Editorial support for scholars looking for constructive feedback to improve their manuscripts and communicate their research more effectively.
1:1 support to create compelling academic writing that communicates your research and ideas with an attunement to argument, evidence, structure, and style.
Many scholars, despite spending countless years in school, are never taught the fundamentals of good academic writing. Rather, like many things in academia, it is expected that you will either intuit the conventions on your own, or discover them through trial, error, or luck (e.g. mimicking the work in your field, or being fortunate enough to have a mentor, supervisor, or committee member who is willing to spend time with you going through your work). I work with scholars at all stages of their careers by providing compassionate support and practical, actionable solutions at various stages of the writing process.
I work with:
- Scholars who are looking for more individualized support with their writing than the institution, press, or journal they are working with is offering.
- PhD’s who find themselves outside of the structure of a supervisory relationship but still want someone to provide feedback on their work.
- Early career (or established!) scholars who miss the built-in accountability of grad school deadlines.
- Writers who have had work rejected, or received difficult peer review reports, and want to refine and resubmit.
- Academics who feel stuck in their writing process and could use structure and support to get back on track.
- Those who have gathered a ton of research, but are struggling to identify or draw out the argument/contribution they want to make.
- Scholars who find writing to be a chore - or worse, a necessary evil - of transmitting their research, and could use targeted strategies.
- Academics in the midst of a large writing project who feel overwhelmed and want help identifying and implementing a plan.
“Paula's exploratory questions provided a clear path to identifying my goals, and the conversational nature of the sessions allowed space for me to express my thoughts and challenges in a comfortable way. The resources she provided me with were very helpful, as were her insightful comments on my writing.”
What is developmental editing?
Professional developmental editing for academic writing focuses on the “bigger picture” of a piece of writing, with a particular eye towards four crucial elements of the text: argument, evidence, structure, and style. A good developmental editor can:
- Help you clarify your unique scholarly contribution, and situate it within the scholarship of your field.
- Evaluate the strength of the evidence and analysis that you provide.
- Advise on whether the overall structure of the text is working.
- Attend to issues of style, and help strengthen and maintain your own authorial voice.
My approach is:
Kind, encouraging, curious, interested, collaborative, and intellectually rigorous. I work with scholars from various arts, humanities and social science disciplines. Experience that I draw from includes:
- A PhD in Theatre & Performance Studies from York University
- Training in Professional Academic Developmental Editing
- Extensive teaching experience in both university and community contexts
My areas of expertise as a scholar where I can provide subject-matter specific support include: feminist theory, queer theory, gender & sexuality studies, theatre & performance studies, performance art, embodiment, the 19th century, history of science, art history, and visual culture. I am also widely read in the areas of: poststructuralism, critical theory, psychoanalytic theory, cultural studies, pop culture, critical disability studies, material culture, and photography studies.
For students:
The only work I do with students is at the graduate (PhD Candidate and ABD) level. Because graduate writing is meant to evaluate the skills of the student, I adhere closely to Editors Canada’s Guidelines for Ethical Editing of Graduate Student Texts. This document outlines the scope and limitations of my editorial interventions on graduate texts.
“I found Paula to be the perfect mix of approachable, knowledgeable and thorough. I liked that our work began with a conversation where we were able to get to know each other and my work, and that her approach included going through my writing collaboratively.”