The boring yet necessary

 

It is time to do all the necessary yet boring tasks associated with finishing a chapter for submission. 

At this final stage of writing, we need to check our references and style. We should have familiarised ourselves with the style guide and referencing system for our PhD and integrated this into our chapter from the start.

The most efficient way to reference is to have a reference management system such as Zotero. These allow you to simply pick a referencing style and insert your reference as you type. I will presume you have in fact made a huge effort to write these in as you have written, however imperfectly. Now you need to spend your time polishing these up to the proper format, checking repetitions, and inserting your cross references. This is pretty mindless, yet crucially important stuff. These are tasks which you can do in 15 minute bursts around other duties if need be, and you certainly don’t need whole afternoons scheduled for this.

FINISHING UP

It is time for the final read through of your chapter. Do this in one slot if it is a single chapter. Do not use this as an opportunity to polish, or question your intellectual ideas - all that is past now. You will get feedback and have a chance to re-do this chapter. Let it go for now.

We are looking for typos and infelicities. This requires quiet concentration and a lot of it. The urge to shirk this task is enormous. It is horrible to read text we have been sculpting for a long time right before we send it out to judgment. It brings out all of our feelings of inadequacy and our writing stories have a field day.

Squash this internal narrative. Concentrate on the task at hand. Pick out typos and infelicities. Stay on task, it is almost over.

If your writing stories start to overtake your urge to to do the last read through, go back to your journal or ventilation file. Name those feelings, shame them. Move along.

TODAY I WILL…

  • Check, insert and format my references correctly in my writing slots which amount to 2 hours minimum;

  • RUN THE SPELL CHECK (nothing annoys supervisors more than not doing this, it is so unprofessional to turn in sloppy work);

  • Submit my chapter to my supervisor for review. Hooray!