Students wishing to write a paper with me should first submit a one-page statement that summarizes the planned project and provides their preliminary thesis. We will then schedule a time to meet and discuss the project and decide whether it is something I can supervise.
First Steps
Once we have agreed to work together, I will then ask you to send me a proposed schedule. The schedule will include (in reverse chronological order) when you plan to submit the final draft, the date by which you plan to submit your first full draft for comments, and the date by which you will send me your initial précis or outline.
I also ask you to send me three days and times you are available to meet in a normal week. We will schedule biweekly meetings to discuss your progress.
The initial précis (which could instead take the form of an outline) should be approximately two pages in length and should explain what is new or novel about the proposed paper and why the topic is important. It should also include an initial bibliography of works in the field that you plan to engage with.
Submissions and Review
I will aim to provide you written feedback on each draft within one week. While I expect at least one draft of the paper before the final submission, we can discuss whether additional drafts would be appropriate. Each draft after the first should be submitted with both a clean copy and a “compare” copy that shows the changes made since the last version that I sent with my comments.
Please note that all of this, while providing a general framework for supervision of papers, can be modified as needed.