Re: Single voice in collaborative papers

[cph@wiley.csusb.edu (Carol Haviland)]

Hi--Bad News:  You can't collaborate quickly!  I don't think getting started
early is negotiable.  Like spaghetti sauce, you can't "boil" collaboration
to make it faster.  Getting to a single voice, or even to the incorporation
of multiple voices, which is another good choice, requires negotiation,
which takes time.

Good News:  Writing online helps; inclass draft workshops are critical,
especially if most students live off campus and can't get together out of
class;  helping writers negotiate consensus or representation of dissensus
makes wonderfully productive WC conferences.  If students can see how often
they will do this kind of work as managers and if assignments demonstrate
the parallels with school and work writing, they may see more reason to
inconvenience themselves by starting earlier and working onsite together.

A good problem--keep at it.
Carol
>You  been the source of many useful suggestions in the past, so here is
another question. 
>
> What tips do you suggest for establishing a single voice in  collaborative
group papers?  We see many long, group-written  management  and marketing
papers, and tutors need the entire conference simply to establish a single
voice or explain how to accomplish this task.  We would like to take care of
this problem  before the paper comes to the writing center so that we can
deal with other issues.   I have suggested putting  the papers in a common
network location and  having each writer read the part or parts written
prior to the his/her entry before beginning to compose.  However, this
requires a group member (or many members) starting to write well before the
deadline, and you can imagine how many times my suggestion is used.  What
tips do you suggest?
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