Kim Greenwell is a superb writer with few equals. As a doctoral student in our program, she produced papers that displayed the qualities of exposition we have come to expect from our most accomplished scholars. Her prose is crisp and engaging, and she writes with a level of clarity and confidence that distinguishes merely good writing from truly great writing like hers. She is remarkably well read across multiple disciplines, is logical to a fault, and knows how to construct and defend an argument. Whether you are writing a dissertation, scholarly article, research proposal, fellowship application or any other piece of academic writing, your final product will benefit from Kim's input.
–Howard Kimeldorf, Professor, Sociology, University of Michigan
I have known Kim Greenwell since 2002, and have worked with her on numerous occasions since then. Most importantly, I hired her as the Editorial Assistant to the "Politics, History, and Culture" book series that I edit, together with Professor Julia Adams (Yale University), at the University of Michigan. This book series is housed at the International Institute of the University of Michigan, and published by Duke University Press. Kim has worked brilliantly with the authors we published in the series, in tasks ranging from editing to indexing to organizing visits. She single-handedly organized a huge three-day international conference at the University of Michigan on the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, taking care of all of the arrangements from fundraising to travel to helping to set the intellectual agenda for the conference. Most significant for her current job are her tremendous skills and years of experience as a substantive editor, copy editor, proofreader, and indexer of academic research in the social sciences and humanities. I recommend her in the strongest possible terms.
–George Steinmetz, Professor, Sociology, University of Michigan
I will not submit anything for publication without sending it to Kim first and revising accordingly. Kim not only makes my writing clearer, but since she is an academic as well, she offers invaluable feedback on how to develop arguments and key concepts. At every opportunity, I recommend to my colleagues and graduate students that they work with Kim. If you are having trouble getting a journal article accepted, are stumped by the comments you received for a revise and resubmit, or if you simply want your work to reach its fullest potential, then work with Kim. It’s that easy.
– Evelyn Alsultany, Associate Professor, American Culture, University of Michigan
As a non-native English speaker, I have worked with a number of editors over the years, but Kim is the best. She provided crucial developmental suggestions for Arab Patriotism: The Ideology and Culture of Power in Late Ottoman Egypt, my first book in English, and pushed me to think - and write - more clearly. I now have Kim check all my funding applications, book proposals, and articles, and she always makes excellent suggestions and edits. She is a wonderful colleague with an excellent sense of humor. I must add that she is punctual, well-organized, and completely trustworthy. It is a pleasure and, indeed, a privilege to work with her. I hope we continue our working relationship for the rest of my career.
– Adam Mestyan, Assistant Professor, History, Duke University; author of Arab Patriotism: The Ideology and Culture of Power in Late Ottoman Egypt (Princeton University Press, 2017).
Kim has not only helped me to improve as a writer, she has also helped me to secure several publications, grants, and even a book contract. She is the best editor I have worked with over the years, and I look forward to (hopefully) having a career-long relationship with her as my editor. Her graduate training in the social sciences, sociology in particular, really helps her connect to my work. Her comments are spot-on. She gets my vision as a scholar and whether she is doing meticulous copy-editing or more in-depth editing, her skill and knowledge help me to strengthen and refine my work. I do not send anything out without her eyes having a glance at it first. What more can you ask for: someone who has quick turn around, gets what you're trying to do with the work, knows what the academic journals and university presses want (thanks to that Michigan training), and is thoughtful and has amazing attention to detail. “Godsend” sounds too cheesy, but basically, I am really happy that she's my editor.
– Tanya L. Saunders, Associate Professor, Center for Latin American Studies, Center for Gender, Sexualities and Women's Studies Research, University of Florida; author of Cuban Underground Hip Hop: Black Thoughts, Black Revolution, Black Modernity (University of Texas Press, 2015).
I have relied upon Kim Greenwell for copy editing as well as developmental editing. Kim has impeccable editing skills and is truly brilliant when it comes to engaging academic writers in their theoretical and scholarly arguments and analyses. She has provided me with outstanding suggestions in the areas of structuring and organizing essays, condensing essays for publication, and clarifying complex ideas.
– Nadine Naber, Associate Professor, Gender & Women’s Studies Program, University of Illinois at Chicago
Conducting my dissertation research and winning the University of Michigan 2013 ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award would not have been possible without Kim’s help. As a foreigner, I basically had to learn English from scratch. Writing in a language that is not my native tongue was especially challenging as my work uses a multi-layered perspective to examine shifts over time, as well as actors and political processes connected at various levels. My drafts were often extremely fragmented and hard to read. Kim thoughtfully engaged with me as I wrestled with my ideas, and constructively critiqued various iterations of my writing. She has exquisite taste and keen ability that helped me to find my own voice, and made the writing process much less painful and depressing. Kim is truly a teacher, friend, and artist that I would characterize as an essential part of my evolution as a writer.
– Yan Long, Assistant Professor, International Studies, Indiana University-Bloomington
I have worked with a number of editors, but I have concluded, without any exaggeration, that Kim is the best editor I have dealt with throughout my entire academic career. Kim has worked with me on journal articles, dissertation chapters, and papers presented at many important academic conferences, such as the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association, the Law and Society Association, and also the Middle Eastern Studies Association. Her editing addresses both substantive and language matters. With respect to substance, she offers comments about theory and method, drawing on her knowledge of various fields in the social sciences and humanities. She is a very articulate writer and editor. She is a dream editor. My heart breaks when she is busy and I have to look for another editor.
– Atef Said, Visiting Assistant Professor (Assistant Professor, starting Fall 2017), Sociology, University of Illinois at Chicago
I have known Kim since graduate school at the University of Michigan. The editorial and substantive insights she has contributed to my articles and funding applications have been extraordinary. For me, her interventions have literally "paid off" in the form of grants and fellowships. I was recently awarded an NSF postdoctoral fellowship. Despite my previous attempts, the NSF had never opened its coffers to me (I had only minimal success with other funding sources). Kim's sharp reading (and quick turnaround under deadline) improved my application in several ways: simplifying my writing so that my project would appeal to an interdisciplinary committee; clarifying my contributions and making them stand out in the prose; strengthening the opening paragraphs to engage the reader; keeping the narrative focused and concise. Kim's ability to channel the informed social sciences and humanities reader (facilitated, no doubt, by her own training and vast knowledge in these fields) makes her an ideal interlocutor and editor for grant applications. More importantly, working with Kim has helped me learn skills that travel well between different kinds of writing. I also know from talking to other colleagues that she has helped numerous others to publish journal articles, complete their dissertations and books, and receive much needed funding. Kim's work is simply outstanding.
– Mariana Craciun, NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, Science in Human Culture, Northwestern University
I have known and worked with Kim Greenwell for the past ten years. She is a scholar and experienced writer whose editing skills are thoughtful, engaging, and clear. She proficiently walks me through developing very early drafts of my work, to refining my theoretical arguments, and into the phase of final publication. Moreover, her reviews of my work are always done in a timely manner. She is an expert at discovering specks of ideas that need to be elaborated upon and then helping writers constructively organize those ideas into compelling arguments. Most importantly, Kim is at her best when she is helping writers struggle through difficult moments in the writing process. I highly recommend Kim to professors, graduate students, private sector researchers, and to my colleagues who are government research scientists.
– David Flores, PhD, Research Social Scientist, US Forest Service
Working with Kim dramatically enhanced the quality of my dissertation and helped me to hone my academic writing skills. She is an excellent copy editor and does a wonderful job of suggesting ways to make academic prose clearer and more concise. Beyond simply working on writing, Kim talked with me to develop a nuanced understanding of what I was trying to say, and then offered revisions and structural changes that focused and significantly strengthened my overall argument. She also helped me to develop a manageable plan for making changes and gently but effectively kept me on task and on deadline. What made working with Kim such a gratifying experience was that she clearly understood the anxiety that accompanies writing a dissertation and took this into account in how she offered suggestions and helped me to keep my perspective. There is no comparison between the first draft that I sent her and final draft that I submitted to my committee. When I finally got to the defense, they requested no revisions!
– Chris Gauthier, PhD in Sociology, University of Michigan