Y1 Unit 7.2: Next Steps for Your Project
Read this section to get situated with each of the different strands of your project. Stick with the timeline and you will have a manuscript ready to pilot with students by the end of Year 1.
What’s Next for Your {Course #} About This Book Document?
Your {Course #} About This Book document continues to be an important working document as you draft your chapters. It’s OK to make changes to your own copy while it’s out for preliminary review. Just keep in mind that your changes won’t be reflected in the reviewers’ copy.
Preliminary review feedback is due in the third week of Unit 7 and the Developmental Editor will summarize it for the author team by the end of Unit 7. By the end of Unit 8, you will make revisions based on the reviewer feedback (we explain how to do this in Unit 8).
As we discussed in Unit 5, there are two ways to receive feedback on your {Course #} About This Book document:
- Everybody will receive a summary of anonymous feedback prepared by their Developmental Editor by the end of Unit 7.
- Reviewers also have the option to use the comments feature in Google Docs to leave additional feedback directly in the review copy of the {Course #} About This Book document. Their names will be connected with their comments. Authors will manage feedback that reviewers leave directly in the review copy; the Developmental Editor does not look at these comments.
What’s Next for Your Chapter Draft?
In Unit 6, you started drafting your first chapter by selecting and adapting open content from your background scan. During Unit 7, you’ll add original content to your chapter draft. In Unit 8, we’ll come back to the other chapter elements, like openers, closers, spotlights, and figures, that you need to include in your finished draft.
We recommend that during this unit, you draft the original content in the chapter body that ties together, and fills in the gaps, from your background scan material. When your chapter is complete, every header will have content under it, so while you’re drafting you can look for “stacked heads” – back-to-back headings that do not have text between them – and work there. The next section offers strategies for drafting with equity in mind to support this stage of work.
Your chapter draft is due to your Lead Author at the end of Unit 8. We expect that you’ll need the whole two months of units 7 and 8 to complete your chapter draft, so please plan accordingly! Stick to the timeline you developed in Unit 6.
At the end of Unit 8, the Lead Author will submit the team’s first chapter drafts to the Developmental Editor. The Developmental Editor receives one chapter per author (not one chapter per project). During Unit 9 (Month 5), you’ll receive a document from the Developmental Editor summarizing their feedback on your chapter. You will also receive Google Doc comments in your chapter draft from the Developmental Editor to illustrate the feedback in the summary.
The first developmental edit is a critical checkpoint for catching issues with the manuscript to keep your project on track with respect to the overall project goals. The Developmental Editor will provide suggestions that encourage each chapter to be learner focused, representative of diverse voices, accessible, and engaged in an Oregon context. We’ll come back to revising based on your first developmental edit in Unit 9, when this information is relevant.
Writing Prompts to Help Draft Original Content
Some of the authors in our teams have tons of writing experience. They have terminal degrees and publish-or-perish faculty positions. Others belong on our teams because they are excellent teachers, or because they have relevant experience working in the field.
Whatever your background as a writer, it can sometimes be helpful to use writing prompts when you’re drafting original content. If you’re feeling stuck, explore the optional resources below:
- That’s All I Have to Say! Writer’s Block, Invention, and Revision in the Writing Process [Website]. This essay is written for undergraduate students, but can be useful for anyone who needs gentle writing encouragement. Scroll to the section “Some Simple Ideas For Jumpstarting Your Writing Process” for specific strategies.
- Writing and Knowledge Making: Insights from an Historical Perspective [Online PDF]. This is a book chapter where the authors use an academic writing style to explore feelings of vulnerability and insecurity related to academic writing.
- How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing [Website]. This is a short book in a readable style that you can probably check out of your institutional or public library. The chapters are also available through the database JSTOR if you are logged in.
The rest of this unit covers equity-minded writing style and mechanics advice that you can apply to your draft.
Licenses and Attributions for Next Steps for Your Project
“Next Steps for Your Project” by Open Oregon Educational Resources is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
