Advice for Designing Group Writing Assignments

Advantages of a group writing assignment:


Advice for creating successful group writing assignments:

Possible Group Member Roles for Students:


Group leader

The group leader oversees the project and facilitates communication between the group members. The group leader is also responsible for ensuring that writing deadlines are met and that each group member is contributing.


Lead writer

Although each group member should contribute to the writing of the content of the project, the lead writer may do more of the writing than the other members, either by taking on a bigger section or by helping with the final revisions of each section.



The editor focuses on sentence-level and format issues, such as grammar, sentence structure, and citations.



Ideally, each member should be part of the review and revising process, but the reviewer can play a greater role as a responder to drafts of each member’s writing.



The researcher gathers data and outside sources. Although each member may participate in researching the topic, the researcher is responsible for making sure an adequate amount of research has been done.


Graphic design person

The graphic design person is in charge of charts, images, graphs, etc.