I just fired off the revised and refined manuscript draft to GradAdvisor for a brief communication-type item. First InADriWriMo item, check!
I'm excited about the format--this is a paper whose previous drafts have given me heartburn, because it felt as though we were welding together two related-as-second-cousins experimental results. As a result, I always seemed to be shortchanging one half of the picture, or dwelling at excessive length on the other.
In a recent chat, I suggested to Advisor that we consider breaking the paper into its two immiscible halves--one as a brief communication with the flashy finding; the other as a regular length journal article with the more workmanlike "resolved outstanding issues in our subfield" part. After some discussion, we decided to give this a try. I am immensely more satisfied with the current version of the manuscript (flashy brief bits...mmmm....) since it no longer drags along the manacle of virtuous-but-slightly-dull Figures 3 to 6.
We are still missing one necessary bit of information (see to-do list item 3) but I don't think it will influence the manuscript dramatically, so this seemed like a good time to get this draft to GradAdvisor for first thoughts.
Incidentally, the journal we are planning to send this to recommends that the text not exceed about 1200 words. You thought I whined about the word limitations on the abstract of my last paper--skinnying this one down will be hellish. We're currently at 1470 words without any of the missing data....we'll see how this goes.
15 years ago
3 comments:
What's the turnaround time for your advisor to get back to you on something like this? How many times do you have to ask?
I'm just curious since you seem to be producing whereas I am... still waiting for my advisor to get back to me.
My grad advisor is highly variable. I'm pleasantly shocked when a draft comes back within a week, but unsurprised with a 2-3 week wait.
I think it's manuscript-specific, though. My first one--well actually my first ms effort fell into a waste bin and nothing ever happened to it--my first actual paper took a while to pull comments out. The second one was a bit faster, though all pressure regarding speed comes from me--never her.
This one she's actually very excited about, because it fits into some Big Ideas she's been having about stuff anyhow. Plus, it's only 1500 words, so how long can it take? I anticipate getting it back within 10 days, but with a LOT of rewriting--the more she cares about the science, the more she wants it to be written just so.
I think that unless your advisor is clearly tied up with a lot of time-critical stuff (grants due, class exams, etc) it's ok to prod once every 10 days or so. After two months, you get to sit in their office and demand to go through the manuscript with them NOW. The fact is that you need them more than they need you (as you know so well!) so sometimes your prodding is the only way to progress. All advisors different though....
ps didn't comment on it but loved your recent-est post on important stuff to know.
re collaborations, that is--but a lot of the points are also relevant to general survival.
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