Read on Twitter
remember that WTF grad student paper from last week? the revised version is SO MUCH CLEARER. I wish more advisors would work with editors/coaches for their research groups. Not every advisor can explain *why* to do things in a generalizable way, even if they are good writers
and unless the student is already a pretty good writer *or* is extremely hungry to learn, simply making edits isn't that helpful in the long run. they need to have the principles explained to them alongside the edits as models of *how* to carry out those principles.
I changed "a SNP" to "an SNP" and explained the rule about the pronunciation of the first letter. B/c I explained it, he taught me something: "SNP is pronounced as 'snip' by those familiar with the terminology. I did a search and have found 'a SNP', but have not found "an SNP".
(This is also a good lesson in editorial humility: I never say "IT SHOULD DEFINITELY BE THIS." I always say "this is the norm—is the original a common disciplinary usage?" Because very often there IS a good reason they did it that way. Don't assume everything is a "mistake")
