Reviewers and deadlines

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Professional and business writers rarely work alone. They work with reviewers and editors, who offer advice throughout the writing process. In college classes, too, the use of reviewers is common. Some instructors play the role of reviewer for you; others may suggest that you visit your college’s writing center. Still others schedule peer review sessions in class or online. Such sessions give you a chance to hear what other students think about your draft in progress—and to play the role of reviewer yourself.

Deadlines are a key element of any writing situation. They help you plan your time and map out what you can accomplish in that time. For complex writing projects, such as research papers, you’ll need to plan your time carefully. By working backward from the final deadline, you can create a schedule of target dates for completing parts of the process.

NOTE: When you work with reviewers, you need to think about file types, file names, and revision tools. It’s helpful to agree on how you will exchange texts, how you will name files and keep track of versions, and whether you will use electronic markup tools, such as track changes and comments.

Schedule for a research paper

Related topics:

Managing a research project

Effective peer reviews