Welcome. Producing a dissertation or thesis can be daunting. The personal and professional stakes are usually high - for students as well as their teachers - and outcomes are never guaranteed. You may have come to this site at the very beginning of the process, or you may already be well into it. In either case, like so many accomplished students striving to complete advanced degrees, you may now be facing problems that are preventing you from moving forward with your work.

This site is designed for students who find themselves at such a critical point in conceiving or writing a dissertation or thesis. Any number of problems may be confronting you:

• You may not be able to get started.
• Once started, you may not be able to proceed.
• You may have wound up with academic advisors who are difficult to work with, overly critical, or not as involved or interested in your efforts (or as impressed with them) as they could be.
• You may have doubts about your topic or about your own competence.
• You may be so overwhelmed with the expectations you have set for yourself that you may even be considering abandoning your project altogether.

Such problems are, unfortunately, common. There is simply no reason to face them alone.

My consulting services aim to enable you to find an effective way to proceed with your project, despite the challenges you are facing, and to develop tools that will help you make informed decisions along the way. I believe that focused, supportive consultation is key to negotiating the process, and to surmounting the demands you face to conceptualize, research, write (and rewrite), present and defend your work.

We will work together primarily to organize and edit your material, making it ready to present. While I will not do your research or writing, I will provide critical guidance and advice about the directions you are taking, at every stage, aiming to ensure that your research is complete and properly documented, your prose is concise, and your findings are clear and convincing.

In addition, I will help instill you with the confidence that you will need to defend your work to your advisor(s) and academic committee. This confidence could have long-lasting benefits as you look back with a critical eye at the entire process wondering if, after all, your efforts were worthwhile.

These services are designed for graduate and advanced undergraduate students in the humanities, especially those specializing in biblical, ancient Near Eastern or more general Jewish or religious studies. Drawing on my background and training in these areas, as well as experience acquired over years as writer/editor and teacher, I will work with you to develop and implement a clear and comprehensive strategy for moving your dissertation or thesis forward.