Professional Editors

Josephine has degrees in English literature with extensive postgraduate studies at Oxford and elsewhere. She has gained a substantial body of professional experience over the past 25 years including management roles in laboratory accreditation, law, medical publishing, marketing, music distribution and copyright, and DNA testing. She brings her significant administrative and management skills, as well as extensive experience in the editing of academic papers, fiction and non-fiction manuscripts, self-help manuals, and scientific and commercial documentation to WordsRU. Josephine teases out that which writers may find elusive or beyond their writing know-how to express. She has established an international reputation for sound editing judgment and possesses a remarkable empathy in assisting authors to achieve their potential. Josephine has been associated with WordsRU for several years. Her wide-ranging experience and insight will ensure the editing of your documents is not only managed effectively, but matched to the editor best suited to the nature of your work and your individual requirements.

Jeanmarie holds a PhD and MS in Conflict Resolution, as well as a BA in Jurisprudence from Nova Southeastern University and the University of Baltimore, respectively. Since 1998, she has taught, edited and provided coaching for both undergraduate and graduate students in a variety of subject areas. Jeanmarie has extensive experience in working with students from a number of countries who require assistance in dealing with the nuances of American English. She enjoys applying her editing skills to different types of written works and assisting students, faculty and others in achieving their goals.

Tim's studies at Oxford University established his exceptional command of written English and he went on to achieve a first-class degree in geography. After Oxford, he worked for four years with a history publishing firm in rural England. It was during this period he developed his editing and proofreading skills and gained experience in book layout and jacket design. By the time he left England to travel the world, he had progressed to the position of publisher, commissioning a list of titles in archaeology. A musician, Tim writes music reviews for an Internet Web site, and has worked as a freelance editor since moving to Australia with his wife four years ago.

Matt holds a PhD in historical theology from the London School of Theology and an MA in modern history from Oxford University. He has taught many different age groups and nationalities in Belarus, Austria and England. During his studies he read extensively in Latin, French and German. Matt has written, produced and directed a musical, as well as a play, both of which were performed by students in Belarus. Matt is currently writing articles arising from his studies, as well as editing and lecturing in London. He has substantial experience with ESL students in both teaching and editing roles.

Clare is an Honorary Research Associate at St. Martin’s College, Lancaster University, UK. After her BSc (Hons) in combined science (with philosophy minor), she became a researcher with the Natural Environment Research Council in the UK, and received her MSc in health science in 2001. Her work has appeared in leading peer-reviewed journals and she has extensive experience editing and proofreading academic papers for journal submission. Her areas of expertise include biomedical sciences, environmental sciences, philosophy of the life sciences and evaluation of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). She also writes fiction (both adult and children’s) and has 20 years experience in editing manuscripts for her writer’s group.

Brian has a BA in English-mass communications from Bloomfield College in Bloomfield, NJ and a postgraduate diploma in legal studies (business and finance-honors) from New York University. He has been a technical writer and technical editor for the past 20 years, writing and editing a variety of business and technical materials. Brian has worked for major Wall Street investment banks and software companies. His work has been published in such computer trade magazines and daily newspapers as InformationWeek, CommunicationsWeek, and the Newark Star-Ledger. In addition to editing and writing, Brian is an experienced Web database developer. He enjoys programming in ASP.NET, PHP, SQL and XHTML and is adept in technology and software matters.

Kerrin has been writing professionally in the fields of science and technology since 1989, and holds a BA in computer science, cum laude and an MS in software engineering. She has authored and edited manuscripts in a host of fields including her own, as well as family medicine, bioinformatics and agriculture. Kerrin has held positions in both government and industry, and her work has appeared in leading peer-reviewed journals. In addition, she has assisted in the development of several award winning grant proposals. Kerrin takes great pleasure in helping authors realize the full potential of their writing and is a talented ESL editor.

Sarah holds a BA in English with emphases in literature and creative writing, in addition to an AS in Japanese language and culture. She has 10 years of experience in editing screenplays, scripts, short and long fiction, poetry, critical and opinion essays, research papers and verbal presentations. Sarah’s poems, essays and short stories have been published in a variety of online and local sources, and she has worked for the past year as a member of the editorial staff of her local newspaper. Proficient with MLA and AP citation styles, Sarah is particularly fond of science fiction and Japanese literature.

John has a strong background in ESL, having lived, taught and studied in Taiwan for almost 10 years. This inspired him to study for firstly an undergraduate diploma, and then an MA in Chinese from New Zealand's University of Waikato. His original undergraduate degree was in history. Since then he has worked for one of Taiwan's leading translation companies, editing everything from TV subtitles, academic essays and company SOPs to instruction manuals and business letters. He edits and writes to either British or American English as required. During his employment with an overseas study center, John edited, proofed and sometimes translated from the Chinese various documents necessary for university applications around the English-speaking world.

Kinnie holds a B Eng (Chemical) from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and has successfully combined a chemical engineering background with a passion for reading and editing. She also has a Diploma in professional editing & proofreading (Cengage Education, Australia), and a Diploma in business writing (University of Ohio, USA). In addition to eight years’ experience in producing technical material while working as a chemical engineer, Kinnie has spent the past six years performing desktop publishing, editing and proofreading a variety of documents using Adobe InDesign software. Kinnie’s experience includes working on engineering study material, operating manuals, engineering packages, tender response documents, CVs, promotional material, newsletters and academic papers, many written by ESL authors, and she edits manuscripts in all genres.

Ernesto was born in Guantánamo, Cuba and is a novelist, professor and editor. He holds degrees in English literature and is the author of two novels, The Lazarus Rumba and The Second Death of Única Aveyano. He has also translated two novels from the original Spanish. Ernesto is a member of the creative writing and Latin American literature faculty at Sarah Lawrence College where he is Professor of Fiction and Latin American Literature. He teaches in the undergraduate school and the Master of Fine Arts program, and has received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

Ruth’s fascination with the English language led her into publishing and she has been involved in it for the past 12 years in a number of roles including the management of an international magazine for which she also contributed a regular column. Ruth has also worked for a medical publisher as an editor and has edited academic theses and manuscripts in all genres, including non-fiction, short stories, children’s books and numerous types of novels, as well as Web sites. Ruth has written, edited and proofread business articles, promotional material and newsletters, and published a fictional short story. Proficient in editing to both American and British styles of English, Ruth gains enormous satisfaction from helping authors improve their writing skills and ensuring their projects become the best they can possibly be.

Hannah holds a master's degree in English literature and modern history from the University of Oxford. Since graduating she has gained more than 10 years of publishing experience working as an editor on a variety of business publications, both in print and online. Hannah is familiar with all aspects of publishing, including production, marketing, internal communications and advertising. She is a qualified TEFL teacher and lived for five years in Barcelona, where she taught business English. Hannah has worked for an international finance consultancy as their Web site and publications editor, and enjoys helping ESL students improve their written English and anything on anything else to do with Spanish.

A very versatile editor, Richard has degrees in political science from George Washington University in Washington D.C. and the University of Waikato in New Zealand. He has been a Hollywood publicist, an advertising copywriter, a freelance writer and journalist, a reporter for a daily newspaper, a journalism teacher, a lecturer in politics, management, and international business, an ESOL tutor and a magazine editor. Richard is a thespian of some local note, and has written a play that has been produced on stage, and three novels. He is currently preparing a collection of short biographies for publication.

Evan holds a master’s degree in education with an emphasis in interdisciplinary studies from National-Louis University (USA). He also holds a master’s degree in creative arts with an emphasis in film from Bond University (Australia). His experiences in education have included the development of interdisciplinary curriculum as well as the editing and proofreading of English language textbooks. Currently, Evan has taken the knowledge and experience gained from 12 years teaching the social sciences and applied it to his work as a screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. As an educator and filmmaker, Evan has traveled throughout North America, Asia, and Australia.

Maria holds a BA (German, summa cum laude), an MA (German Literature) from the University of California, and an MA (Teaching English as a second language) from the University of Illinois. A WordsRU editor during 2006 – 2007 and now returned from leave, Maria has edited and proofread a variety of academic, creative, and business documents. She has many years of experience in academic editing, and is proficient with several citation and referencing styles, including APA, MLA and Chicago. Maria is a specialist technical writer (electrical and computer engineering), and has conducted technical writing workshops. She continues to teach English as a second language.

Mark holds a Bachelor of Economics, a Bachelor of Communications and a Diploma of Business Computing. He has more than 10 years experience as a professional writer and editor and has worked as a manuscript assessor and editor for an international publishing company. Mark is also an experienced academic editor and has worked on a range of papers from essays through to dissertations. As a writer, Mark has written and produced a screenplay and a television sitcom as well as two novels and a number of children's stories that have been adapted for television.

Ashley holds a master’s degree in English language and literature and an MPhil in the fiction of Henry James, both from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. In addition to her love of all things literary, she has a strong interest in history, politics, art and philosophy. After gaining valuable experience as an in-house editor in the UK, she has returned to the US where she grew up to continue her career as a freelance editor and proofreader. In addition to her professional work, Ashley has been writing her own stories and essays since childhood, and has also contributed book reviews to a student newspaper.

Koskie graduated with merit from Purdue University, Indiana, USA, with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in creative writing with minors in anthropology and Spanish. He then graduated with distinction from the University of Sydney, Australia, and holds a Master of Media Practice degree. He has been an English teacher for more than five years, and has edited a variety of documents from manuscripts (all genres), student papers and university applications, to business documents, articles, Web content and news stories. Koskie has worked in publishing and has professional experience proofreading, editing and formatting books and manuals for publication.  He is a lover of English, writing and languages and holds to the unrealistic belief that nothing in the world is more interesting than language and linguistics.

Stephanie has a Ph.D and M.A in English Literature, and a B.A. (Hons) Specialist in English Literature. She is the distinguished recipient of several grants and awards, and has a diverse list of publications including both fiction and non-fiction, most recently The Hero in Contemporary American Literature: The works of Saul Bellow and Don DeLillo (2007); scholarly articles, and conference papers. Stephanie’s extensive experience includes editing short and long narrative fiction, screenplays and treatments, as well as writing and editing for academic and business audiences including university admission essays, critical reviews, opinion pieces, Web sites, and press releases. She has years of experience as an ESL teacher and editor, and has helped several of her students find places at top-tier universities.

Adam has a BA (Hons, 1st Class) in Communications. Time spent freelance editing means that he comes to us with skills in a wide range of areas, including author manuscripts, ESL and corporate writing. Through previous work as a website designer, online content manager and publisher rights researcher, he has developed a strong awareness of new media requirements, while also having widely studied philosophy, social theory, arts, sciences and narrative communication in a traditional academic context. Adam is a candidate for postgraduate research, which explores narrative and language in the perception of music, the culmination of five years experience producing for radio. He has a keen interest in a broad range of research and enjoys working with writers to ensure clarity of ideas and engaging, well structured documents.

With a Master’s degree in Education from DePaul University and Bachelor’s degree in English from Boston College, Elizabeth is an award-winning editor whose work has been recognized by the ALA, Foreword Magazine, Booklist, and the NWABP for excellence in editing and literature. She has extensive experience editing a wide range of titles, including Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki's Why We Want You to be Rich and Jordan Sonnenblick's Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie. Prior to becoming an independent editor, Elizabeth was the co-founder and Editorial Director of San Francisco-based DayBue Publishing. In addition to evaluating thousands of submissions, she was responsible for guiding manuscripts through all the editing and publication stages. Before entering the publishing field, she was selected by and served in Teach for America.

Lance has been involved with the written word for most of his working life having worked for educational publishing companies in the USA for 15 years before moving into teaching English as a career 5 years ago. He is a qualified TEFL teacher and currently teaches ESL and business communications at a university in Thailand. He was educated at Manchester University in England but has worked in the USA and Canada. As a result he understands the subtle differences between British and American styles of English. He has had several articles published on websites and enjoys proofreading and editing a wide variety of work including academic essays, manuscripts and corporate communications. He enjoys helping students improve their written English skills and produce outstanding ESL essays.

Nico holds a BA in cultural anthropology from Columbia University and a MS in education. She conducted anthropological fieldwork while living in Nepal and is well-versed in the cultures of South Asia. Nico has also worked as an academic researcher in the fields of political science and history. As an editor, writer and freelance research analyst Nico has wide experience in nonprofit organizations specializing in human rights, rights of persons with disabilities, immigration, and education. Nico is a former classroom teacher with extensive experience working with persons with disabilities and English language learners. Her hobbies include travel (especially within Latin America), film, and reading.

Paul is a retired English teacher, having spent most of his career at a small college in Washington State. He holds MA degrees in English and art/photography. During his career, he taught a wide range of courses, including language, writing, literature, general humanities, and photography. In 1989/90, Paul was appointed Foreign Expert at a university in Nanjing, China. With his wife he has co-authored a college English text. Since retiring he has published two nonfiction books for young adults and has worked as a freelance copyeditor and proofreader for a variety of documents—academic, business, and personal.