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Team Writing Process Guide

The document outlines a structured writing process for teams, emphasizing the importance of a writing plan to establish common purpose and task division. It suggests that all team members should participate in both researching and writing to enhance understanding and skill development. The process includes drafting, revising, reviewing, and final editing to ensure consistency and clarity in the final document.

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5 views1 page

Team Writing Process Guide

The document outlines a structured writing process for teams, emphasizing the importance of a writing plan to establish common purpose and task division. It suggests that all team members should participate in both researching and writing to enhance understanding and skill development. The process includes drafting, revising, reviewing, and final editing to ensure consistency and clarity in the final document.

Uploaded by

andrewwolfe2312
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Management Communication Online Course

Writing in Business
Writing in Teams

Guide: Writing Process for Teams

1. Use a Writing Plan.


A team needs a writing plan to establish a common purpose, lay out the organization of the message, and divide
tasks. Once a team has a plan, members can agree on their roles. The most straightforward division of labor is for
each individual to research and write a part of the document.

The team should decide writing conventions to be used such as the point of view (first or third person), levels
and styles of headings, and citation form. These decisions can be made later, but someone will then have to edit
the report for consistency. Especially for a long report, it’s better to minimize the inconsistencies from the start.

2. Write a First Draft.


Dividing the team into researchers and writers has some advantages but usually leads to problems. The writers
don’t understand the content as well as the researchers, and the writing often takes longer than the research,
raising workload issues. For these reasons, it’s better that everyone on the team be responsible for researching
and composing a part of the document.

When all team members write, they all have a stake in the project. Some individuals might not write well, but if
they duck chances to write (or are allowed to by the team), they will not improve. Writing in teams can be a good
learning experience and raise the skill level of the weaker writers.

3. Revise the Draft.


Authors should provide feedback on the other sections. The foremost concern should be that each section
contributes to the whole. Other matters for attention include depth, clarity, organization, transitions, redun-
dancies, and consistency among the sections. Sentence style, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and mechanics
should be secondary at this point. Authors should then revise their sections.

4. Review the Second Draft.


Everyone should read the second draft and give any additional feedback. Each of the writers should make final
revisions and review his or her section for concise and clear writing style, logical organization of paragraphs,
and correctness.

5. Edit and Correct the Final Draft.


As a last step, one person should review the entire document for consistency in and transitions between sections
as well as style, organization of paragraphs, correctness, headings, and source citations.

© 2012 Harvard Business School Publishing

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