Does your copy need a thorough check or polish?
I edit:
- Documents and publications of all kinds
- Articles, press releases and other communications material
- Web texts (homepage, landing pages, blogs)
- Reports and proposals
- Scripts and manuscripts
- Resumes and coverletters
My services:
Copyediting
I review and adjust your content for correctness and consistency, including:
- Grammar and spelling (including of names)
- Punctuation
- Tone and style
- Wordiness
- Sentence and paragraph structure
- Formatting
- Ensuring all hyperlinks work
Substantive editing
I do all the above, plus I look at the whole, editing for:
- Clarity (is your point being communicated clearly?)
- Intention (are you communicating what you really want to?)
- Audience (are you writing for you audience?)
- Wording (are there better ways to phrase certain parts?)
- Quotes or dialogue (are these used effectively?)
- Organization and relevance (should certain content be expanded, moved or removed)
- Pacing and flow (does it read well or is it clunky in parts?)
- Structure (does your argument, information or story line need restructuring?)
- Attribution and basic fact-checking (is data and information verifiable?)
- Citations (are references consistent, and in line with your chosen style?)
Proofreading
Proofing is normally done after editing and layout, as the last step before you publish. Here I look for overall consistency and any inadvertent repetition. I double-check all text and design elements, including:
- Titles and subtitles
- Page numbers
- Spacing, word and paragraph breaks
- Graphics or infographics
- Placement of design elements
- Photo captions and credits
- Ensuring all hyperlinks work
- References and footnotes
Contact me for my rate sheet, to request a quote, or to discuss a potential project.
My experience:
- As an editorial consultant for various United Nations and international organizations, including Internet Society and the Economic Research Forum, I have copyedited, proofread and provided substantive editing for countless publications, donor reports, briefs, policy papers, annual reports, web stories and other content.
- With The Globe and Mail in Toronto, I interned as a copy editor, proofreading all stories before they went to print, checking key facts and writing headlines.
- With UN-ECLAC, I was editor of a quarterly newsletter on the information society (in both English and Spanish).
- With the UN Human Rights Office, I produced pamphlets and fact sheets, as well as editing, laying out and coordinating printing of a 16-page quarterly newsletter.
- As Web editor for UN Women’s global website for nearly four years, I did substantive editing on hundreds of news and feature stories; copyedited hundreds of speeches and press releases, in three languages, and proofread hundreds of briefs, reports and translations.
- At UN Women, I also conceived and edited dozens of comprehensive “In Focus” packages, including infographics, photo essays and other multimedia content. I innovated by coining new editorial series, such as: “From where I stand”, “A day in the life of…” “Expert’s take” and “In the words of…” blogs.
- As an consultant for Internet Society, and for several UN clients (including the ILO, UNDP and UN Women) since January 2018, I have provided substantive editing, copyediting and proofreading on scores of documents and lengthy publications.
Jen is our editor for the Women Count Data Hub, where she both writes and edits data-driven stories. She also our substantive editor for our annual report and many other publications. She has the ability to get to the heart of the substance, and she is so thorough that I am always confident in the quality of the work we publish. She will check every source to confirm its veracity, and is able to turn a jumble of facts into a well-crafted story. She is able to switch with ease from a journalistic writing style for articles to a more technical style for reports. She is also very quick and responsive, with a turnaround time that helps me meet any deadline. I don’t publish anything that has not passed Jen’s editorial eye. I recommend her for any editorial and writing job.
—Mika Mansukhani, Outreach Specialist, Women Count programme, UN Women
Jen undertook her role as the Web Editor of UN Women’s global website (www.unwomen.org) with remarkable professionalism and expertise, continually and consistently producing attractive, diverse and high-quality content in spite of a heavy workload and time pressures. Leveraging the great relationships she built across the organization, she demonstrated her ability to guide colleagues to get the best stories from the ground, and bring them to fruition. Through her thorough and substantive editing, she provided detailed feedback and guidance on an ongoing basis, boosting our staff capacities. A detail-oriented proofreader and copyeditor who knows her style guides inside-out, she quickly became our go-to communications resource and was integral to projects such as UN Women’s Annual Report.
—Oisika Chakrabarti, Senior Communications and Media Specialist, Communications and Advocacy Section, UN Women
At UN ECLAC, Jen created popular regional newsletters with meticulous attention to detail, substance and reader interest. She also provided thoughtful analysis during meetings and conferences, caught errors and brought up important questions, for example when reviewing chapters of substantive publications, which on more than one occasion led authors to refocus or change direction.
—Professor Martin Hilbert, Department of Communication, University of California, Davis (former supervisor at UN-ECLAC)
Jen is a great writer who gives a compelling narrative voice to all her stories and is always keen to emphasize the human angle. She is also a very meticulous line-editor, thoroughly familiar with the UN editorial conventions and well-versed with the challenges of gender-sensitive, gender-inclusive writing.
—Carlotta Aiello, Print Production and Branding Specialist, Communications and Advocacy, UN Women