks as a group and
try to determine how much time each task will take. Some activities will be
more difficult than others. Even after estimating the difficulty of a task, it
may be necessary to re-estimate as the project gets underway and adjust
accordingly.

(c) Best Use of Individual Skills

Make every effort to give the right assignments to the right people. Match
individual skills with a job that utilises those skills. For this purpose, ask
group members to state their own strengths and weaknesses in the various
skill areas.

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

In your opinion, why is good management of time, writing and

documents essential in collaborative writing?

10.4 MANAGING COLLABORATIVE WRITING

PROJECTS
Writing in groups presents a unique challenge. Individuals have different
interests, different backgrounds and different attitudes towards writing.
Figure 10.3 lists several processes which are necessary for the management of
effective team writing experiences.

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

156 X TOPIC 10 COLLABORATIVE WRITING

Figure 10.3: Necessary processes for the management of effective team writing

10.5 PRACTICE IN WRITING STEP-BY-STEP

INSTRUCTIONS
Writing instructions given to groups must be clear and precise. Members have to
know them well before they begin a project. It is a good idea for the group to
develop a style and format guide at the very beginning of the writing project. The
group should consider the following:
(a) What style guide will be used? Which spelling conventions?
(b) What size should the font type, margins and headings be?
(c) Will abbreviations be allowed and if so, which ones?
(d) Which technical terms will be used and which are necessary to define?
(e) Will processes be explained in point form or paragraph form?

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

 TOPIC 10 COLLABORATIVE WRITING W 157

ACTIVITY 10.5

In small groups (3 to 4 per group), prepare a set of instructions (20 to

25 words) for any of the following processes you are familiar with:
(a) How to teach a monkey to pluck coconuts.
(b) How to take a bus to Chow Kit Road.
(c) How to make pumpkin pie.
(d) How to throw a fishing net.

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.

10.6 CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

Conflict of personalities, ideas and opinions may arise when writing in groups.
Groups need to face these conflicts with patience and understanding, and
respond to them directly.

Should there be a personality conflict between members, other members should

take steps to resolve the conflict as soon as they become aware that it exists. They
need to find the source of the problem; what the issue is, where it came from,
who started it and several other questions pertinent to the problem. For example,
does one group member feel overworked? Is credit for completed work being
given in an unfair manner?

Careful management of group meetings is essential for all members to remain

receptive to new ideas. One or two members should not be allowed to dominate
a group discussion. All members have equal standing in the group and should be
given every opportunity to participate voluntarily.

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).

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

158 X TOPIC 10 COLLABORATIVE WRITING

10.7 COLLABORATIVE WRITING PRACTICE

AND RELATED MATTERS TO CONSIDER
Students need to practise working in groups and they need to be told the rules
governing the assignment. They need to know what they are supposed to do. The
following activity is an example of a group project which can be done in groups
of three or four students.

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.

Figure 10.4: Guidelines for preparing a manual

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

 TOPIC 10 COLLABORATIVE WRITING W 159

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.

Consider the following questions as you reflect on your experiences in

collaboratively writing the topic paper and working with others online:
(a) What did I learn from this project?
(b) What questions do I have about collaborative writing?
(c) What learning strategies did I find useful?
(d) What problems did I encounter?
(e) How could they be overcome in the future?

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)

160 X TOPIC 10 COLLABORATIVE WRITING

ACTIVITY 10.7

1. Collaborate means to assist or work as a team and involves working

in stages. State each of the stages. Why are these stages important in
collaborative writing?

2. Team work is important in collaborative writing. How do you come

up with a good team? What are the important characteristics of a
good team? What are some of the disadvantages of being in a team?

This topic introduces students to collaborative writing.

It stresses the importance of communication skills in collaborative writing
and examines the differences in purpose and process between individual and
team writing.
It clearly describes the processes of collaborative writing (the invention stage,
drafting stage and revision stage), the rules and procedures for the project,
plans for completing the project, and project management.

Blended model Invention stage

Chunk model Revision stage
Collaborative writing Style/format
Compiler model Task analysis
Conflict management Team building
Drafting stage Team communication

Fleming, M. B. Getting Out of the Writing Vacuum. Focus on collaborative

learning: Classroom practices in teaching english, 1988. Ed. Jeff Golub, et al.
Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1988.

Copyright Open University Malaysia (OUM)