Editing

As a freelance academic editor, I specialize in helping authors in art history and other humanities fields prepare scholarship for publication. I also offer consulting and editing services for materials such as fellowship applications, educational materials, art criticism, and artist statements. I am passionate about clear, compelling writing, and love to help people bring their projects to fruition. 

• Consulting– I offer a consulting service in which I read documents, make general comments, and meet with you to discuss my feedback. This works especially well for grant applications, job applications, teaching portfolios, and course development.
• Developmental editing– This service involves one or more passes of in-line editing and comments that provide feedback on the content of your project. I specialize in doing this for academic manuscripts in humanities fields, grant applications, and educational material.
• Copyediting, proofreading, and references/bibliographies– I also offer editing that focuses on the final stages and details. I am able to do this for academic writing but also for magazine articles, reports, websites, etc.

I edit using Word and am experienced with Chicago, MLA, and AP styles. I can use your publisher or organization’s style sheet or I can create one for your project. I gladly offer discounts for students and for organizations with limited resources.

In addition to my PhD in art history, my publications, and my teaching experience, I have honed my editing skills by completing the Poynter ACES Certificate in Editing, and I am engaged in ongoing training with ACES and the Editorial Freelancers Association. I am always happy to set up a meeting and/or do a 1-2 page sample edit at no charge to see if I can be helpful to you. Please feel free to reach out to me at colleenwatsonoreilly [at] gmail [dot] com.