notes from the coalface of an academic paper

[freckles_and_doubt]

1. A topic which allows one to be subtly rude about Twilight's vampires can't be all bad. Conversely, this is a better paper now that I'm being subtly rude rather than writing TWILIGHT VAMPIRES ARE STUPID! across it in letters of fire.
   
2. There may still be inherent flaws in this paper if certain paragraphs are still shot through with little pink comments boxes containing Notes To Self such as "This paragraph is FULL OF HOLES, sort it out."
   
3. It may become necessary to examine my commitment to the academic project if I still have to bribe my way through writing this bloody thing by eating Nutella straight from the jar with a spoon.
   
4. Words I use too often, largely unnecessarily: Intrinsically. Thus. Powerful. Inherent. The last edit of any paper always entails creeping through the thickets of prose with a shotgun and taking them down with merciless precision, along with the flocks of semi-colons. Words I no longer use too often, owing to rigorous training by my immediate social circle: Resonate. Evoke. Shut up, stv.
   
5. The Russian formalists are sadly underrated in our postmodern age. They rock.