Communicate with Precision and Impact
There is more to scientific writing than high-quality research. Your findings and conclusions must be communicated precisely and concisely. Poor writing skills can lead to misimpression and misinterpretation.
The subtlety and precision of science writing can be assured only by having your manuscript reviewed by specialists who are highly experienced in reading and writing scientific literature. A science writer / editor will make certain that your ideas are conveyed accurately and will also handle presentation details such as conformity to publication standards, graphics, and other visual elements. More than just correcting grammar and syntax, our science editors can recommend changes to improve the overall quality and readability of your documents.
Our areas of experience include the physical, chemical, and earth sciences and both applied and theoretical mathematics. Our network includes specialists in biology, biotechnology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, geology, and biochemistry, among other disciplines, and subspecialties ranging from biophysics to genetics. When requested, we can develop statistical foundations to help validate your conclusions. Our science writers and editors also work from outlines, notes, interviews, statistical reports, and incomplete drafts to help you develop a publishable manuscript or report.
Science Writers and Editors
Deanna Brady is a highly versatile freelance writer and editor with more than two decades of experience. Known as an "editor's editor," she ghostwrites, rewrites, develops, and copyedits a wide range of material, including self-help/how-to books, novels (both literary and genre fiction), creative nonfiction, biographies/memoirs, proposals, cover and query letters, articles, essays, scripts, business communications, and Web content. She has written and edited marketing and advertising copy for Fortune 500 companies and is adept at editing ESL and translated text, as well as scientific/technical material. In addition, she specializes in projects concerning spirituality, ecology, Native American Indian culture, psychology, allopathic and complementary medicine, and health, and she particularly enjoys working with& fantasy, science fiction, historical, romance, adventure, mystery, and young adult literature.
Deanna spent more than a decade as a magazine editor. She also taught at California State University for a dozen years, has written several children's textbooks, and is an award-winning author of short fiction and poetry. Her many happy clients greatly appreciate her expertise, gentle guidance, and ability to preserve their individual voices and help make their manuscripts shine.
Faith Hickman Brynie is the author of 25 science and health trade books for children and young adults. She has over 20 years of experience editing textbooks and instructional materials. She has authored numerous teachers' guides, including instructional strategies to accompany television documentaries. Her undergraduate degree is in biology. She holds a Ph.D. in science education (curriculum and instruction) from the University of Colorado, Boulder. For 13 years, she worked as a writer and project director for the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS), where she wrote and developed textbooks, films, slide packages, educational magazines, and other types of learning materials. She is a former high school biology teacher, and she served as "Scholar in Residence" for the American (DODDS) schools in England. She is a frequent contributor to Odyssey, a popular science magazine for middle school children. She edits the Odyssey Teacher's Guide. Since becoming a full-time, freelance writer/editor in 1991, Faith has fulfilled contracts with many major publishers including Sterling, Millbrook, Barron's, Dennison, Delta, McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall, and John Wiley. She specializes in science and medicine for nonspecialist audiences. Her medical writing includes a series of books on heart/blood, immune system, sex and reproduction, brain function, and nutrition. Her science writing ranges from books on force and motion for young children to scientific papers for professional journals. Two of her books have earned a place on the "Best Books of the Year" list of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. On numerous editing projects, she has worked as writer, substantive editor, developmental editor, copyeditor, or fact checker. In her editing, she excels at communicating complex ideas clearly and simply.
Her latest book--Brain Sense: The Science of the Senses and How We Process the World Around Us--was published in 2009.
Renée Euchner - MA Journalism / BS Nursing Medical editor and writer for 30+ years: copy edit, edit, ghostwrite, write, and research medical and consumer journal articles; books and book chapters; medical reports and health care studies; Web articles; letters and brochures; and private sector and NIH grants.
Traditional health experience: cardiovascular health and heart disease, dermatology, diabetes, gynecology, mental health, neurology, nutrition, oncology, and pharmacology.
Alternative health experience: acupressure, acupuncture, aromatherapy, Chinese herbs, homeopathy, meditation, Tai Chi, and yoga.
Clients: Bay Area Parent; Bayside Academy; BioWisdom; Elsevier Medical Publishing; Emines Inc; Frost and Sullivan; Health Care Dialogue; Healthy Travel Media; Kent Education Research Institute; Krames-Staywell Healthcare Publishing; Molter Chiropractic Clinic; Next Step Magazine; Parker Hill Associates (Exit Writer); Pfizer for Living; Plan A; Research Reports Center; Salem Press; San Jose Mercury News; Stanford University Blood Bank; VA Hospital; Well Now; and private physicians, nurses, and alternative health care practitioners.
Clients' work published in Advances for Nurse Practitioners, American Journal of Cardiology, Blood, Cardiology, Digestive Health Matters, Gut, Heart, Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, and The Journal of Arid Environment.
Renée is a member of the Authors Guild, the American Medical Writers Association, and the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Renée's work published in Bay Area Parent; Chevron Magazine; College Bound Magazine; KIDS, KIDS, KIDS; Next Step Magazine; Pfizer for Living; Salem Encyclopedia; The San Jose Mercury News; WellNow; and Women's Circle.
Val Gerard retired in 1999 after 30 years as a scientist and professor. With a strong record of publications and successful research funding, she now uses her skills to help others achieve similar successes.
Past and current clients from Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Columbia, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Patagonia, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Thailand, Uganda, the U.K., the U.S., and Venezuela.
High rate of client success with manuscripts submitted to scientific and medical journals, and with grant proposals to various funding agencies, including NIH and NSF (largest successful grant to date, $120 million).
Assists clients in developing written materials for commercial websites, brochures, etc.
Specializes in organization, interpretation, and clear presentation of complex information.
Helps clients improve their own writing skills for future projects, including non-native English speakers.
Provides rapid turnaround. Helps you submit your grant proposal, manuscript, book, chapter, or report on time.
More than fifty publications (see publication list, below) and one million dollars worth of successful grant proposals of her own.
Past experience as associate editor and/or reviewer for over two dozen scientific journals, including Science, and government funding agencies.
DONE!!! The paperwork is signed and submitted, the after-defense party has been held, and I am feeling very good!!! As far as congratulations go - you deserve MUCH credit. Thank you once again, Val. That mock defense was incredibly helpful, as at least 2 questions were nearly word-for-word! Your assistance with the talk was also of great benefit, as [my advisor] said that it was one of the best defense presentations he had ever witnessed! I can put this project on the 'finally finished' pile. Your help in all this has been pivotal. I will never forget it. I have never—in my life—ever—received such targeted, useful professional advice, and productive feedback. It has been a true pleasure working with you, and learning a new way of writing and putting together a scientific story."Successful Ph.D. candidate in Ecology, U.S. 2007 (contact information on request)
"I had completely given up on the Masters, I emailed my tutor again this week and he said he would chase it up. He has just emailed back saying it has not only passed but been awarded a distinction! I owe this to you over and over, I would have given up but you just kept pushing me on." M.Sc. in Medical Education, UK, 2009 (contact information on request)
Jo-Ann Langtree writes and edits books, stories, and articles in the following fields: business, medical, insurance, health, holistic health, spirituality, religion, psychic phenomena, young-adult fiction, children's books, mystical experience, self-help, New Age, nutrition, diet, exercise, saints & masters, gurus, theosophy, Christianity, homeopathy, vitamins & minerals, herbs, and food supplements. She was a writer and editor for Aetna Life & Casualty. As editor of Life NEWS, she had sole responsibility for finding, developing, writing, editing, and proofing all articles. Topics included new products, sales campaigns, insurance-agent interviews, accolades, seminars, Company acquisitions and policies. Jo-Ann also edits personal and business sites.
Holly Monty, M.A.Ling., M.A.Comm., is a proven APA and Chicago style expert and has been a professional editor and writer for 10 years, 5 of those in a full-time freelance capacity. She specializes in academic manuscripts (journal articles and theses) and in whole-book preparation for publication (from content through copyediting and formatting), whether the manuscript is being submitted to publishers or self-published.
Since operating as a freelance editor and writer, Ms. Monty, a Microsoft Word expert, has worked on books and articles published by many of the world's leading publishers, including Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, MIT Press, John Wiley, Springer, Lawrence Erlbaum, Pearson-Prentice Hall, Berg, Macmillan, Berkshire, American Geophysical Union, Praeger, Greenwood, Blackwell, Elsevier, Sage, Begell House, Teacher Ideas Press, Libraries Unlimited, UTH Zürich, RAND Corporation, PRMIA, Self-Improvement Online, and other top names in academic and nonfiction publishing. To date, she has edited over 1,000 published journal articles, 90 nonfiction books, and a wealth of dissertations and theses.
Shannon Wilkins – PhD in Professional Writing (medical communication emphasis)
Before focusing her energies on a freelance editing career, Shannon was a staff editor at Mayo Clinic, which has the largest in-house editorial service at a medical institution. In this role, she edited whatever manuscript came down the pike, whether it was about cardiology or dermatology. Such demands required her to be nimble in her approach to editing and to have a firm grasp of the medical resources necessary to assist authors in creating credible, cohesive documents.
In her dissertation, she analyzed the arguments regarding the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. Besides providing an understanding of the nexus between public discourse and science, the PhD degree nurtured in Shannon a strong sense of what belongs in a scientific document and what does not. Added to this scholarly knowledge is the practical experience of being the copyeditor of the Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics for 5 years. During the past 8 years, Shannon has balanced her time between editing scientific documents and teaching college composition courses. She currently teaches a college course in technical communication.
As Shannon follows the rhythm of an author’s language, she picks up the language of ESL writers that might need further clarity or the odd detail that seems out of place and needs to be researched. Her first clients were biomedical engineers whom she assisted in preparing their manuscripts for successful publication. Since her entry into the field of editing, she has edited manuscripts on pharmacology, dermatology, cardiology, echocardiography, endocrinology, transplantation, hand surgery, asthma, various cancers, and other topics. Shannon has edited manuscripts that have been published in several highly respected journals:
Biomedical Microdevices Echocardiography Endocrine Practice IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics Journal of the AmericanAcademy of Dermatology Journal of the AmericanCollege of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Imaging Mayo Clinic Proceedings Neurocritical Care Techniques in Hand & Upper Extremity Surgery
Shannon considers all of the documents that she edits to be life documents—documents that are pivotal in the development of one’s life. Medical manuscripts are not just write-ups of research; they are documents that affect the career advancement of the writers and, often, the very lives of those in need of medical care. Various impediments may complicate journal acceptance of a manuscript, but the quality of expression should not be one of them.
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.
Physical & Natural Science
