How long does your advisor take to return drafts?

[serenade]

Sorry if this has been asked in another thread, but how long does your advisor take to return drafts? What is a reasonable expectation? 

[TakeruK]

I don't know what a reasonable timeline is---I suspect this varies so much for each person! 

Usually, whenever I have a draft ready for my advisor, they let me know when to expect the comments. Unless there is something really hectic going on that week, I usually get feedback within 3-5 days.

Edit to add: My advisor and I meet for 30 minutes every week to update each other on what we have been doing (well, mostly it's me giving updates but occasionally I am waiting for a next step from them or their collaborators). So, if it's a paper draft or an abstract draft etc. we know about the deadlines well ahead of time and in the weekly meeting leading up to it, we set a schedule of when I should have a first draft, when I will get advisor's comments, when I will send revised version to the rest of the coauthors, how long do I give coauthors to comment, etc. This means I can expect a fast turnaround time for paper comments because my advisor knew the draft would be coming and scheduled time to read my draft. Personally, I like the way we communicate and schedule our work because it shows mutual respect for each other's time. 

Edited September 30, 2015 by TakeruK

[rising_star]

This totally depends on the person, the week, and how many comments you are getting or expect to get. So, for example, my MA advisor once returned a full draft of my thesis, with comments throughout, in under a week but that's because she'd scheduled time to read it in advance (similar to what TakeruK describes). My PhD advisor, by contrast, was harder to pin down to get edits from and rarely gave you line-by-line edits/comments on something. Some of it is really about advising style but some of it is also about the quality/caliber of your writing. 

To answer your second question, I'd say what's reasonable depends entirely on the length. If it's a 2 page extended abstract, then I'd say 10-14 days is more than enough time to get that back. If it's a 100 page thesis draft, then 2-3 weeks is reasonable. 

[TMP]

It's reasonable to ask for approximate time frame when you ask to review drafts.  My adviser "trained" me to ask her if she would be willing to take a look at something and give her a deadline.  The further in advance, the better, particularly for anything that is more than a paragraph/abstract.  If she knows well in advance, she is more able to schedule in time to review my materials with a close eye rather than trying to squeeze it whenever she has a free moment.  if she can't do it by my deadline, she'll admit it.  The key is to establish one deadline for yourself to the adviser and another for the adviser to you.

When people ask me to look over their materials, I always ask, "What type of draft is this?  And when do you want it by?"

[juilletmercredi]

I think around 2 weeks for something 10-15 pages long is reasonable; allow more time for longer. My dissertation chapters were around 30-50 pages each and I gave my advisor about 4 weeks for feedback for each. He's slower than most when it comes to feedback, so he took a bit longer (and I knew that, so I gave him the 4-week deadline so he would get it back to me in 6 weeks, when I really needed it. You gotta learn to manage your manager  )

It depends on what it is, too. Dissertation chapters are denser and require more reading/feedback than journal articles or abstracts, especially if your advisor is already familiar with the study you're writing the article for. And quicker turnarounds in an emergency are possible with some advisors - a couple times my advisor turned around some feedback within a few days for an abstract for a conference.

[Queen of Kale]

My advisor works best with a deadline & if you can get him hyped about a project. With enough hype & a looming deadline I can occasionally get next day delivery. On the other end of the spectrum, if it's a project he is not particularly stoked about and there isn't a hard deadline (for example a manuscript) there is no knowing how long he might take. I am literally on the 118th day of waiting for feedback on a draft of something I want to submit for publication. It's become a running joke, except, you know... not as funny as a joke usually is.