FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
It is difficult to give a simple estimate for a piece of work. I usually charge by the hour, but be aware that while some projects may take me only an hour to complete, others of the same length may take three times that long, depending upon the challenges each piece of writing poses. I will do my best to give you an accurate estimate, but be aware that as I work further on your draft, I may find that it needs more or less work than I originally expected.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
I view my work as part of a process involving teamwork between the client and myself. Unless otherwise specified in the job description, my job is not to rewrite a client's work. Instead, I focus on enabling my client to write the best paper possible with my assistance. How I do this will depend upon the individual needs of the client. If the goal is to edit a single work, I will generally prefer to read over the piece on my own, making notes and corrections as needed. I like to conclude by meeting with the client, whether in person or virtually, to discuss the changes and suggestions, in particular because for many papers, such as purpose statements, the ultimate decision on how to edit the work must be left up to the original author. For ongoing tutoring, rather than merely "fixing" a paper, I like to guide the client to figure out how this should be done. To do this, we read the paper aloud together, and I try to shape the discussion through leading questions, while also explaining the rules of English grammar and the standards used in the American rhetorical traditions. Ultimately, I leave the final decisions on how things should be written to you, as the author and thus chief expert in the work we are addressing.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, with minors in religion and anthropology, that I earned summa cum laude from Vanguard University, then called Southern California College, in 1998. I next went on to earn my Masters of Arts degree in English from Claremont Graduate University in 2003. At the time, my English program was consistently ranked among the top 20 in the nation. While at CGU, I took such valuable courses as composition theory and writing culture. In addition, I worked as the Teaching Assistant for Global Communications, a course for international students new to studying in the United States. During my final semester, I took an independent study called The International Student in the Graduate Classroom. To fulfill some of the requirements of this course, I taught a university-wide workshop on Plagiarism in American and another on The International Student in the Transdisciplinary Classroom. In addition, I gave a presentation at the American Rhetoric Society on contrastive rhetoric and the necessity for American professors of composition to be aware of differences in writing styles between cultures when teaching the American organizational structure and American patterns of logic to those in their multicultural classrooms. Further, I taught a seminar to people in the McNair Scholars Program, for underrepresented minorities and first generation college students applying to graduate school, on writing purpose statements for admission to PhD programs. As part of this job, I reviewed the rough draft of each student's purpose statement, helping them to craft an essay that more effectively presented their goals and research interests to the admissions departments of the graduate schools to which each applied.