Kyle James Matthews, Ph.D.

A developmental editor helps to shape your ideas and plan the structure of your project beforeyou write. It gives you an opportunity to receive expert feedback before submitting your work for review, and provides assistance in responding to reviewer critiques after submitting your work. A developmental editor’s role is to deliver overall feedback on your manuscript and content organization.

Who needs a developmental editor?

• You are having trouble getting started.

• You are struggling to tell a story with your research.

• Your writing feels unfinished, as though something is missing.

• You are unhappy with how your document flows.

• You have hit a stumbling block in your writing.

• You need a pair of fresh eyes to go over your writing.

• You are unsure how to structure your ideas.

• You are struggling to write a strong introduction or conclusion.

• You need some advice on where to cut to adhere by the word count.

What does developmental editing get me?

• A developmental editor will typically provide a document of between two and 15 pages

• You will receive detailed comments on the broad structure of your work: your thesis, the organization of your supporting evidence, and the clarity of your message

• Occasionally, a developmental editor will return a marked up manuscript with issues that need the author’s attention

A copy editor helps to polish your writing for clarity and structure, correctly format your references, and prepare your work for submission to a journal or publisher. A copy editor delivers specific feedback at the word, sentence, paragraph, and organizational levels based on a publisher’s style guide.

Who needs a copy editor?

• You have completed a draft and would like feedback on your writing and structure.

• You think your writing needs some extra polish.

• You feel as though your writing is not as engaging as it could be.

• You need a keen eye to catch and correct any spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors.

• You need someone to check and properly format your MLA or APA citations.

• Formatting my submission according to my university, journal, or publisher guidelines is such a hassle. Can you just do that for me?

• English is not your native language, and you want to make sure your writing is idiomatically corrent

What does copy editing get me?

A copy editor will return two clean, fully edited documents: one with all changes and notes for the author recorded in track changes; the other a clean document with all changes accepted.Both documents will contain identical changes, suggestions, and notes for the author at the word, sentence, paragraph, and structural levels.

You’ve submitted your copy edited article manuscript and it has been accepted by publisher of your choice! You are excited that the world will see your work, and then you receive the proofs.

A proofreader will check your proofs to ensure that your work has been accurately typeset following spelling, punctuation, and grammatical conventions.

Who needs a proofreader?

• You are a busy scholar who does not have time to comb through proofs for minor errors.

• You are unsure if you will be able to notice nitty gritty errors in your own work.

• You need someone tp properly capitalize your headers and make sure your commas and semicolons are all in the right places.

• You are happy with your work, but the journal or publisher needs it formatted in a specific way.

• Typesetting your work has created problems with images, figures, or tables.

Are you writing in English, but English is not your first language? The language coaching package is a comprehensive program in which I will edit and proofread your work, and follow up periodically over Zoom to go over the changes I’ve made and talk about the conventions of clear, idiomatic academic writing in English.

An academic coach can help if you struggle to stay accountable to your writing, when find the submission process overwhelming and impenetrable, or require any other manner of assistance in fulfilling your professional duties..