Top 10 Online Writing Process Resources
Planning
Audience Matters: Writing and Reading with Your Audience in Mind, from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill Writing Center. Help determine the audience for whom you will be writing and how to tailor your writing to that audience: http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/audience.html
Brainstorming, from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill Writing Center. Get help with a number of prewriting activities, including brainstorming, freewriting, clustering, and other planning techniques: http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/brainstorm.html
Using Outlines, from Indiana University. Read about how to use an outline to effectively guide your writing and structure your paper: http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/outlines.shtml
Searching the World Wide Web, from the Purdue University Online Writing Lab. Learn how to effectively use search engines and web directories with tips on search term selection, links to task-specific search engines, and more research resources: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_websearch2.html
Drafting
Writing Effective Paragraphs, from the Kent, WA School District. Get help developing, organizing, and properly using paragraphs with guidelines, examples, and links to other writing resources: http://www.kent.k12.wa.us/KSD/KR/WRITE/GEN/para_index.html
How to Write and Revise a Rough Draft, from the University of Texas – Austin. Learn from tips and tricks for getting ideas onto paper, using outlines as a guide to drafting, and how to move from rough drafts to finished products: http://www.utexas.edu/student/utlc/handouts/1234.html
Drafting, from the MIT Online Writing and Communication Center. Read about the different stages of the drafting process, and get links to online drafting resources from other schools: http://web.mit.edu/writing/Resources/Writers/Process/drafting.html
Revising
How to Ask for and Receive Feedback on Your Writing, from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill Writing Center. Learn who and how to ask for and how to use feedback from others as usability data and to improve your writing: http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/feedback.html
Editing and Proofreading Strategies for Revision, from the Purdue University Online Writing Lab. Get help with general proofreading and revision, and also get help correcting specific errors and common problems with papers: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/general/gl_edit.html
The Editing and Rewriting Process, from Capital Community College in Hartford, CT. Learn how to effectively edit a paper, avoid typical mistakes, and find an Editing Checklist to help guide your rewriting: http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/editing.htm
Fictional Case Study #4 University
MEMORANDUM
TO: David Jones, Technical Writing Instructor, Fictional Case Study #4 University
FROM: Bo Bayles
DATE: 21 May, 2005
SUBJECT: Team Member Participation in Collaborative Research Project
Summary of Problem
In the recent group assignment for Technical Writing, my team is having problems with group member participation. Our team member Ken, a computer science student, has skipped one important team meeting, and arrived late and unprepared to another. Although he admitted to and apologized for his errors, mechanical engineering student Allison and I are concerned that our project will be hurt by Ken's lack of participation.
Discussion
Allison asked me what I think we should do about Ken. Because this project is one of our course's collaborative assignments, I think we should try our best to actively work with all our group members. According to the assignment, our team has to submit documentation of our participation and team member evaluations, so even if our finished research paper is of high quality without one team member contributing much, the supporting documentation will reveal our lack of coordination.
As a result, I think Allison and I should attempt to get Ken to contribute more to the project instead of just hoping that his last two mistakes were flukes. We should not confront him antagonistically, but try to motivate him to do more for the project. One way of doing this would be assigning him tasks in which he might be interested. This should work well for us; our research topic is the usability of software used to create engineering drawings. Since Ken is a computer science student, he is likely interested in the computer software aspect of the research, and may be experienced or interested in software usability. If he is interested, he will be more likely to do his assigned tasks. Our research topic choice should also appeal to Allison – as an engineering student, she has experience with engineering drawings, and will likely be interested in the subject.
Hopefully, properly delegating tasks will get our whole team to take part in the project. If Ken still doesn't contribute reliably, however, I think Allison and I should not just wait for him to participate when he feels like it. Instead, we should both go talk to Ken, and try to diplomatically resolve the situation. Rather than going to him angrily, we should use critiquing tactics to explain our frustration and not offend him. For example, it would be better to start out with a positive comment about the work that he has done, then explain why we need more similar work from him, than to immediately start criticizing his lackluster performance. Both of us should explain what we need from him on the project – without his experience in computer science, our research paper (and grades) will certainly suffer. Also, we should remind him that the focus of the assignment is collaboration, and show him that he will have to submit proof of his contribution to the project. Further, we should remind him that we will both be evaluating him, and that we won't cover for him if he doesn't do his share of the work.
Allison and I wondered if we should complain about Ken to the Technical Writing department, but I think it would be better if we don't. Since the assignment is to be completed collaboratively, and includes team evaluation material, resolving conflicts within the team is probably meant to be part of the assignment. Allison and I will do our best to get Ken to help us and to produce a good research paper, but the supporting documents will reveal how effectively we collaborated.