Where do I go from here?

Whoa, you are all probably thinking, "you just blogged last night. What more could you possibly have come up with to say in the past 12 hours that is remotely important or interesting?" Well, in case you have forgotten, this blog is not just a place for me to brag about my experiences in Europe while you're all stuck in America, but it's also a place for me to get out my frustrations, hash out my conflicting thoughts, express my ideas and interests, and perhaps receive some feedback. So, here goes nothing.

For those of you who attempt to keep up with my thousands of Facebook posts, you deserve some sort of award. Not only do you deserve an award, but you are also probably aware of something rather exceptional going on in my life right now: the potential of being published in a journal. Last year I wrote a paper for a colloquium in Boston, MA and was accepted to present it last March. After submitting it, I received feedback from one of the  professors that observed my presentation that encouraged me to submit my paper elsewhere as well. Well, I didn't really know where else to put this. It wasn't exactly the most professional thing I've ever written and I didn't know of any other colloquiums to submit it to. So, there my paper on Canadian English/American English dialects sat, collecting dust and wasting away as I soon enough moved on from the idea. It had served it's purpose: I expressed my opinion, got to present it on a Dordt-sponsored weekend in Boston, and even got scholarship money from it. What more could I ask for from this?

Well, over Christmas break I was going through my computer, deleting old documents I didn't need anymore. That's when I stumbled upon it and read it again. I then looked through my e-mails to see if I still had the one from that professor. Deep beneath the spam mail, Dordt library over-due notices, and flight confirmations for the next year of travel, I found it. It was then that I decided to brush up my piece a bit and figure out what more I could possibly do with this. I submitted it to a few different journals, expecting none of them to respond. Low and behold, 2 months later, I received an R&R response (revise and re-submit) from one of the journals.

And that's where I am right now, frantically trying to figure out what needs revision before re-submitting. And that's where you all come in handy. Below I have included the abstract for my paper. If it all interests you, I am looking for some feedback on what could be improved. So, if you find the abstract even slightly interesting, please let me know so I can send you a copy of the real deal and you can help me in this process. Thanks!

Abstract

            In my English Grammar course last semester (Fall 2010), we had to do two “Show and tell” essays. The first of which I chose to do a short, grammar rant on the usage of the words “good” and “well.” For my second one, I decided to write about the use of the serial comma and whether it is correct or not. After concluding that it is not a matter of being correct but rather a clarification issue, I decided to take a personal approach on it: I always use the serial comma. As I began peer editing for friends, both from Canada and America, I began to notice a trend: Canadians tend to not use the serial comma. After discovering this colloquium from two different professors, I decided to venture further into this subject. This soon resulted in my desire to discuss more of the Canadian dialect tendencies I have noticed in my time here at Dordt College. As mentioned in this paper, I do not intend to criticize nor change the dialect of my fellow students, but rather clarify some of the ambiguous tendencies frequently noticed. These concepts, however, are not only applicable to Canadian English speakers and writers, but to all people, of all times, and of all dialects.