Dissertation Assistance
We propose to provide the following services:
- A list of qualified editors available on request for a particular dissertation. (Same editor stays with the dissertation until submitted.)
- Rates based on the type of service required. Services will be fully described and examples given.
- A set of guidelines and dissertation resources, available as a downloadable PDF or accessible on the web. These may include one or more dissertation templates, best practices, feedback forms for reviewers, etc.
- Equivalent services specifically adapted for papers written by ESL students. Rates will be will be to 40% higher depending on the difficulty of the editing.
- If appropriate and in response to sufficient demand, we might create a website with a form for making automated service requests, lists of downloadable resources, and a method for communicating directly with editors.
Proposed rates:
- Dissertation review: 2 reviews per chapter, $35/hour for first review, which includes comments and recommendations, $25/hour for second review, mainly copyediting and ensuring that recommended changes were incorporated without introducing new errors.
- Formatting review: $35 per hour for initial format review with comments and recommendations, $25 per hour for format editing and revision. Correction and normalization of citations to the preferred standard is a separate task, billed at $25 per hour.
- Line editing only: grammar and spell check, correcting basic formatting errors (inconsistent fonts, capitalization, numbered lists, etc.)
Editors currently available for assignments under this proposal:
Sharon Miller
http://www.the-efa.org/dir/memberinfo.php?mid=11175
Sharon Miller is a freelance writer and editor with nearly four decades of experience in the field of education as a teacher, administrator, and writing specialist. Editing services provide support for novelists, non-fiction writers, educators, and graduate students. She has successfully mentored graduate students through their dissertation projects, working currently with two online students at Capella and Walden Universities. A recent student successfully defended his dissertation in April at the University of Hawaii. She understands the expectations of a dissertation and guides students through the process, helping them to find their voices within a structured, complex research and writing endeavor.
Wynne Brown
http://www.the-efa.org/dir/memberinfo.php?mid=10852
Wynne Brown is a writer, editor, illustrator, and graphic designer who specializes in biology, environmental sciences, and women's history. She is the author of two award-winning books: More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Arizona Women and The Falcon Guide to Trail Riding Arizona, both published by Globe Pequot Press. A new edition of More Than Petticoats was issued in 2012 in honor of Arizona’s centennial. Most recently, she co-edited Cave Creek Canyon: Revealing the Heart of Arizona's Chiricahua Mountains. Her clients include both large and small companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Carolina Biological Supply Company, Mayo Clinic, Golden Ink, Scripps Howard, Science Approach, and many others. She is a "detail person" and enjoys working with non-fiction authors, including graduate students. Most recently, the response from the University of Arizona Graduate College to the 2014 OALS dissertation she edited was, "Congratulations! Your submission has cleared all of the necessary formatting checks. It was formatted perfectly!"
Nora Miller
http://www.the-efa.org/dir/memberinfo.php?mid=10334
Prior to becoming a freelance editor, Nora Miller provided technical administration, training, and support for a small government agency. Nora holds a math degree and has extensive experience in editing and proofreading a broad range of academic, scientific, consumer, and government documents, including proposals, reports, books, and journal articles in many scientific fields, including electronics, biology, computer science, mathematics, language, cognition, and psychology. She has frequently worked with authors who speak English as a second language. Besides editing and proofreading, Nora designs and produces reports, websites, white papers, internal communications, training manuals, and policies. She is a capable and articulate trainer, and a quick and effective researcher. She has experience as a team leader, and is equally comfortable working independently.
Heather Severson
http://www.the-efa.org/dir/memberinfo.php?mid=7595
Heather Severson is an award winning adult educator and gypsy scholar, plying her craft for the National Writing Project, Southern Arizona Writing Project, University of Arizona, Pima Community College, University of Phoenix, American Red Cross, Girl Scouts of America, Professional Association of Diving Instructors, and other places where adults gather for self‐ development and education. She specializes in developmental reading and writing, with forays into sustainability, eremology, outdoor education and SCUBA diving. To support her habits in teaching and teacher education, Heather is a freelance education writer. She is the owner of StudioGraphia LLC, a freelance writers’ cooperative that provides services in writing, editing, instruction, research and design. She has written supplemental online content, instructor manuals, curriculum, and textbook reviews for Bedford/St. Martins, Cengage, McGraw‐Hill Higher Education, Pearson, and other publishers for nearly fifteen years.
Natalie Catren
http://www.the-efa.org/dir/memberinfo.php?mid=15837&p=1
A freelance writer, editor and illustrator, Natalie has professional and personal ties to Tucson, New York, Edinburgh and London. Her writing and editing is equally sweeping in style, subject and scope - from fiction to feature, educational to scholarly, technical to copy. Her feature articles range from humorous vignettes to sociopolitical overviews of such timely or abiding topics as the AHA and staple grains. Since 2011 Natalie has been an entry writer for DeGruyter’s Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. Her rather diverse qualifications include a BFA in Painting and English Literature, MA in Art History, Licentiate in Music Performance with the Royal Colleges of Music, and a rather insignificant horticultural qualification from the Royal Botanical Gardens of Edinburgh. Prior to her freelance career, Natalie worked in university settings as student advisor, graphic and website designer, art history teacher, and research assistant. Having spent much of her life in the role of itinerant foreigner struggling to be understood, she has both empathetic and practical understanding of her ESL client needs. Whether working alone or as part of a larger collective, Natalie seeks to maintain a high standard of quality and clarity in communication - whatever the medium.
Dissertation Assistance Resources
University of Arizona
- Dissertation and Thesis Formatting Guides
- Dissertation Submission Process
- About Copyright
- Timeline
- Resources for International Students
- Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs
- Resources for Students (OALS, SNRE)
- Resources for PhD Students (OALS, SNRE)
- Thesis/Dissertation Submission Form (OALS, SNRE)
- List of Essentials for Responding to Reviewer Comments (OALS, SNRE)
General Resources
- Writing a Thesis or Dissertation (Yale University)
- Thirty Tips for Dissertation Writing
- Advice on Finishing Your Dissertation (Wheaton University)
- Purdue Online Writing Lab