Summer 2011

Team-based writing

We will discuss team-specific strategies as your project teams form, but here are some professional, team-based models of collaborative writing & editing that you might consider as you begin your low-stakes documents and work toward a more complex project:

•    Entire team plans, brainstorms, and outlines together, after which each team member drafts a part. Team then compiles the parts and revises the whole together. This one is time-consuming but is good for new teams where trust is still being established. Doesn’t always result in the highest quality documents.

•    Team leader (or coordinator) assigns writing tasks. Each member carries out individual writing tasks. Coordinator or editor compiles the parts and revises the whole. Doesn’t require too much trust, and doesn’t always result in the highest-quality documents.

•    Entire team plans, brainstorms, and outlines together, after which an assigned writer #1 composes a draft. The draft is submitted to writer #2 who revises the draft without consulting the writer of the first draft. Writer #2 passes along the draft to writer #3 who edits without consulting writer #1 or writer #2. Requires some measure of trust between teammates, but usually results in a high-quality document.

•    Team plans and writes draft together. This draft is submitted to one or more editors who revise the draft without consulting the writers of the first draft.

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