Patricia Simmons

Having a PhD in English from Cambridge and decades of experience, I am a careful reader, attentive to precision and nuance in thought and expression. I enjoy working directly with authors who explore complex issues and aim to communicate through written language with a global audience of educated, non-specialist readers as a contribution to an ongoing conversation. While I mostly edit scholarly writing for publication by peer-reviewed journals or academic presses, I am open to taking on other kinds of projects, including short fiction, creative non-fiction, and (non-academic) non-fiction for a general audience. (Please see Editing Services below.)

Intellectual Bio:

I have long-standing intellectual interests across many academic fields that have traditionally been categorized within the humanities and social sciences (e.g., literature and language arts, performing arts, visual arts, history, religion, philosophy, political theory, law, sociology, psychology, education, anthropology, archaeology) or that have drawn from multiple disciplines in terms of content, methodologies, genres, and goals (e.g., women’s studies, gender studies, cultural studies, history of ideas, history of science, history of medicine, sociology of education). 

I am particularly interested in working with authors who want to communicate their critical analyses of important, under-studied, hitherto invisible, or newly emerging ideas, phenomena, or problems with lucidity, purposeful rhetorical awareness, and sufficient explanatory context(s) so that non-specialist readers can arrive at a new vantage point.

I have specific interests in epistemology; the histories of evidence, fact, and truth; critical theory; rhetoric and discursive practices; moral and political philosophy; history of rights (human, animal, natural); communitarian ethics; empathy, attentiveness, and feminist ethics of care; child-rearing, education, and development; community, intergenerational responsibility, social solidarity, and the public good; aging and eldercare; mindfulness and health (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social); trauma (personal, relational, systemic, societal, cultural, intergenerational); memory, cognition, and language; pain research and psychoneuroimmunology; and the biopsychosocial approach to health and illness. I also have strong commitments to ethics (public and private), education, health, equity, social justice, and plain language.

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EDITING SERVICES

1) Fiction & Non-Fiction

Painstaking structural, stylistic, and
copy editing of the following materials:

     • literary fiction (esp. short stories)

     • creative non-fiction (e.g., personal essays, life writing, mixed genres)

     • non-fiction (esp. research-based, theoretical, big-picture or paradigm-shifting analyses for an educated, non-specialist audience)

2) Academic / Scholarly Work

Painstaking structural, stylistic, and
copy editing of the following materials:

     • articles, chapters, and books (esp. in the humanities and social sciences, including theoretical and multidisciplinary approaches)

     • presentations (e.g., conference papers and lectures)

     • instructional materials (print or digital)

     • application materials

1. professional programs
2. internships, postdoctoral fellowships, or contractually limited appointments
3. tenure-track positions
4. internal and/or external grants or awards
5. funding: provincial, national, and international
6. promotion and tenure

3) Graduate Students

copy editing* and (limited) stylistic editing* of the following materials:

1. doctoral dissertations*
2. master’s theses*
3. journal articles*
4. conference presentations*

*with supervisory and institutional approval (in keeping with Editors Canada’s ethical guidelines for editing student texts to be submitted for academic credit)

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  Do You Need

     • feedback on the structure of a short story, journal article, or book?

     • strategies to respond to reviewers’ critiques?

     • suggestions for where to tighten or expand?

     • revision to make your words sing?

     • conformity to a particular style guide?

I can likely help; if not, I will try to connect you with an appropriate editor to meet your needs.

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EDUCATION & RELATED EXPERIENCE

• PhD in English (Cambridge); MA in English (McMaster); Combined Honours BA in English & Political Science (McMaster); courses on copy editing and publishing in education from Ryerson

• I worked in academia for several decades as a researcher, writer, post-doctoral fellow, lecturer, editor, writing coach/consultant, library research instructor, and publishing assistant.

• Having myself won significant awards for academic research from provincial, national, and international sources of funding, I have offered workshops about academic writing and how to apply for fellowships.

• I have presented papers and chaired sessions at academic conferences in Canada, the USA, and the UK, and I have attended conferences and workshops about writing, editing, and public speaking. 

• I have worked with scholars and graduate students whose first language is not English.

• Materials edited: short stories, fiction, and screenplays; creative non-fiction; scholarly writing for publication (journal articles and books); dissertations and theses (across a wide range of academic disciplines); conference papers; lectures; and application materials for professional programs, promotion, and funding

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BIO

After completing my PhD in English at the University of Cambridge (King’s College), I was a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Toronto and a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies (Victoria College, University of Toronto). I worked at the University of New Brunswick for more than a decade in several roles that involved research, writing, editing, and scholarly publication before opening my own business, perSimmons editing.

In addition to extensive experience in academia, I have had significant work experience in retail banking and communications marketing.

Born and raised in Toronto, I have travelled, studied, and lived in different cities across Canada, the USA, the UK, and Europe. For more than a decade now, I’ve called Fredericton home.