We’re now truly well and good past the half-way point of this twelve-week project. My paper is stronger and my ideas are clearer. I can’t yet say that it’s more polished, as I’ve done quite a bit of editing that needs to be fully sorted out still, but it’s well on it’s way to being something good.

I found last week‘s focus on evidence less helpful than others, which makes me think that 1) I had already made good use of evidence 2) I had incorporated it well with my argument, and/or 3) I have already done quite a bit of work on the paper through the other weeks’ activities that have improved my use and analysis of evidence. Since I had less work in the way of editing my evidence, I was able to play some catch-up, both with the previous weeks’ tasks, as well as with ongoing work for my dissertation.

This week’s tasks focus on opening and closing your article. In addition to the importance of your introduction and conclusion, Belcher also sets tasks aimed at revising your paper’s title – what she calls the “highway billboard ad” – and to look back at the abstract from Week 2 – what she calls the “full page magazine ad” – and the literature review from Week 5 and make any necessary changes there. So, to the tasks.

Week 8 tasks:

• Day 1: Read through page 209, discuss and revise your title, and start documenting time.
• Day 2: Read and do the activities on pages 209-216 and revise your introduction.
• Day 3: Continue revising your introduction.
• Day 4: Read pages 216 to 217, revisit your abstract and related literature review, and revise as necessary.
• Day 5: Read pages 217 to 218 and revise your conclusion.

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For all posts related to this project: Week 0 (Introduction), Week 1 (The writing plan), Week 2 (Getting started), Week 3 (Arguments), Week 4 (Choosing a journal), Week 5 (Literature review), Week 6 (Article structure), Week 7 (Evidence), Week 9 (Giving and receiving feedback), Week 10 (Editing), Week 11 (Finalizing the article), Week 12 (Send!)