More Than An Editor
Since 2006 we have brought clarity to academic coaching, research, and writing — proposals, theses, dissertations, and just about every problem they produce.
Our mantra? Clarity. Our client? You, and nobody else — no institutional affiliations since 2010.
Over sixty pages of direct, to the point, experience-based advice. All free. Really free — check it yourself.
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Most stalled work is stuck for a reason nobody has named out loud. We name it.
As our name states, we are more than editors — much more. We are not some faceless platform that rotates strangers through your chapters. We are more. More means we are diagnosticians and coaches, advanced editors when necessary. We are the people who read as much as it takes — a section, a chapter, the whole dissertation — to tell you what is actually wrong with the text…and how to fix it.
A hard truth based on 20 years' experience: few PhD candidates know the real questions to ask when starting the doctoral process. The ugly bit? They ask for help far too late.
Why we exist
Not a Chair's experience reviewing dissertations — a coach's experience fixing them. In real life, not at all the same thing.
You know your subject. Likely inside and out. We come to it with no assumptions at all.
So we start with your thesis, your research questions, and your theoretical framework. We then think about them — really think. Once those are clear to us, very frequently the issues with your dissertation are already clear to us. If they are not? We escalate internally. Experience counts.
Infrequently, a dissertation requires even more help than internal escalation quickly addresses. At that juncture we look for every line that makes an assertion and every line that contains an argument. Is every assertion supportable? Is every argument? Are there arguments missing? And so on — verifying that the dissertation has every element it needs and nothing it does not.
And underneath all of it, the question that matters most: does the text make sense? A dissertation can have every required element, every assertion supported, and still not hold together as one argument.
What was obscured or is missing is revealed and — that is the answer.
We are your personal Sherpa on the loneliest journey
Your coach, your advanced editor, your sounding board, and — yes — your Sherpa to graduation. And for many of our clients, after. Working one-on-one, we start with your topic and research questions. One person, throughout. A person who comes to know your work, and comes to know you. Not a queue, not a rotating team, not whoever is free this week.
We work for you and nobody else
We work for you and nobody else. We have taken no money from any institution since 2010, we are not affiliated with any university, and we have no stake in any outcome except yours.
We also work with post-doctoral researchers and on journal articles, and we can provide references for editing done for field-leading journals.
Twenty years, and what that looks like
Twenty years of academic coaching and advanced editing. Our founder has a substantial and current publication record — which also means he is named, findable, and available.
Since 2010, every candidate we have coached all the way through to School Review has graduated. The moral? If you stick with us, we stick with you. Promise.
Clarity
Everybody wants clarity. But try to get it pinned down? Suddenly the meaning of a simple three-syllable word is like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. Not good, and not helpful to you.
Since clarity in thinking — and hence in writing — is a critical skill, we do pin it down. We have a whole page that explains it clearly, and explains how to attain clarity in thought and deed. To make it concrete and above all actionable by you. It is essential to our identity and to your success. If we could not explain it clearly, how could we advocate for it, let alone teach it?
Our best thinking is free
Over sixty pages of it. No paywall, no freewall. Free in the way human beings mean free — no email address to hand over, no download to unlock, no course, no trial, and no follow-up sequence if you click something.
Publications are public. Rates are published. We even wrote a page for Chairs — one whole page (nowadays? Actually three) — which is one more than anybody else in this field has managed. Read what you need, use it as you would. If you never contact us, but our content helps? You are most welcome.
And we have a dialectic for you: truth is both free and what we sell. Free to read, free to use — but paid for if you need actual coaching help, hands on.
Early on we noted that the PhD journey is the loneliest journey. If you reach out to us, it need not be that way.
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