On the nature of collaborative writing: A Guide
The event that I find the hardest and dread the most, collaborative writing is actually fairly simple to do good at. But for those new scholars reading this, let’s break down the event.
Event Explanation:
Although the name suggests you’ll be writing with your team, you’ll actually be doing all the writing by yourself. Your team will only help you plot out your writing and proofread it once the writing time finishes. In the beginning of the event, each member of the team will receive a writing packet filled with an introductory page and several lined pages to write your piece. Then each team will receive a separate sheet with all the motions for each categories on it. The motion is essentially what you’re trying to prove/disprove (whichever side you choose) in your writing, essentially a written debate. You then get 30 minutes to plan your essay along with your team, during this time you have access to the internet and any other resources that might help you. After that you have 60 minutes to actually craft your masterpiece, during this time all resources and any communication with teammates is banned. Once the timer rings and everyone applauds, the final 15 minutes are where you may hand your writing to the other people in your team for proofreading and eliminating any errors.
So now that I’ve explained the format of this event, let’s go over the packing list and a few key tips.
Packing list for Collaborative Writing:
Tips:
Possible Formats:
As discussed above, one should never utilize a standard essay format in writing. So below are a few ideas to help you score big in creativity and format:
Event Explanation:
Although the name suggests you’ll be writing with your team, you’ll actually be doing all the writing by yourself. Your team will only help you plot out your writing and proofread it once the writing time finishes. In the beginning of the event, each member of the team will receive a writing packet filled with an introductory page and several lined pages to write your piece. Then each team will receive a separate sheet with all the motions for each categories on it. The motion is essentially what you’re trying to prove/disprove (whichever side you choose) in your writing, essentially a written debate. You then get 30 minutes to plan your essay along with your team, during this time you have access to the internet and any other resources that might help you. After that you have 60 minutes to actually craft your masterpiece, during this time all resources and any communication with teammates is banned. Once the timer rings and everyone applauds, the final 15 minutes are where you may hand your writing to the other people in your team for proofreading and eliminating any errors.
So now that I’ve explained the format of this event, let’s go over the packing list and a few key tips.
Packing list for Collaborative Writing:
- Writing utensil (they accept pen or pencil)
- Water bottle
- WSC tag
- Laptop, phone or other electronics (for research)
- Hotspot source (incase the internet refuses to work)
Tips:
- Essays are banned: OK they’re not exactly banned, you won’t be disqualified if you write a standard essay for your writing. They’re just so “normal” that a judge can’t really score them that high for creativity or engagement. Remember, a human from the WSC will be sitting down and marking every essay they’ve been given. If they start reading a normal PEEL Paragraph or other standard academic format, they’ll probably give you moderate marks for creativity. They want something worth their time, something that catches their eye, something unique from the rest. In the next section I’ll discuss a few of these formats that might net you creativity points.
- Facts are family: You write an essay with no factual evidence, you might as well say goodbye to a writing medal. Just like a debate, the more facts you use to backup your points, the stronger your writing will turn out. Unlike in debates however, you do need to cite your sources (just a small mention at the end or beginning of the fact, no MLA or APA citation), lest the judges mark you down for making up random facts. I’d recommend finding at least a fact for each point, though ideally 2 per point would help.
- Pre-buttals help: Another difference is that here, your only opponent is the judge. Unlike in debate, no other scholar is trying to disprove the point your essay is conveying, the judge will though. Chances are if your judge is a trained WSC scorer, they’ll try to think of their own rebuttals to your points and look for any flaws in them. Thus, you need to shield your essay from these attacks by setting up preplaced rebuttals. This is as simple as writing “though one might argue by saying that __________, it should be noted that______” or something along those lines. If you can deflect those rebuttals with facts too, that’ll help a lot.
- Slow and neatly: One of the criteria to take into account when scoring an essay is the legibility of your writing (I always struggle with this, my handwriting would shame a 10-year old). So even though time is always there as a sort of pressure point for you, remember that it’s better to write slowly and think out your sentences than rush through everything but end up with an essay that’s illegible. When it comes time to proofread, ask your teammates to pick out any words that are illegible and fix them. The neater your writing is, the less time a judge has to spend trying to guess what you’re saying, the more points you rack for the leaderboards.
- Complete the loop: Oftentimes you’ll be inclined to finish a point and then move onto the next one. Don’t do this. Like in a standard paragraph, link the point back to the motion and how it supports your stance. Don’t take for granted the fact that the judge will do it for you, always complete the loop of how your points helps you stance.
- Conclude: At the end of all your points, wrap up your piece by stating them again and tying it all back to the motion. Don’t just write something like “the points put forth in this writing show why _____”. It’ll help you and the judge when it comes to scoring organization and formatting.
- Personal experiences are valid: In debates, you would be slammed for using a personal experience on the basis that one story does not prove an entire motion to be true or false. In collaborative writing however, the judge isn’t so picky about that. If no facts can be found, using a personal or peer experience is fine as an alternative. The more emotion it evokes, the more valid it is to use.
Possible Formats:
As discussed above, one should never utilize a standard essay format in writing. So below are a few ideas to help you score big in creativity and format:
- Story
- Playscript
- Inner thoughts
- Conversation