Thread by @kleintob

#EconTwitter:
I wish I had seen this one-pager 📄 on how to write excellent papers while I was doing my Ph.D.: scholar.harvard.edu/files/shapiro/…
Jesse Shapiro suggests doing this in 4 steps.
Here is a summary. 🧵

Step 1:
dream up a somewhat realistic introduction with a description of results and so on
if it does not excite you, abandon the project (very! important advice)

Step 2:
do the research
start with whatever is least clear to you
use the introduction as your compass

Step 3:
write the body of the paper as if you are writing for a robot: don't convince the robust, just state assumptions, methods, findings
avoid all fancy talk, just explain

Step 4:
turn the introduction into a contract with the reader: the reader agrees to be excited about your paper, provided the paper delivers on what the introduction promises

By the way, the title is "Four Steps to an Applied Micro Paper", but I think this advice also holds for other types of papers.

For more advice that is useful to Ph.D. students and more senior scholars see tobiasklein.ws/ph-d-students