Stage 1: Get it Together: Prewriting and Brainstorming

Get together with your group members and discuss or brainstorm your ideas. Be sure to:

1. Read assignment instructions carefully
2. Agree on a thesis/central argument
3. Determine what the final product will look like (essay or report format)
4. Assign some starter tasks such as sections of research and notes

Stage 2: Group Planning

1. Plan out your next few meetings. Where are they going to be located, and when? Identify a first draft date and the final due date.
2. Identify who is responsible for which sections of writing.

Stage 3: Research and Data Collection

1. Divide sections/concepts/ideas among group members or have all members research all necessary information
2. Identify a meeting day where members teach each other about their research findings.

Stage 4: Writing Stage

1. Identify the main idea(s) that each group member is responsible for, then organize the information. Is there a general flow of ideas? If so, assign written sections to group members to be reviewed at the next meeting.
2. While individually writing sections, be sure to consider Dropbox or Google Drive as effective tools for online collaborative writing projects.

Stage 5: Editing and Revising

1. This stage may take more time than you realize, certainly if individuals were responsible for separate sections of the document.
2. Agree on a meeting where group members offer feedback to one another’s writing.
3. Finally, putting it all together will require some further task distribution. Who can edit for grammar? Who is good at transitions? Ensuring that your final document has consistent sentence structure, correct grammar and flow is extremely important before submitting the final product.