University of Virginia Teaching Resource Center


*Writing Groups*

Starting a Writing Group

In addition to constructive feedback, writing groups also offer another pragmatic benefit—they compel participants to get some writing done before the meeting time. Such groups provide commentary, deadlines and accountability, all of which can help you write more fruitfully. These incentives make joining a writing group—particularly one that is well-planned and run—worthwhile. The following suggestions will help you form and sustain a productive writing group:

1) Before you contact potential group members, decide what short-term personal goals you have in mind for your own writing and commit them to paper. Five minutes of planning can clarify your objectives and help streamline further preparations. For example,

Do you want to write the introductory pages (and on what)?
Do you want to complete a draft, no matter how rough, by the end of winter break (and for what venue)?
Which grant proposal(s) are you planning to write, and by when?
Do you want to revise a draft returned to you by an editor? What major changes do you intend to make?

2) Next, look for 2-4 colleagues who might be interested in joining a writing group and begin comparing schedules. Typically, the most effective writing groups are composed of colleagues from related disciplines or who are writing for similar forums (whether journal articles, grant proposals, chapters of book-length monographs, and so on). Highly interdisciplinary groups can also flourish if group members’ writing goals are compatible.

As you decide who to approach to join the group, consider your own goals: Would they be better met if the writing group was composed of readers familiar with your discipline—readers who could focus more on content, method, or theoretical underpinnings—or those unfamiliar, who might address instead argument, style or clarity?

3) At the first meeting, plan to discuss the following items, though not necessarily in this order:

Establish a regular meeting time and location. When, where and how often will the group meet? As difficult as it may seem to find a regular meeting time that suits everyone’s schedule, setting weekly, monthly or twice a semester meeting times now will help you keep them. If a convenient time seems difficult to find, consider creative solutions: plan a breakfast meeting or a late-afternoon meeting in a restaurant during the after-lunch lull.
Once you’ve decided on a place and a regular meeting time, choose who will share his or her writing first, who second, and so on. Decide, too, how you will exchange your work with each other and how far in advance of the meeting. Encourage each writer to include with the writing sample an email or memo briefly explaining the goals for the project and pointing the readers to specific areas or concerns to focus on in their feedback (See General Guidelines for suggestions on what to include).
Discuss your individual goals (see #1 above) with the group and collectively develop and record a set of group goals for the semester or year.
Decide collectively on ground rules for the group and ask someone (or volunteer) to type them up and distribute to the group. Though it might seem self-evident, it’s important to clarify in writing such items as “Each writer will submit his or her work ahead of time,” “Each reader will read and respond to each piece of writing before the meeting,” or even, “Group members will strive to provide constructive critiques using a helpful tone.”
Select a group facilitator and a note-taker, whether for a set period of time or as a rotating position. Explicitly naming individuals to fill these roles will help keep the meetings on track and will allow each writer to listen intently without having to make detailed notes him or herself.
Consider the pros and cons of different writing group formats as you select one to use for your group meetings. A standard format, in which the writer circulates the entire chapter, article or grant proposal at least a week before the meeting, requires a certain amount of each reader’s time but provides in-depth feedback. Other formats, such as the Reader-Response Group Process, can be less time-intensive but also provide less feedback or feedback only on short pieces of writing.
Whether your group uses one of the suggested formats or creates a process all your own, the General Guidelines offers a list of recommendations to keep in mind.
See also, “Thirteen Ways of Talking about Writing Groups,” for a list of other items to consider or for links to other writing group materials. Developed for students by The Writing Center at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, this webpage has many valuable suggestions that can also be adapted for faculty writing groups. (http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/WritingGroups/questions.html)

Supplementary Material