Services Offered

For high school, preparatory school, and college students, I offer two categories of support:
1.  A FOCUS ON CURRENT COURSEWORK ASSIGNED BY THE SCHOOL:

  • Essay composition and writing assignments across the curriculum (any subject that requires these skills):
    • Drafting and the Writing Process: Essay Composition and Morphology (structure)
    • Grammar / Mechanics / Style
    • Study skills / Organizational strategies / Test prep
    • Structure and Organization
    • Clarity and Cohesion
    • Thesis Development and Unity
    • Research, Citation, and Formatting
  • Other activities, homework, and projects assigned across the curriculum
  • Reading comprehension / Critical reading and response / Literature and language arts
  • Tests, mid-term, and final exam preparation
  • College admissions essays
  • Creative writing
  • Academic coaching:
    • Study habits and approaches
    • Time management and task organization
    • Stress management
    • Effective reading and the power of annotation (interacting with a text)
    • Note-taking
    • Test-taking strategies
    • Understanding a syllabus / understanding an assignment

* Please note: at this time, I do not provide standardized test preparation.

2.  SUPPLEMENTAL LESSONS, ACTIVITIES, AND PROGRAMS CUSTOM-CREATED BY ME:

SUPPLEMENTAL TUTORING: Does your student find his or her English class significantly more difficult than math and science? Could your student use help strengthening his/her reading and writing abilities or anything in the list above? I can create a customized program specifically designed to develop the skills needed to excel in English or any course which involves written expression. A database of lessons, activities, and programs is now under construction, but please don’t hesitate to get in touch to arrange something now for your student.College-Just-Ahead

COLLEGE SUPPORT PROGRAMS: Do you have a student just starting his/her first year of college? Almost all first-year university students, regardless of institution or major, are required to take at least two levels of composition for which they must learn a series of advanced approaches and writing skills.

During EN 101, for instance, their assignments will include things such as literacy autobiographies, ethnographic field research and essays, rhetorical analyses, research-based persuasive arguments and editorials, digital arguments, research synthesis papers, literary profiles, structured response and reflection papers, annotated bibliographies, scholarly debate participation, refutations and more. And university-level writing is very different from what they learned in high school!

Throughout their first semester, students must also learn how to conduct research, evaluate sources, integrate and cite sources, avoid plagiarism, and give feedback to their peers on a professional level by learning the “language of critique”.

Composition programs are usually made up of 3 or 4 units – each one 3-6 weeks long – that guide students through the writing process of a particular essay and towards a final product. Often, to a brand new college student overwhelmed with work from other classes, each one of these units seem to move at a breakneck pace.

Is your student currently in possession of the skills required to ace these papers? Could he/she use help readying for these demanding assignments? Would you like to give them a leg-up?

As an experienced composition instructor, I will knowledgeably assist your student in gaining the skills needed for each one of the essays that will be required by his/her specific university. This will develop the confidence and abilities necessary to earn A’s in their composition courses AND to acquire skills indispensable to any papers they must write in their other courses across the curriculum (the social sciences, history, literature, education, criminal justice and forensic science, global studies, health sciences, communication, and many more).

[CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO ENGAGE ME AS A TUTOR OR AN ACADEMIC COACH]

For business owners, organization leaders, graduate students, adult learners, authors, and other professionals, I can help with a number of things:

  • Proofreading and copy editing (including medical copy editing) of documents, brochures and other marketing materials, websites, etc.
  • Drafting of business/organization charters and mission statements
  • Press releases and publicity
  • Renovation of brochures, correspondence, and other marketing materials to freshen up your approach
  • Creative writing / Manuscripts in progress
  • Ph.D dissertations / Theses
  • Resumes
  • Query and cover letters

Please get in touch to describe your needs, and we’ll go from there!

Are you a high school or university student working on an essay? Here is an example of how I can help you complete it in 2 meetings:

  1. (Meeting #1) First step of the writing process – BRAINSTORM! We meet to examine the assignment and generate ideas. Many students make the mistake of deciding upon a thesis first and then attempting to support it. However, a thesis is a claim you can only articulate after you’ve explored the subject matter and returned from your journey with answers. In fact, our English word “essay” comes from the French “essayer” which means “to try“. Therefore, to write an essay is to engage yourself in the pursuit of questions you do not know the answers to! The essays that earn the highest grades often come from “inquiry-based” research, where you explore questions to see where they lead rather than starting from a predetermined conclusion.

  2. (Meeting #1) Second step[s] of the writing process – ORGANIZE! We organize ideas, and I help you to construct an outline. An outline is an incredibly useful tool that will encourage you to develop a vision of your paper and help you feel like your assignment is halfway done – because it will be! A comprehensive outline often requires only expansion, reorganization, and refinement in order to become a full-fledged essay. RESEARCH, EVALUATE, and COLLECT: If secondary research is required, that becomes part of Step 2 so that we may take information from external research sources into consideration. I can help you navigate academic databases and consider the importance of evaluating sources for relevance and credibility, things your instructors will expect of you. We can then develop a “research-integrated outline”.

  3. Third step of the writing process – DRAFT! On your own, you will expand your outline into a full-length rough draft (preferably in Microsoft Word) and forward it to me when completed.

  4. (Meeting #2) Fourth step of the writing process – REVISE! After looking it over carefully, I will make a number of comments and revision suggestions on your draft and review each one with you when we meet for the second time. Most of my comments will be in question form to help you think deeply about each choice. This will encourage your skills to mature and grow so that you can apply them to future papers and other writing endeavors and become a more adept, confident, and independent writer and student. During our discussion, we will collaboratively review and discuss:
    • Specific goals of the assignment (and rubric, if one was provided)
    • Consideration of audience and rhetorical approaches
    • The relationship between your thesis and supporting evidence/elaborative ideas
    • Unity
    • Cohesiveness and transitions
    • Grammar, mechanics, phrasing and word choice
    • Formatting, citation, and style guidelines (MLA, APA, etc.)

By the end of our second meeting, you will have either a revised draft to submit to your instructor or a solid collection of revision plans to implement on your own before the due date of your assignment.

I can also provide additional reviews if you wish to produce multiple drafts.

Please get in touch to describe your needs, and we’ll go from there!