Katherine Harper, Ph.D.

Other Services

The bulk of my business comes from copy editing and indexing, but I offer several other text-related services:

Writing

Even a highly qualified firm looks unprofessional if it doesn’t offer descriptive literature, or if what is available is poorly written. Whether you need a profile of your president for the company newsletter, a dynamite grant proposal to impress a major foundation, or product descriptions to catch the eye of catalog readers, I provide affordable project-based writing for organizations of all kinds.

Rewriting

Does your company have a brochure that is not particularly effective? A poorly translated instruction sheet that makes your customers laugh out loud? A history description that stops short at 2011? Let me rework your existing documents to bring out their intended meaning.

Critiques

If you don’t want a full-scale edit, just an impartial review and suggestions that will strengthen your writing, then send it to me. I’ll provide you with personalized advice that takes your feelings as an author into account.

Historical and Background Research

If your organization is approaching a milestone year or your creative project tackles a historical topic, you can trust me to track down suitable background material. You can use these photos*, articles*, and miscellaneous facts to create a lobby display, a newspaper story, a video documentary, or a commemorative publication, and they can form the kernel of a one-of-a-kind institutional archive. Similarly, if you need information for an employee profile but not someone to write it, I can interview the subject in depth and provide a transcription or detailed notes to your in-house writing staff.

Library and Archival Research

Today’s academics know that a publication record can be the deciding factor between job security and tenure denial. Even so, not everyone can spare time away from family and classroom. I have a Ph.D. in English and am an experienced library and archival researcher. While I can’t write your career-making books and journal articles for you, you can hire me to travel where needed and harvest notes and quotes to order from hard-copy materials, microfilm, databases, and special collections.

Prospect Research

I am a veteran foundation relations officer and prospect researcher. Whether or not you need my skills as a grant writer, if your nonprofit organization is seeking corporate, foundation, or government support, I will draw up a list of suitable prospects complete with deadlines and submission requirements and suggest application strategies for each.

 Editorial Training 

Perhaps you'd like your employees to be able to self-edit or polish the writing of their co-workers. Contact me for training that meets your specific needs. Does one staff person need in-depth instruction? I'll work individually with him or her for as long as you choose. Does each person in your PR department contribute a different "voice" to your print or web materials? Schedule a custom class (two hours to three days) and I'll instruct the whole group in elements of consistent style, grammar, text markup, and proofreading.

*Publication of photos and previously printed material may require permission from the copyright holder.