Writing and Research Season has Finally Arrived

Other than the read.cash platform, the months from mid-May until now have been dismal insofar as my professional writing has gone. This was partly due to the pandemic, school closures, summer breaks and slashed corporate budgets. But things are changing, as universities are opening up for the fall semester and corporations seek to dodge the economic downturn.

Just yesterday a client I have worked with for 5 years emailed me with a new project: a medical dissertation. He is an EMT, an ER nurse and a surgeon's assistant, along with being a professor at a university on the U.S. east coast. With so many pans in the proverbial fire, he simply does not have the time to rearrange his schedule and write 120 pages or more on a medical topic.

My role

I am not a doctor. Instead, I make my living from consulting, researching and writing. With an ability to research, anybody who exhibits critical thinking is able to write on darn near any topic.

So, my role for Ricky (I'll just use that name) is to continue to consult him as he pursues his doctorate degree in the medical profession.

Research

I didn't receive much of an education when I attended school in Mindanao. The focus was primarily on singing and dancing, on becoming a celebrity singer or actress. It was easier for my teachers to control the classroom with this style of "learning" and skirt around real issues that mattered. The goal was to be the next Ms. Universe, the next American Idol or the next best talent on America's Got Talent.

I identified the problem: a lack of teaching in school, so I set about to rectify it.

Academic research

Proper research and the extraction of data and facts make for enough writing material to put into an academic essay. As the grade level increases, so does the knowledge required to be on par with the required level of learning.

For Ricky, it is my task to run down all of the appropriate resources, such as peer-reviewed journal articles. In Ricky's case, and with respect to his dissertation, I have a lot of research to conduct, along with a lot of reading.

Since his dissertation will be at minimum of 100 double-spaced pages, a general rule is to have 3-4 citations per page and a total of around 100 references. At present, his page count has not been determined, and could run as high as 300 pages. This would require around 150 references, because essentially dissertations are books on a specific and narrow topic that adds to the existing literature.

Academic cheating

Consulting is not the practice of academic cheating. All dissertation writers must have a sponsor or two who offer guidance. That's my role for Ricky. Now if I wrote the dissertation, that would be academically dishonest, but a lot of writing mills do this very thing.

Academic cheating is also plagiarism. We see a lot of it here on read.cash. It is taking someone's ideas or writing and claiming it as their own. It's kind of humorous when you get right down to brass tacks, because all writing is by and large plagiarism. In the academic circle we have a fond saying: "To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.

Anatomy and Physiology

This is the course discipline track Ricky is on. He does not have a specific topic in mind as of yet, but is leaning towards the human eyes and its various diseases. It should be fun.

What I'll be doing

Aside from gathering references and advising Ricky, I will assist him in coming up with a rough outline. From there he will make a reference or bibliography page and list the references to scientific and medical journal articles in alphabetical order.

Via the phone and email, I will be advising Ricky on his writing: grammar, style, proper topic sentences, avoiding run on sentences, spelling and the like. In the end, and when his dissertation is complete with regard to a page count, I will edit it for him and make other suggestions.

The benefits

Both Ricky and I will reap the benefits of our labor. Both of us will be better informed, have new knowledge and be experts on the topic. Additionally, once the dissertation is approved, he will receive his Doctorate degree and a prominent tenure at a university.

And me, I will be rewarded with some good pay for my services. With the research, consulting, editing and what not, I stand to make $3,500 over the span of 6-8 weeks.

Yes, people are back to school and are focused on their studies. It's a super busy time for me until just before Christmas. My clients are trickling in with requests, and this season looks to be both promising and rewarding. I'm stoked!