How I Work With You
Additional Services
- Purposeful Statements
Your statement of purpose is the most important document in your application to a graduate or professional school
- I begin with an extensive assessment to understand the factors affecting and impeding your dissertation writing. The assessment explores how you set priorities, organize resources and understand the dissertation and its development. I examine how you have worked with your advisor and dissertation committee. I will create a written, individualized program with clear goals, strategies for addressing writing problems, schedules for contact between us, and deadlines. The initial meeting[s] are, when possible, face-to-face; once a working relationship is established, telephone and e-mail are the preferred means for quick and efficient contact.
- My work with you is non-judgmental. I am not affiliated with your
school and do not know your advisor(s). My role is to address roadblocks to progress
and to understand your concerns. I focus on the processes of writing and organization.
The advisor's role is academic; my work supports that role.
My work with you is confidential.
I do not ghostwrite.
- My connection with you is important. Students well into the ABD phase of their writing and research invariably feel isolated. I am committed to a plan in which you can contact me when you need to without feeling that you have compromised our relationship. Your call will be returned quickly. Outreach is integral to my success. At scheduled intervals I contact you to insure that you are on-task and meeting your goals. My mentoring builds on an assumption that today's graduate students are different from those of earlier generations. They are more attuned to seeking outside assistance and to working with counselors, advisors and coaches.
- The nature of my involvement is important. I do not assess the quality of the your ideas, the validity of your research, the accuracy of your statistics or the conclusions you draw from data. These are clearly in the advisor's domain. I do not compete with the advisor but complement his or her efforts so that he or she can concentrate on the academic and intellectual challenges facing you. I work with you to develop strategies to keep the writing process on track.