Writing Collaboratively: Dreadful or Effective?

Collaboration is known to either be an effective or dreadful process. The majority of the time, when working in groups, I have encountered demoralizing and frustrating methods. These occurrences are more apparent when the task is to collaboratively write. For example, in my statistics class, we wrote an introductory paragraph for our stats experiment. This task had specific requirements and guidelines, and I, as a more experienced writer, offered to do the job. The following day, after I had written it, I opened up the document and found the entire paragraph reworked with no notes and no regard for my opinion. What angered me the most is that on multiple occasions, my collaborator had used the word “Quintessential” as a synonym for “essential”. It’s experiences like these that have made me genuinely fear group writing projects.

In “What Experienced Collaborators Say About Collaborative Writing”, I assumed it was agreed that collaborative writing is a successful method within any circumstance. Yet, contrary to my original belief, experiments didn’t contribute to one straightforward answer.

The part I found to be the most reflective of my experiences was the processes of Groups J and L. They both determined that the most effective method was jotting down discussion notes prior to drafting and assigning the rough draft to one member. Afterward, they met to collaboratively comment, edit, and form a final draft. Initially, to me, this seemed least problematic given that it provided a completed draft. Yet experimenters state that this method did not alleviate the group’s writing challenges. While many professionals found the information useful, I would have preferred that the respondents included writing experts like journalists or English teachers.

As I have felt many times during my Writing 2020 class, I crave a straightforward solution to all writing problems. Any experiments by the most prestigious writers would contribute to secret formulas that others could utilize for a simpler process. Unfortunately, that is not the case. In the years ahead, dreadful obstacles will continue to arise when writing collaboratively. Lucky for us, we can use the findings of the experiment to mitigate and mend some of the hurdles.

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