The past two papers that our class has written have been group papers. First there was a small group paper consisting of two people, and our last paper that was a large group paper. When the groups were discussing their papers and writing in groups on Friday most of the groups said that it was interesting working in large groups. Groups also said that working in a larger group helped take some of the stress off of writing the paper by breaking the sections of the paper up equally among the group members.
There is an old saying “two heads is better than one.” Having more than one person working on a writing project increases the amount of combined knowledge of the authors. In areas of intelligence where one person is weak, others may be strong, and vice versa. If done properly, the collective intelligence of a group of writers can be a powerful resource.
Rachel Holland
As much as writing a group paper could be helpful, I still find it more of a burden than a help. Personally, I always found that it was easier to do projects on my own where I would be the only one responsible if I didn't get my work done or if it was done poorly. I like being the only person I have to worry about.
ReplyDeleteI am a member of group 1 and I found that doing the group paper was fairly successful. It can seem very stressful if everyone dosent participate, but if every member does their job, it can be a masterpiece. I agree with Rachel that a group paper can have a lot of combined knowledge. Having a partner or working with a group is beneficial because where one person is weak, another person may be better.
ReplyDeleteJeffrey says:
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Rachel. Writing our first two research papers were challenging from an individual writer’s perspective. It is difficult working alone whenever all of the work is rested on your shoulders alone. Working in pairs like Rachel said, “two heads is better than one”, gives the quality of two masterminds composing a piece of literature. Working in large groups to compose paper 4 allowed more concentration on specific assignments. For example, I chose to elaborate on the abstract and introduction. Only having to worry about these two topics, allowed for me to gain concrete information based on our title, provided a thorough and detailed description.
After participating in the past two group projects, I thought that the third paper was much harder than the fourth paper! I believe this, because for the third paper two people had to basically regard their personal opinions and just agree with each other so they could write the paper. The fourth paper, group one just separated the parts and each contributed a little. Everyone emailed their parts and then we put the paper together and took it to the writing center to be checked for grammatical errors and that the flow of the paper was intact.
ReplyDeleteKristi Quinn
Jessica Said:
ReplyDeleteI, too, am a member of Group 1, and I think we did quite well working together to finish Paper 4. We took the time to organize who was responsible for what part, and everyone did their part. The only thing that was frustrating was that the paper was given at a time when we could not interact with each other (Thanksgiving Break). Other than that, the process went quite smoothly, and many ideas came together. I do agree with Chrystal in how she mentioned it can be frustrating when someone doesn't complete their part, or when someone just refuses to communicate with the rest of the group. Overall, I would prefer a group project over a individual project anyday!
The last sentence I think is key. If done properly the process of writing a group project is no problem. Though it almost never done correctly their is always something from stopping it from being smooth process. Though as Alex stated above a two person project is much harder to do than a larger one because you couldn't have diversify between ideas.
ReplyDeleteI love that in our class we started out small. We began working in groups of two then we got into groups between five and six. Really what group projects do is that they get people out there to meet others and to learn the dynamics of communication and teamwork. The two things I just mentioned: communication and team work are pivotal in the future. For in any field of work that you choose you'll be required to work with others.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the idea that group projects really took a majority of the anxiety off of everyone's shoulders. When I write papers alone, I am confidant that I will do well, but I get so wound up trying to figure out how to write some things effectively. Working with a group helped broaden my understanding on what a research paper consists of. The fact that a group can get together and brainstorm and have an A paper cranked out in about an hour is pretty satisfying.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Rachel is saying how doing group projects can make it less stressful but if you can’t rely on your group members, I think it can almost be too stressful. I also think there are a lot of different ideas going into one paper and it makes it more challenging and difficult to have a paper flow. Group projects can be very beneficial however I personally would rather work either by myself or in a small group. It’s definitely a challenge with not only writing a paper and combing all of your ideas but also just to coordinate schedules to accommodate everyone in the group.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed writing the group papers because I had never done a group research paper before because i never did one when I was in high school. I agree that more minds working together can bring more ideas to the table and then make it easier to write when each person gets to write their own part.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rachel about two heads being better than one,the biggest positive point of group writing was splitting the work and people the balance of knowledge, between some people that may not no much about one part and a lot about another and their group mates making up for that lack of knowledge. Although I may not have been a huge fan of the group work, I now realize how valuable it is to have group projects to cut down and balance the work load.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that at first I was a little scared about the whole "group paper" thing. Because I have been in the stressful position that I have to deal with most of the work. I was relieved though when I found out that we were allowed to pick our group members because I knew that my group (group 4) would not leave me hanging on this one. I also agree with Rachel saying that two heads think better than one because I think our final project turned out very well. None of us were stressed about it because we all contributed in the idea, and what to put in and what to take out.
ReplyDeleteI agree with my peers that at first the thought of having to do a group paper it is overwhelming. It is overwhelming because there are pressures in how you distribute the work, if some will put more into it, if you will agree with everyone in the group and work successfully and so on. Although I found that working in my group everyone got a long very well, we took into consideration every one's ideas and it turned into a very successful, enjoyable collaboration. I think i look at group work differently now than what i did before we did our group projects. By doing the group projects in this class I have found a new appreciation for group work.
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