Team Projects Writing By Geoffrey Hart

Team Projects often require us to be able to write collaboratively. As my teammate mentioned in an earlier post much insightful information about collaborative writing I will discuss the advantages of collaborative writing in a little more detail. The first thing that comes to mind is that many minds are better than one. This is true due to the fact that when working with many people will encourage more thoughts and ideas to be contributed to the writing and these thoughts and ideas will be different and have different perspectives which leads to a better product. Feedback also is crucial to collaborative writing because it allows the team to review and edit the writing much faster and much better than with only one person. When writing with a team there is a lot less stress involved which is also a great advantage for your writing. Also team writing allows for the team members to write more confidently knowing that their team will provide constructive criticism to help make the end product better. There are disadvantages of collaborative writing as it is not perfect, however it outweighs the disadvantages.

Citation:

Alfred, Gerald J., Charles T. Brusaw, and Walter E. Oliu. Writing That Works Communicating Effectively on the Job. 3rd ed., Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007.

Writing Concisely by Zarah Boyer

Writing concisely is extremely important to writing an effective work. Expounding too far on subjects can lead to convoluted writing that is not conducive to a readers ease. Writing is much more clear when it is not bogged down with thoughts that are not cohesive to your writing. Concise writing is essential to a readers understanding.
The first step in writing concisely is to organize your thoughts. It is important to get a clear idea of what you want to express in your writing so you can organize your work in a cohesive way that will facilitate your readers understanding. This step allows you to view what is important to you and the point you want to get across in your written work.
It is also important to stay on topic when writing something. This may be one of the hardest things to do in writing concisely because many times a writer wants to elaborate on a topic. It is important that your writing is focused and not to use information that is not essential. It is very important to stay on topic when writing.
Another important step is to say it clearly. State your main ideas in words that the reader will be able to understand. Assume that your reader knows s little about the topic but not so much that you completely pass the idea. While it is important to reiterate your main idea try not to say it too much that is become superfluous.
When writing concisely a writer should want to show what their main idea, not just say it. Feel free to add a picture or some other form of visual aid to show the reader what you mean. This can often eliminate language that is not necessary and over indulgent.
The last thing to remember is to use an active voice. Emphasize the action in the words rather than using passive language. This helps you write concise sentences that don't use excessive language.

Citations:
"One Simple Trick to Writing Concisely :." Robust Writing. 30 Mar. 2009 http://robustwriting.com/one-simple-trick-to-writing-concisely.

"Six Tips for Writing Concisely." EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION. Improve your communication skills! Let effective communication habits change your life. 30 Mar. 2009 http://www.hodu.com/concise.shtml.

Becoming a Professional Writing Consultant by Chris Hudak

Having a consultant is a very important commodity in any aspect of business. There are consultants for all sorts of things such as programming, editing, legal, give advice, and writing. A writing consultant can be very important not just for businesses but also on an individual basis. A writing consultant works with businesses, agencies, and individuals to develop a written proposal of an idea or a product. There are many steps in becoming a professional writing consultant. You don’t just decide you want to be one and then start. Business can and most likely will be very slow when you first start. There are no set hours and no guaranteed paycheck to look for every week. It’s all about getting your name out there and gaining clients by word of mouth. When becoming a consultant it is best to have good work experience as a background when trying to find clients. If you try to become a consultant right out of college, as good as your writing skills may be, although they don’t know your skills you don’t appear to have the work history most people would be looking for to write a good proposal for them. Overall, becoming a professional writing consultant can be a very rewarding and satisfying career. It just takes good work experience and good networking to get reliable client base.

http://www.consultantjournal.com/how-to-become-a-consultant
http://www.consultantjournal.com/blog/first-steps-in-consulting-now-what
http://www.jobprofiles.org/buswriter.htm

COLLABORATIVE WRITING

It is essential that today, as students in the classroom, we learned the importance of Collaborative Writing in order to succeed in the future as professionals. “Workplace writing is often collaborative writing- working with other people on a team to produce a single document. Like any team project, it requires the cooperation of people with different personalities and backgrounds working toward a common goal. Achieving this goal can be stressful but rewarding. To some degree, everyone must rely on the help of others to do their jobs. No matter what you write or how often you write, you will likely have to collaborate with other people. Collaborative writing occurs when two or more people work together as a team to produce a single document, with each team member contributing to the planning, designing, and writing. It also involves sharing equal responsibility for the end product.

Collaborative writing is generally done for one of three reasons:

1. The project requires expertise or specialization in more than one subject area.
2. The project will benefit from merging different perspectives into a unified perspective.
3. The size of the project, time constraints, or the importance of the project to your organization requires a team effort.” (Oliu, Brusaw, Alred, p. 129)

The main functions of a Collaborative Writing Team can be described as follows:

1. Planning the document.
2. Researching the subject and writing the draft.
3. Reviewing the drafts of other team members.
4. Revising the draft on the basis. (Oliu, Brusaw, Alred, p. 131)

These main functions of a collaborative writing team can be classified as those pertaining to the individual members of the collaborative writing team and those pertaining to the team leader.

As a member of a collaborative writing team, you are expected to:

1. Work with others as a team of peers to plan, design, and write a single document.
2. Ensure that all important points are discussed and that all problems are addressed.
3. Research the topics of your assigned section.
4. Write your draft.
5. Review the work of other team members.
6. Revise your draft based on comments from other team members.
7. Maintain the project schedule.
8. Share equal responsibility for the end product.
9. Respect the opinions of others. (Oliu, Brusaw, Alred, p. 142)

As a team leader, you are expected to:

1. Share decision-making authority with other team members.
2. Coordinate the activity of team members.
3. Maintain the project schedule.
4. Coordinate the production of the final product. (Oliu, Brusaw, Alred, p. 142)

Among the benefits expected from Collaborative Writing are:

1. Many minds are better than one.
2. Team members provide immediate feedback.
3. Team members play devil’s advocate for each other.
4. Team members help each other past the frustrations and stress of writing.
5. Team members write more confidently.
6. Team members develop a greater tolerance of and respect for the opinions of others. (Oliu, Brusaw, Alred, p. 130)

Some of the disadvantages of Collaborating Writing include:

1. The demand it can place on your time, energy, and ego as a writer.
2. Can generate conflict among ideas. (Oliu, Brusaw, Alred, p. 130)

To help manage the role of conflict in Collaborative Writing, the team can:

1. Avoid taking a win-or-lose stand, which gains one person’s victory at another person’s expense.
2. Avoid accusations, threats, or disparaging comments,
3. Support your position with facts. Focus on the problem and its solution, not the person.
4. Use bargaining strategies to arrive at an exchange of concessions until a compromise is reached. (Oliu, Brusaw, Alred, p. 137-138)


Bibliography:

Alfred, Gerald J., Charles T. Brusaw, and Walter E. Oliu. Writing That Works Communicating Effectively on the Job. 3rd ed., Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007.

Job Interview Tips

Time for a new job? A job interview may be the most difficult part of a job search. It's you putting yourself out there to be evaluated by a person or a group of people, that you've never met before, that decide if they think you have what they want. If that's not hard enough on an individual, one must keep in mind that the interviewer(s) maybe interviewing a hundred people for one job opening. So how can make the best of your interviewing experience?


Before the Interview
Its best to research the company your applying to and find out everything about it. You may want to research the history of the company, the company's size, and branch locations. Try to better educate yourself on the company by finding information in national newspapers, such as Wall Street Journal, local newspapers, and the company's website.

Prepare a list of questions you have to the interview. It's not a one-way communication. It offers you a chance to ask questions of your potential employer and show your interest and knowledge of the position and the company. Feel free to bring paper and pen to jot down notes.

Try to anticipate any questions you may be asked, and prepare yourself in advanced. Make you your answers sound natural, and not rehearsed. They may be difficult questions, but give them careful thought. Some questions that you may be asked are:

What are your occupational goals?
Where do you see yourself in years from now?
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Do you work well in groups?
What do you do in your spare time?
What are some of your accomplishments?
Why are you interested in this current job and company?
Why should I hire you?




Make sure you arrive early to your scheduled time. You may be asked to fill out paperwork and applications, so allow enough time to fill time out properly.

During the Interview
The interview actually begins before you're even seated. What you wear and how you make that first impression are very important. Dress nice, simple, and conservatively. Make sure you are well groomed. Avoid dangling jewelry and strong fragrances.

Always thank the interviewer for their time. Express your pleasure in meeting them and wait for them to be seated before yourself. Sit with good posture and look directly at them. Keep your answers direct and don't ramble or stray off from the subject. Appear confident and don't fidget. At the end of the interview, make sure to thank the interviewer for their time, give a friendly and firm handshake, and express your in the job. Ask when you should expect to hear back, but do not press too hard.

Technical Writing

Technical Writing is a style of writing that is a type of technical communication. When writing technically, it is important to write clearly and concisley. Writing clearly displays technical jargon which is vital to good technical writing. Technical writing makes sure to:

• Target the correct audience


• Contain truthful sources


• Be deliverable

History

Technical writing dates back to ancient Greece. As more technology-based documentation was needed, technical writing became more important.

Technical writing is used to make complex concepts into simple concepts. Effective communication requires the skills to produce:

• quality


• content


• language


• format

In the job field

Technical writing is very important at jobs. Many times companies have to get across complex ideas in understandable ways. In marketing, technical writing could be the difference in selling and not selling a product. If the buyers understands clearly, he is more likely to buy.