Friday, June 3, 2011

My advice on length (size matters!)

Since I just got off the phone and finished giving this advice I thought I should share it with the rest of the blog universe: When writing your grant proposal, it is much easier to cut material than to go back and add more material. Chopping is simpler than creating! So as you work on your grant proposal, dissertation, letter to the editor, or psychotic manifesto, just put all of your ideas and information on paper. Don't worry about section or page limits until after you have finished a first draft and are able to take a break from the document for a short period of time, then review it with a clear head for cuts that can be made.

If you are concerned about having to go back and change your reference citations if any are removed, my response is- you shouldn't be! With EndNote, RefWorks, and so many similar products on the market right now, there is no excuse for you to be numbering citations by hand! Create a great database of papers that you may need to cite, and these programs make it very easy to go back and make text edits later.

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