Welcome to Writing and Research Skills, the English writing consultancy, based in Meilen, ZH, Switzerland, and offering services online and in-person.
I help you turn your text into something beautiful that says exactly what you want it to say.
Writing and research skills coaching
One-on-one coaching on how to plan, research, write, review, and edit your writing. This can range from assistance with grammar and syntax, through to the synthesis of ideas and how to plan and structure your writing.
After an initial consultation, I will create a structured and flexible programme tailored to suit your writing needs. I’ll help you fill any gaps, bolster your skills, find your voice, and become a skilled and confident writer.
Academic: academic research papers and essays; dissertations up to and including postgraduate, including masters and doctoral; journal articles and papers; further writing based on your existing research and dissertation text
Non-academic: long and short prose, including creative nonfiction and fiction; business articles and papers; social media
Editing
Editing of existing text, with detailed annotations and recommendations.
Copyediting: focus is on the text, including the grammar, spelling, and punctuation, but also your choice of words, sentence and paragraph structure, clarity of your text, overall fluency and flow of your writing, and ensuring your voice is consistent throughout.
Developmental editing: focus is on the big picture, including an analysis and strengthening of the overall structure of your work and the flow of ideas. You will also be provided with strategies to help you do this yourself in future.
For fiction and creative nonfiction, this includes plot, character choice and development, dialogue, genre, and pacing.
Content creation and development
Having the right copy/text is essential if you want your words to say exactly what you would like them to say. You might have the ideas but not the time, inclination, or skills to write the text yourself.
You send me whatever you have, we talk about it in detail, and I craft text that is compelling and fluent, and does what you want it to do.
Collaboration
We work together.
This is a flexible combination of any or all of the above. You might have text you have already written and are looking for feedback, but also have ideas for further text and want to be able to bounce around ideas. You might be unsure how to write something but don’t want to hand it all over to someone else.
It could be a small project or something much bigger, and it might be that just a few hours will be enough to give you the confidence to continue by yourself. Or you like the idea of touching base with me every now and then to help you review and plan and keep you on the right track.
Interested? To get in touch to discuss how I can help you and to arrange a free consultation, please visit Contact
‘Kate not only edits the texts linguistically but also provides content-related comments, which I have greatly appreciated and gladly included. She manages to revise texts in a short time, which is very accommodating to the current time pressure in the publication processes. I greatly appreciate working with Kate and will gladly ask her again in the future when it comes to publications in English-speaking journals.’
Vanessa
‘Kate helped me with my Masters thesis, making sure everything made sense. She recommended changes to the structure that I never would have thought of, and smoothed out my English so it was easy to read.’
Andreas
‘Kate helped my daughter pass her IB English programme. She worked with her on writing skills, including planning and structuring an essay, grammar and spelling, and, most importantly, reviewing and editing. Thank you!’
Dianne
‘Kate helped me redesign the text for my website. We worked together on what to include and how to include it. She basically helped me say what I wanted to say, and I am very grateful!’
Michelle
About me
I’m Dr Kate Paine, an Australian living in Meilen, Switzerland. I have a PhD in Communications and Creative Arts and a Graduate Diploma in Professional Writing. For more about me and my experience and qualifications go to About Kate
