Team Writing A Guide to Working in Groups

Built around real group interactions,Team Writingis a flexible, hybrid resource that pairs videos with a brief print book. Based on research revealing major problems at all stages of peer group work, the book shows how written communication can help technical writing students contribute to team projects in a meaningful way and provides strategies for dealing with the breakdowns that can derail a project's success. Numerous examples highlight the kind of written communication that helps teams thrive. Short, Web-based videos depict student teams in action, going beyond the textbook to show what real collaboration looks and sounds like.

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.

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