WJ #4

Writer’s Journal #4 – Reflecting on Collaboration Bookmark this page

OVERVIEW



Writers of all kinds often collaborate on writing projects. This can occur in person, or (as is increasingly the case) this collaboration can occur at a distance through digital technologies such as our online course. Sometimes this collaboration happens in the drafting of a piece of writing, but it can also occur in every stage of the writing process.
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DIRECTIONS
In this Writer’s Journal, you will consider what collaborative writing means to you. You will do this by addressing the following questions:

• How does the notion of writing collaboratively challenge your sense of what a writer is and does?
  
•     To my sense of what a writer is and does, writing collaboratively sounded little bit awkward. I thought there must be a writer who writes that particular piece of composition. However, if I broaden the notion of writing from generating ideas to revising and reflecting the final writing rather than just typing on a keyboard or scribbling on a sheet of paper, than collaborative writing makes much more sense.
  
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• Do you find collaborating on your writing exciting or intimidating? Why?
  
•   To be honest, I feel intimidated. I feel frustrated when I need to challenge other people's ideas, because I am afaid of offending others' feelings with my comments. In addition, I find myself a perfectionist, that is, I hate to show my outputs before I finish them.
  
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• What do you think you might learn or gain from collaborating with other writers?
  
•    I think it would be an opportunity to come out of my shell. As I confessed in the previous answer, I am reluctant to show my working-in-process writing and to give feedback to other writers. Of course I will need plenty of practice and have embarrassing moments, but I hope I will learn from that experiences.
  
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• One of the bullets under the WPA Outcomes “Process” heading reads, “By the end of first -year composition, students should...Experience the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes.” Why do you think the WPA Outcomes value the “collaborative and social aspects of the writing process?” What does this say about academic writing and collaboration?
  
•     I think the WPA Outcomes value the "collaborative and social aspects of the writing process", becuase writing is one of the most important medium of communication, especially in the academic context. Academic writing and collaboration can not be separated as we learn from peer students, teachers, professors and fellow scholars with academic writing.
  
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