There’s nothing that ruins a seemingly good class like an unexpected group project. Between scheduling times to meet and trying to corral lazy group members, working on a collaborative project can quickly turn into a huge headache. However, there are a few tricks that can help to make the process much more manageable.
Planning
When working collaboratively, it is extremely important to have a solid outline before anybody writes anything. While you might be able to wing it in a solo assignment, a group assignment quickly falls apart when nobody knows what they should be working on. The first thing you should do is split the paper into a number of sections equivalent to the number of group members. This can include sections such as “Introduction and History,” “Current Situation and Implications,” “Policy Recommendations and Conclusion,” and so on.
Have each group member write which section they would most prefer and least prefer, and decide together which section would be best for each person. Make sure you have enough detail to make each section roughly equal in length, which typically means that the introduction and conclusion should be combined with other sections. As a group, come up with one or two sentences that you can use to transition into each section. If you’ve planned well, each group member should know exactly what is expected from them and when it is expected. Make sure to leave some time to have one person revise the entire paper before the assignment is due.
Writing
When it comes to writing the project, I recommend that you use a program such as Google Docs so you can all work on the same document at once. The process of writing the paper is mostly a solo activity, but make sure you have a way to contact every member of the group in case you have a question about their section. When you’re working with a specific page limit, it’s okay to go a little bit over or under your allotted page count and allow the other group members to make up the difference, but if you notice yourself going significantly over or under, reassess the information that you need to include in your section. Try not to go over or under by more than a paragraph.
Unfortunately, there are many cases in which you end up with an uncooperative group member who doesn’t do their fair share of the work. In that case, keep a log of all attempts at communication so you have proof that they were uncooperative, and let your teacher know if they continue to refuse to work. You might feel bad about snitching on another student, but every teacher has handled a similar situation before and they will do their best to ensure that your grade does not suffer for somebody else’s wrongdoing.
Editing
Keep in mind that your teacher will know that this is a collaborative project, so they will not expect one consistent voice. With that said, you should have one group member volunteer to revise the entire project to make sure that everything flows together nicely and edit for grammar. This might be a lot of work depending on the length of the assignment, so it might be best to assign this person a less difficult section to write.
If you are chosen as the designated editor, it’s your job to ensure that you can polish the paper without trampling over the voices of the other writers. If you find a section with a major structural problem, contact the group member who wrote it instead of attempting to rewrite it yourself. Pay close attention to see if the transitions between sections are fluid, and make sure that the introduction and conclusion sufficiently reference every section of the paper. If the project requires citation, make sure that each member used the proper citation format and that each source is included in the bibliography. If you decide to take the paper into the writing center, take detailed notes for each of the group members who are not present.
If you follow each of these steps, you might be able to make it through a group project without tearing your hair out. Just remember that a little bit of planning goes a long way for keeping things on track, and good luck!
Contributed by: Jordan Mizell, Writing Center intern
The Writing Corner 
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