Characterizing Stage-aware Writing Assistance for Collaborative Document Authoring

Abstract

Writing is a complex non-linear process that begins with a mental model of intent, and progresses through an outline of ideas, to words on paper (and their subsequent refinement). Despite past research in understanding writing, Web-scale consumer and enterprise collaborative digital writing environments are yet to greatly benefit from intelligent systems that understand the stages of document evolution, providing opportune assistance based on authors' situated actions and context. In this paper, we present three studies that explore temporal stages of document authoring. We first survey information workers at a large technology company about their writing habits and preferences, concluding that writers do in fact conceptually progress through several distinct phases while authoring documents. We also explore, qualitatively, how writing stages are linked to document lifespan. We supplement these qualitative findings with an analysis of the longitudinal user interaction logs of a popular digital writing platform over several million documents. Finally, as a first step towards facilitating an intelligent digital writing assistant, we conduct a preliminary investigation into the utility of user interaction log data for predicting the temporal stage of a document. Our results support the benefit of tools tailored to writing stages, identify primary tasks associated with these stages, and show that it is possible to predict stages from anonymous interaction logs. Together, these results argue for the benefit and feasibility of more tailored digital writing assistance.

Applying rhetorical methods to teach writing techniques to pre-service teachers

“…After establishing the subject, creating a strategy, and acquiring information, students start writing and composing. As a result, a variety of educational strategies, including working in pairs to comprehend the subject by asking each other questions and sharing the first draft of the writing, may help students get started (Sarrafzadeh, Jauhar, Gamon, Lank, & White, 2021). Another strategy is to urge students to write a full essay in one sitting, from start to finish, known as one-sitting writing.…”

“…Revisions can be divided into two categories: Internal revision, when the author concentrates on carefully examining what has been written on the page and then revises the topic, data, arguments, and structure until they are certain that the meaning has been effectively expressed; and external revision, in which style, tone, language, and mechanics are all addressed. This is the final step in getting the article ready for publication (Sarrafzadeh et al, 2021).…”

“…Students in this stage might work alone, with classmates, or in small groups to identify and fix flaws. They can verify and amend their mistakes using any tools at their disposal, including dictionaries, computers, and books (Sarrafzadeh et al, 2021).…”

Journal Article Writing Assistance Program: An Effort to Improve Publication in Islamic University

“…If they have not mastered the English writing ability sufficiently that they cannot submit their articles to the target journals. Therefore, some Islamic universities do efforts to help them write quality articles through, for example, doing workshop, training, and other assistance programs (Sarrafzadeh et al, 2021). A journal article writing assistance program (JAWAP) becomes a promising alternative in Indonesian Islamic universities.…”