Writing an academic paper in group
or, The art of working well together

[Filmed Part]

Thursday afternoon, Fred and Anna are online to write a group project for a cross disciplinary course. 

Ah the joys of group work, this union of souls, the miracle of the collaborative spirit of design thinking, the symbiosis of thoughts that reason together.

The secret of group work is stealing work from others to make sure that what must be done will be done and well done.

Anna: – Hi everyone! How are you doing? 
Chlo้: – Hi, great yes 
Fred: – Hi! 
Fred: – Yeah Listen, it's quite I'm quite tired because there's a lot of stuff right now. 
Fred: – The advantage of a plastic fish is when we go away for the weekend, no need to feed it. 
Arthur: – Hi! Sorry for the delay, I was not on the right session. 
Anna: – Hi Dark mate thingy, right? 
Arthur: – Yes, that's right. 
Anna: – So welcome. So I was saying to communicate actually efficiently, the best would be to create a group, a drive and a shared calendar. 

Fred: – It is said that gifs are old fashioned, but I like it. 

Anna: – That's it. 
Chlo้: – Yeah.
Arthur: – Yo, what if we did a brainstorming?
Anna: – A brainstorming?

Anna: – Yeah Right, Chloe, it is you who prepared the bibliography? 
Chlo้: – Uh, the bibliography? No, I made the plan. 
Chlo้: – The bibliography, it's Tar 
Arthur: – Nooo, Arthur and no, I had the plan and the conclusion. The bibliography, it was Fred who was supposed to do it actually.
Fred: – Ha Ha, now this, I doubt it because I already had the two most important things i.e. the quotes and the page layout. 
Anna: – The page layout? No, but this is a joke, Fred! Right, let's go over everything again. 

[Animation]

Yes, for an academic group work to go well, communication is key. It is necessary to define from the start the means of communication that will be used in the group. For example, email, discussion groups, face to face or remote sessions. 

The most important thing is to use these means of communication in accordance with common rules set at the beginning by the whole group. Then, throughout the project, communicate very regularly to report on where you are, what you have achieved and what remains to be done.

Act with kindness, patience and constructive thinking. 

First, communicate and agree on the issues and objectives of your work and make sure that they are understood and agreed by everyone in the group. Also, clarify the expectations of each person. 

Secondly, clearly allocate roles and tasks according to your objectives, who will do what and when.

Thirdly, don't wait until last minute and plan all the steps necessary to complete the project with precise deadline for each task. 

Don't forget to plan individual and join proofreading of each other's work, especially if each member of the group is responsible for writing part of the project and make sure that the final result is consistent. 

The commenting and editing features available in most writing tools will be a great help at this stage, but here too, it is important to use common rules, to make good use of them and to agree on the layout. Many tools exist to facilitate collaborative work. 

Choose the tool or the tools that suit you best according to your needs. What type of document do you need to produce? A written report, a presentation, a software, a website? Do you need to share a large number of documents? The bibliography? Are you going to work together, either simultaneously on common documents or separately at different times?

Depending on the scope of the project, a collaborative diary or a project management tool with past allocation and completion rates may be useful. You will find a selection of tools in the To Remember section of this module. 

Finally, make sure that everyone in the group has access to the selected software and, most importantly, knows how to use it.

[Filmed part]

Fred: - No... It was sent out this morning for sure.

Fred: - Come on, There we are… And go!

Fred: - Oh no! This can't be true no, no no no no! It can't It can't! It can't! It can, it can, it can! So, then... Send Send Send Send Send Send Send Send Send