Ready. Set. Revise.

Tomorrow, the revisions begin. I'm getting limbered up now, looking over things and thinking about what needs to be done. I have just a four week window to get this thing ready for an early May defense. Why early May? One of the CoChairs is leaving the country so if we don't get this done before she leaves, I could really be pushing up against the June defense deadline to graduate--sigh. So tentatively, I'm thinking:

• Week 1: First look. This will be a pretty thorough read through the entire draft to see how it all hangs together (green pen in hand) and should take a full week at least. I need to make sure:
  
  1. The language is consistent throughout the draft--especially my use of the new terms I introduce in the work.
  2. There are strong topic sentences, appropriate signals, and clear transitions between ideas and chapters.
  3. The language is clear--not too many prepositional phrases, close subject/verb relationships, concrete words, active vs. passive voice, etc.
  4. The footnotes make sense--I am not looking forward to this part but I need to read through all of my sources and make sure they are cited properly, and are clearly connected to the ideas in the text. I know CoChair #2 likes to read footnote titles to see if they match ideas and to see if I'm just relying on one source.
  5. Identify any major holes/Expand on my own assumptions--I tend to assume my reader is with me, so I know there are some spots I could open up my thinking behind my arguments more.
  6. Incorporate the written comments I get from CoChair this week which are hopefully in the mail.
  
  
• Week 2: Beginning and End. Based on my read-through and the comments I get back, I'll likely need to go back to the library and add some things--that'll be a part of phase two. CoChair repeated the idea of adding a foreword, so I'll write that and send it off by the end of the week. Revising and resubmitting Chapters One and Eight will also be high priority so that (hopefully) I can get some more comments back on those pieces before the month is out.
  
  
• Week 3: Work the Middle. Finish making changes to the case study chapters as indicated by my first edit and any additional comments I receive--CoChair #1 seemed more interested in seeing this than CoChair#2 so I'll send it back and hopefully she can get through it pretty quickly and get any last comments to me.
  
  
• Week 4: Finish it Off. Make additional changes to the foreword, Chapter One, and Chapter Eight. Read through the whole document again at least twice for final corrections (may get some help from some friends on this one). Get the green light to send it off to committee for the defense.
  
  

So I'm taking my big ol' pack of papers to the doctor's office in the morning to get started (gotta take mom in for some more outpatient tests--poor moms hasn't been 100%). I'll work a few hours at the library after that if she's doing okay (but my nice librarian boss said I could take the day off if I needed too). Then I'll probably hit a coffeeshop or something to keep reading through the draft, maybe 100 pages tomorrow??