Team Writing by Joanna Wolfe - First Edition, 2010 from Macmillan Student Store
Student Site

Team Writing

A Guide to Working in GroupsFirst Edition ©2010 Joanna Wolfe

Built around real group interactions, Team Writing is 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
Read more
Students - Buy or Rent
Team Writing by Joanna Wolfe - First Edition, 2010 from Macmillan Student Store

Watch collaboration in action

Built around real group interactions, Team Writing is 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.

Features

Practical advice throughout the collaborative process. While most advice to students about collaboration focuses on face-to-face meetings, Team Writing teaches written communication as central to successful group work. The book’s two parts, "Before You Start" and "Writing Together," guide students through the planning stages and the process of writing as a team.

Online videos with real student teams. Accompanying videos (available online at bedfordstmartins.com/teamwriting) portray actual student interactions, providing teachable models of functional and dysfunctional teams. Exercises throughout the book get students thinking about the dynamics behind the scenarios. Comments from team members and professional managers help students recognize and solve team problems.

Sample documents and worksheets to get students started. Frequent examples guide students through the challenges of writing collaboratively. Self-assessment activities help students understand their own working styles, while sample team charters, schedules, and e-mails show how communication shapes the team dynamic — and the final project.

Troubleshooting for a range of team problems. A unique troubleshooting chapter recognizes the specific problems that real student teams often face — and offers practical solutions to fit a range of situations.

New to This Edition

"Team Writing is refreshingly pragmatic in its delivery of basic organizing strategies for collaborative work in technical, professional, and workplace communications…. This is an accessible guide with practical insights for any project where students are asked to work collaboratively."
— Derek Mueller, Eastern Michigan University

"This text combines a solid theoretical discussion of effective management and interpersonal interaction with dynamic, accessible video supplements."
— Paul Pedroza, University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign

Digital Options

EPUB3_EBOOK icon

E-book

Read online (or offline) with all the highlighting and notetaking tools you need to be successful in this course.

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

Joanna Wolfe

Joanna Wolfe (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin) is Director of the Global Communication Center at Carnegie Mellon University, where she develops new methods for improving communication instruction across the university. She is the author of numerous scholarly articles on teamwork, gender studies, collaborative learning technology , technical writing, and rhetoric 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.

Instructor Resources

Need instructor resources for your course?

Unlock Your Resources

Instructor Resources

Download Resources

You need to sign in to unlock your resources.

request locked icon

Instructor's Resource - Evaluating Team Work