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David Romer's Rules for Making It Through Graduate School and Finishing Your Dissertation "Out in Five" Don't clutter up your life with other activities; just write. Don't carry out a thorough and comprehensive search of the literature; just write. Don't attempt to make sure that every page you write shows the full extent of your professional skills; just write. Don't write a well-organized, well-integrated, unified dissertation; just write. Don't think profound thoughts that shake the intellectual foundations of the discipline; just write. If you don't have a paper started by the spring of your third year, be alarmed. If you don't have a paper largely drafted by the fall of your fourth year, panic. Have three new ideas a week while you are getting started. Don't try to game the profession, work on what interests you. Good papers in economics have three characteristics: A viewpoint. A lever. A result.

Professor of Economics J. Bradford DeLong, 601 Evans Hall, #3880
University of California at Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-3880
(510) 643-4027 phone (510) 642-6615 fax
delong@econ.berkeley.edu
http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/

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