Jim McDonough - Nonfiction Book Editor, Dissertation Writing Consultant
Dr. McDonough likes to gather facts, find patterns in them, and draw insights from the patterns. He became the first person to use a computer to assist in serious literary research on a project he undertook to satisfy his intellectual curiosity about a passage of Homer's Iliad in the original Greek. This was way back in 1957 when computers were thought to be useful only for mathematics and business. Word processing had not come along. This research project won him the Henry Drisler Fellowship at Columbia University (the only one given by the Classics Department). He found the dissertation the easiest part of the doctoral program and the one that was the most fun. It was written up widely in Western Europe and North America.
McDonough has enjoyed helping students and young professionals ever since to plan research, to organize it, to evaluate the soundness of the argumentation, to write and rewrite the English until it is publishable, and, sometimes, to publicize it. He knows the potentials of computers for such research-and their very definite limitations. He gets a strange but very real thrill from starting with a confusing array of data, finding patterns, discarding false hypotheses, generating valid ones, and finally seeing all the pieces start to fall into place. It's like the rare occasion towards the end of a game of solitaire when it becomes clear that one is going to win, or like a jigsaw puzzle when there are only a few pieces left and their location is obvious. The difference is that getting the research project to fit together does not depend on luck and need not be rare.
He also enjoys helping persons with Ph.D.s prepare their dissertation or other research for publication by university presses and trade publishers.
He has edited books on such different subjects as translations from Greek and Latin prose and poetry, Roman history, Catholic schools, Jews and Gentiles in the ancient world, Martin Luther, World War II, the Bible, foreign phrases used in English contexts, and biography. He has also edited a medical dictionary, a historical novel on the First Crusade, and encyclopedia articles. He prefers the Chicago/Turabian style. When he receives a manuscript with great idea but less than ideal presentation of these ideas, he takes great delight in helping the author give form, organization, and polish to the work so as to increase its chances of publication and of getting the author's ideas across effectively to the public.
Specialties
Thesis and Dissertation Writing Consultant
Editor: Scholarly Journals, Nonfiction, Research Articles
Employment
1998–2002 Co-teacher, doctoral seminar on Biblical Greek, Temple University
1998 Editor, World Dictionary of Foreign Expressions
1996 Editor, A Booke of Days, Stephen J. Rivele (historical novel on First Crusade)
1994 Editor, 2nd edition, Bantam Latin & English Dictionary
1992–1993 Editor, 2nd pocket edition, Stedman's Concise Medical Dictionary
1990–1994 Etymology Editor, Stedman's Medical Dictionary (unabridged, hard-cover)
1976–1988 developed teaching materials for Language of Medicine course
1972 team-taught seminar on Homer and Plato, Haverford College
1965 United States Office of Education, Cooperative Research Project No. 5-8256
1960–1991 Professor, Saint Joseph's University
Editing (some for author, some for publisher)
Thomas F. McDaniel, Deborah and Yael: Women of Power in Early Israel 2nd edition of Deborah Never Sang
1994 E. Michael Jones, Dionysos Rising: The Birth of Cultural Revolution out of the Spirit of Music
1993 Louis Harry Feldman, Jew and Gentile in the Ancient World
1981 Dia Maria Lavrendia Philippides, The Iambic Trimeter of Euripides
1974 Frances Forde Plude, The Flickering Light: What's Happening to Catholic Schools
1973 Margaret Gest (trans.), Horace's Odes
1955 Leo P. McCauley & Anthony A. Stephenson (trans.), Saint Cyril of Jerusalem: Catechetical Lectures for Lent
Education
Ph.D. dissertation: Structural Metrics of the Iliad Columbia University, Boston College
6. Describe your project: (e.g., book, business document, dissertation)
7. Describe the level of writing or editing required: (e.g., copyediting, proofreading, content editing, fact-checking, ghostwriting, formatting)
8. Current word count of document:
9. Your deadline date:
10. Required manual of style, if any: (e.g., Chicago Manual, APA, MLA, AP, AAA, CBE/CSE)
11. Number of charts, tables, and pictures:
12. Do you need charts, tables, pictures edited/formatted?
13. Do you have a budget for the project? (Please be specific.)
14. Number of footnotes and entries in reference list:
15. Do you want to contact a particular writer/editor?
16. How did you learn about our service?
16. Attach a sample chapter/section or other important documents related to your project. Please zip large files (max 1MB)
YOUR NAME MUST BE IN YOUR SAMPLE DOCUMENT OR IT CAN BE THE FILE NAME (e.g., johnsmith.doc).
The network coordinator will forward your submission (plus any attached files) to the consultant(s) you select. If no selection is made, your submission will be forwarded to several consultants who might be a good match. Final choice of consultant is yours.
If you do not get a response within 3 hours (M-F) of submission, send a follow-up e-mail to:
Coordinator @ Airmail.net
and/or
EditingNetwork @ gmail.com
You may also use the chat button and/or leave voice mail for the network coordinator: 469-789-3030.
Allow a longer response time if you sent your submission during the weekend or after U.S. business hours.
All of the consultants listed on this site are freelance. They are located throughout the U.S. The coordinator cannot answer cost/timeframe questions for each consultant. You must go through the submission process to receive direct responses from the consultants listed on this site.
