Writing Together: Collaborative Work

Abstract

Finding a suitable writing partner and working with a successful writing team can be one of the most satisfying ways of generating a publishable manuscript. Conversely, when collaborative writing arrangements and agreements falter or fail, they can be exceptionally troublesome. This chapter is designed to help authors maximize the benefits of collaborative writing and minimize the mistakes. Writing relationships built by academic co-authors are complex and should not be entered into lightly. Rather, each project undertaken requires thoughtful consideration of the unique contribution that every contributor will make. A common mistake of beginners is to invite someone affable, equally inexperienced, and like-minded to be a co-author in hopes that it will expedite matters, make writing more pleasurable, and offer uncritical acceptance. This approach runs contrary to research and practice on collaborative writing. Evidently, collaboration is more often successful when inexperienced writers partner with more experienced authors, co-contributors have unique perspectives/complementary strengths, and team members critically evaluate one another’s work. Furthermore, while a “divide and conquer” strategy with writing has intuitive appeal, assembling various pieces is insufficient. The finished product still needs to have a consistent tone and voice, and this can require an additional investment of time during editing. Even more difficult are situations when co-authors fail to meet deadlines, produce something unusable, or expect more credit than deserved. Throughout this chapter, we argue that collaborative writing is both an interprofessional and an interpersonal relationship. As such, it merits careful selection of co-authors, thoughtful planning, ongoing communication, and skillful editing of the final, published version of a manuscript.

Applications of Technology

Tech Tool: Using Googledocs to Collaborate How To Collaborate in Google Docs (zapier.com).

Springer Nature Resource: Check out medical researcher Lingard’s (2021). Practical advice on collaborative writing teams Collaborative writing: Strategies and activities for writing productively together | SpringerLink.

Online Video: Using technology for collaboration in writing provides a quick overview of not only how to use email for collaborative communications but also how to navigate document tracking systems (such as Microsoft Word’s Track Changes feature or Adobe Acrobat) as well as web-based collaboration systems (wikis, Google Docs). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJlJCwmnV8M.