Topic: Collaborative Writing

10-second review: Teaching students to write collaboratively.

Title: “Lessons from the Computer Writing Problems of Professionals.” G Grow. College Composition and Communication (May 1988), 217-220. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Summary: Students need to learn to write collaboratively because in the business and industrial world, that is how people write. Problems include different styles and changes in sentences and paragraphs when one partner edits the other partner’s writing. Help students decide on responsibilities before writing. They need to learn to merge the different styles to make the final copy look as if the article were written by one person. Collaboration should also include three or more participants.

Comment: I never taught students to write collaboratively. If I were to do so today, I would probably give the students the assignment, help them define responsibilities, then let them learn the problems of collaborative writing and develop a handbook for collaborative writing to be shared with other students. RayS.