Matrix Editorial Services specializes in academic editing: master’s theses, dissertations, research proposals, journal articles, and academic books, with a preferred emphasis on scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. My name is Dr. Georgia NeSmith, and I am the owner and sole proprietor.

I received my PhD in Mass Communications from the University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communications in 1994. I was blessed with faculty who were extremely demanding while at the same time exceptionally supportive of my research and my progress through the program. Our “PhD Seminar,” which met weekly for sharing various ideas, culminated each semester in a mock professional conference where we presented a paper in an environment similar to what we would experience at professional conferences. As a result, by my third semester in the program, I successfully competed with regular faculty at professional conferences in my field — the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, the International Communication Association, and the American Journalism Historians Association. In 1987 I received my department’s Outstanding Doctoral Student Award in research, in recognition of my extensive participation in those professional conferences. (See my complete Curriculum Vita here.)

After a few years working with the student committee involved in the department’s Journal of Communication Inquiry — a graduate student-produced journal of cutting edge scholarship that has since joined SAGE publications — I was selected as editor. That experience later led to a position as managing editor for the sociology journal, Social Problems.

Health issues interfered with my subsequent teaching and scholarly career. Finally, after 20 years of struggle, I have found ways to cope with my conditions. One of those ways is to be my own boss!

Along the way I have developed many survival skills that I use to benefit my clients in ways that few other editors can offer.

I strive to be more than an editor. I take a personal interest in each and every one of my clients. I am also cheerleader and coach. Much of graduate school and the tenure process is about jumping hurdles. I am here to help you win that game. I provide a collaborative environment in which my clients flourish as scholars and writers. The finer touches that come with proofreading and copy editing, as well as preparing the manuscript in the required format, are important. But while preparing a perfect manuscript is one goal, it is not the only goal.

Succeeding in an academic career is about more than being a good teacher and scholar. The conditions under which we work can often be emotionally, even physically grueling (all those late nights before early morning classes!). It takes an indomitable spirit and an understanding of academic politics — the egos, the turf wars, the dysfunctional psyches. I learned the hard way how NOT to do an academic career. I learned especially the extra burdens that women and minorities (of whatever kind — race, ethnicity, disability, age, gender) must carry if they believe, as I do, that intellectual work that challenges the privileges inherent in the status quo is vital to the creation of a more equitable and just society.