Thoughts on Collaboration

I read today that students (particularly grad students) are terrified of collaboration. Due to the competitive nature of graduate work, they do not want to work with others. Before coming here and working on this project, I probably would have been in complete agreement. I would have said, "I just want to do my own work." But, when I think of my own writing past, I see how colored it is by all of the collaboration it entailed. My work at the hospital forced me to work with others to find the right tone, include the right vocabulary, and become accustomed to people changing my writing. Also, when I think of my work at the university, much of it is collaborative. I think it is an interesting strand of conversation to think about collaboration within the university, and how graduate schools should help prepare students to collaborate as they enter the academic community. We see so many co-authored journal articles. Conventions generally feature panel presentations. The more I consider it, the more important I think it is that graduate schools consider how important collaboration is going to be in our careers.