Team Writing: A Guide to Working in Groups / Edition 1

by Joanna Wolfe

Overview

Pairing videoes with a brief book, Team Writing shows how written communication can help technical writing students contribute to team projects in a meaningful way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900312565823
Publication date:	07/31/2009
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.95(w) x 9.09(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Joanna Wolfe (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin) is Associate Professor of English at the University of Louisville where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in writing and rhetoric and composition. She is author of numerous scholarly articles on teamwork, gender studies, collaborative learning technology, and technical writing appearing in forums such as Journal of Engineering Education, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, and Written Communication. Her research on collaborative writing in technical communication classes won the 2006 NCTE award for best article reporting qualitative or quantitative research in technical and scientific communication.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Before You Start

Chapter 1: Planning Your Collaboration
Why Teamwork?

Understanding Collaboration Methods

Alternating Collaboration Methods

Exercises

Works Cited

Chapter 2: Project Management

Why Do You Need a Project Manager?

Task Schedules: Publicize deadlines and responsibilities

Meeting Minutes: Build accountability and consensus

Meeting Agenda: Keep discussions on track

Email Reminders & Notifications: Step in when problems occur

Other Documents the Project Manager May Produce

Starting the Process with a Straw Document

Exercises

Works Cited

Chapter 3: Getting Started with a Team Charter

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: The Team Charter

Team Goals: What constitutes success?

Measurable Goals: How can you measure success?

Personal Goals: What do individuals want out of the project?

Individual Commitment: How much effort will each individual invest?

Other Information: What other individual factors might affect performance?

Irreconcilable Differences: How will the team resolve impasses?

Late Work: How will the team handle missed deadlines?

Unacceptable Work: How will the team handle poor quality contributions?

Putting It All Together

Exercises

Chapter 4: Getting Started with the Task Schedule

Identify Major Tasks

Assign the Roles to Individuals: Motivation vs. experience

Schedule the Tasks

Balance the Workload

Technology and Tools for Task Schedules

Exercises

Part 2: Writing Together

Chapter 5: Constructive Conflict

Creating a Constructive Infrastructure for Your Team: Five key strategies

Exercises

Works Cited

Chapter 6: Revising with Others

Developing a Culture Where Constructive Feedback is Encouraged

Two Types of Revision: Feedback vs. Direct Revision

Before You Start: Ground Rules for Revision

Providing Effective Feedback and Making Good Revisions

Listening to Feedback and Negotiating Revision

Technology for Collaborative Revising

Exercises

Chapter 7: Communication Styles and Team Diversity

The Benefits of Diverse Teams

How Differences in Communication Norms Can Cause

Interpersonal Conflict

Understanding Norms

Competitive and Considerate Conversational Norms

Self-promoting vs. Self-deprecating Speech

Action-oriented vs. Holistic Problem-Solving Styles

Gender and Communication Norms

Exercises

Works Cited

Chapter 8: Trouble-shooting: What to do when there are problems in the team

Problems with Showing Up and Turning in Work

A teammate misses a meeting

A teammate misses a deadline

A teammate turns in incomplete work

A teammate turns in poor quality work

A teammate disappears completely

Problems with Personal Interactions

My team doesn’t trust me to do good work

My team isn’t listening to me—or is taking a direction I disagree with

Other team members are not committed to a high-quality product

My teammates do and say things I find disturbing or demeaning

My teammates criticize my work excessively

Problems with Revision

Team members are not open to revisions to their work—or team members ignore the suggestions I make for revision

My team is destroying my work

Team members are not giving adequate feedback

I am unsure of how to give good feedback to team members

Exercises