Client testimonials
This final stage preparing for the submission of my thesis was much less stressful than I had ever anticipated, and I believe that was largely due to the professionalism and attention that Pam offered as part of her service. She was prompt, explicit in her suggestions and editing and offered me a chance to ask any questions or clarification as I worked through her changes. At a time when I didn’t have much energy left in the tank, and was concerned about paying for a service that didn’t deliver, it has been the biggest relief that I found Pam. I can wholeheartedly recommend her.
Laura Burritt Doctoral Candidate (Education)
Southern Cross University, Australia
Pam is a fantastic copyeditor who I have already recommended to friends and colleagues looking for a copyeditor. I hired Pam to copyedit my PhD thesis and from the start Pam was thorough, communicative, and professional. Pam helped shape my wonky sentences into smooth ones, ensuring consistency throughout my work. The style sheet she provided and the thoroughness of her edits (including grammar and referencing checks) led to a much more polished thesis. Thank you so much Pam!
Jianni Tien Doctoral Candidate (Environmental Humanities/Cultural Studies), University of Technology Sydney, Australia
It has been a delight working with Pam. She has demonstrated her skill at every level of the editing process. Pam is a magician when it comes to her ability to format a Word document, and she worked through my thesis with immense care and detail. Go to Pam for copyediting – accept no substitutes.
Chris Panagiotaros Doctoral Candidate (Environmental Social Work)
Western Sydney University, Australia
Pam’s editorial services gave the needed professional polish to my ramblings. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Pam while completing my master’s thesis. Throughout the process Pam was professional, punctual, and utterly available and quick responding with any questions I had. Without hesitation I highly recommend Pam for anyone looking for copyediting services.
Ron Waline Master’s Candidate (Sustainability Education)
Prescott College, United States
I greatly appreciated your professionalism and compassion as my road towards getting to the first pass was somewhat traumatic through personal circumstances. The professional assistance in preparing my thesis, fully edited and formatted has been a wonderful experience. I can’t thank you enough and without hesitation would recommend the service to friends and colleagues. I’ve learnt a lot throughout the process which I know will make a difference to any future writing work I will do in the future.
Betty Green Doctoral Candidate (Feminist Studies)
Western Sydney University, Australia
I am enormously grateful for Pam’s calm and efficient guidance through the pointy end of preparing my PhD manuscript for submission. I don’t know how people manage to do it without professional editors! I have learnt a lot. Much of it I wish I knew five years ago. However, I will carry forward this new knowledge to future projects, and I have directed others to Pam’s helpful blog to embed some of the editing basics early in the writing process. I highly recommend Pam’s editorial services to other doctoral candidates.
Shana Taubert Doctoral Candidate (Speech Pathology)
The University of Queensland, Australia
Pam’s professionalism, language capabilities, APA knowledge and her meticulous copyediting skills made an enormous difference to my Doctoral thesis. Her attention to detail, problem-solving skills and her thorough edits were much appreciated and provided excellent value. Pam not only provided timely feedback but access to very useful resources that supported the enhancement of my manuscript. I would highly recommend Pam’s services as her commitment to excellence is outstanding.
Mona El-Ayoubi Doctoral Candidate (Education)
The University of Melbourne, Australia
Pam has provided exceptional service in helping me with finalising my thesis for submission. I am truly grateful for Pam’s professionalism and amazing knowledge of the editing and writing conventions. Pam’s provided thoughtful suggestions throughout the thesis which contributed to a professional, clear and really well formatted presentation. I look forward to continue working with Pam in the future and would be delighted to recommend Pam’s services to colleagues and friends.
Jenny Pesina Master’s Candidate (Learning and Innovation)
The University of Sydney, Australia
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You have chosen one of the best if you choose Pam as your editor: professionally exceptional, APA wizard, and supportive are three ways to describe Pam who copyedited and formatted my PhD dissertation, yet those descriptors fall short in communicating what I experienced. There were tricky verb tense issues … that Pam handled masterfully. She remained upbeat and communicated quickly … She met her deadlines and remained flexible … which in that time of high stress was greatly appreciated. Her attention to detail, including digging into obscure APA guidelines, made this last push to produce a refined presentation not only bearable, but enjoyable; I felt like I had a highly adept and pleasant (even fun) partner in making the work the best it could be. Highest and unqualified recommendation for her editing services.
Ann Sutton Doctoral Candidate (Sustainability Education)
Prescott College, United States
Pam did a marvellous job with my thesis. Her meticulous copyediting and cross-checking skills caught numerous inconsistencies that would have otherwise been missed and her knowledge of APA is second to none. The formatting and style guide that Pam applied lifted the whole document and gave it that professional feel. Given that the final submission of a research thesis can be very stressful, Pam’s calm and sensitive style, which helped me to work to the required submission deadlines, was most appreciated. I would not hesitate to call upon her talents again in the future. And will.
Melanie Nash Doctoral Candidate (ICT in Education)
The University of Melbourne, Australia
Everything looks so lovely — you have transformed my thesis into a thing of beauty! Seriously, I am just blown away by your expertise and attention to detail. This comment probably does not mean too much coming from a rookie, but I know [supervisor] is very pleased with your work, and she has a very high, no really, very high standards! My heartfelt thanks for everything, Pam. Time to chill the glasses!
Marina Keenan Doctoral Candidate (Speech Pathology)
The University of Melbourne, Australia
I cannot express my thanks for everything you have done. You have been patient with me while I learnt a few tricks. I really enjoyed the process. I learnt much about the use of Word in document management. More importantly, your editing and formatting skills and advice are second to none, and I would not have any problem with highly recommending you. Thank you for your services. The champers is on ice!
Tony Keeble Doctoral Candidate (Outdoor Education)
Federation University, Australia
You are amazing. I enjoyed your precision, generosity, and patience. Magnificent work. Thanks for an outstanding job. I will spread the word. Respect and gratitude.
Joey Hitten Doctoral Candidate (Theatre & Performance)
Monash University, Australia
Pam was the star in my gloomy PhD sky. If I could ever give her any criticism, it would be to consider changing her title to ‘The Detail Angel’.
Penelope Kalogeropoulos Doctoral Candidate (Maths Education), Monash University, Australia
Pam is the most detailed and thoughtful editor I have ever worked with. Her service is incredibly focused and timely, and her comments meaningful, gentle and filled with valuable resources. Her copyediting skills are exceptional and her talent for catching inconsistencies astonishing. Her approach was respectful, collaborative and knowledgeable. I have learned a tremendous amount of information and appreciate her service beyond words.
Lenka V. Studnicka Doctoral Candidate (Sustainability Education), Prescott College, United States
Very happy to share a recommendation for Pam who was instrumental in her expertise and support during the final stages of my PhD dissertation. Pam provided high quality copyediting and reference work to ensure my paper was ready for publication. She was prompt, communicative, and made the process as easy as possible. Anyone with similar needs, whether for higher education or publishing in general, will be thrilled to work with Pam!
Brennan Lagasse Doctoral Candidate (Outdoor Education)
Prescott College, United States
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I am so grateful for what Pam did in copyediting, proofreading and cross-checking for my book chapter, journal article and PhD thesis. She did a wonderful job. The manuscripts looked polished, professional and readable. I have learnt much from her advice in APA style, formatting and language use. Pam is very diligent, responsible, thoughtful, professional and punctual.
Nhung Nguyễn Doctoral Candidate (Language Teacher Education), Western Sydney University, Australia
Pam was recommended to me by my thesis committee, and I can see why. Pam is a master of her craft. She has expert knowledge of APA and Word, and was able to efficiently guide and home in my editing and formatting. She helped me turn my graduate work into professional writing that I feel confident in submitting for publication. Pam is efficient, flexible, and fair. Thanks Pam, I’m looking forward to working with you again in the future!
Stuart Slay Doctoral Candidate (Systems Thinking)
Prescott College, United States
Your feedback was incredibly helpful. I could have worked on this for another 4 years and not thought about language and formatting to the extent you have been able to convey. I wish [supervisor] had recommended you earlier, but I am glad I have had the opportunity to work with you. Thank you again for all your help. Your knowledge, support and expertise is fantastic.
Andrew McAlindon Doctoral Candidate (Mathematics Education)
The University of Melbourne, Australia
I am so glad I engaged Pam in the copyediting of my thesis; her attention to detail was just what I needed to ensure my thesis was of the highest standard. … Having read the thesis too many times myself, Pam was able to see things I could no longer see. … Pam is such a professional and I have to say utilising her services was money well spent and alleviated additional stress in the final stages of producing my doctoral thesis.
Martina Tassone Doctoral Candidate (Language and Literacy Education), The University of Melbourne, Australia
Pam provided a truly fantastic service with helping me get my PhD thesis to a point where I was really proud and ready to submit it. In the last couple of months, it’s unbelievably stressful but to know that you have such caring, professional and detailed support in Pam makes it all so much easier. I’ve even learned how to use the semicolon after all these years! Honestly, I couldn’t recommend her work highly enough. Thank you!
Clare Dallat Doctoral Candidate (Systems Thinking)
Western Sydney University, Australia
Pam efficiently and expertly copyedited my PhD thesis prior to submission. She provided professional and respectful suggestions that improved my writing style and structure. I learnt a lot from Pam as her corrections/suggestions were clearly explained and justified. Pam is kind, accommodating, and has brilliant communication skills. I will definitely be recommending Pam’s services to peers and colleagues.
Jessica Zanuttini Doctoral Candidate (Education and Social Work), The University of Sydney, Australia
I have to thank Pam for her absolutely incredible work on my thesis. Her knowledge of referencing, formatting, and Microsoft word are incredible. I learnt so many new tricks through her suggestions and really appreciated that she provided explanations for any suggested changes so I could learn why and use it to improve my writing in the future. She was also so friendly and encouraging in correspondence which was appreciated at the stressful time that is submission! I would happily recommend Pam to colleagues or friends. Pam, thank you so much for your amazing work. You made preparing to submit that much less stressful!
Madeline Raatz Doctoral Candidate (Speech Pathology)
The University of Queensland, Australia
I can highly recommend “The Detail Devil” for editing services. Pam assisted me with my final PhD thesis draft and I was very impressed with the quality of her feedback. She took the time to add links and make valuable suggestions to show me how I could improve my writing skill, as well as help me correct the formatting and referencing issues I had experienced. She was professional, encouraging and timely. When I had some obstacles printing in the format required at the last moment, she went the extra mile to be available and kindly assisted me to present it perfectly for submission.
Sonja Dawson Doctoral Candidate (Nursing Education)
University of Technology Sydney, Australia
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Choosing a professional editor for the editing of a PhD thesis is a sensitive job. Initially, I had engaged another PhD editor, but I was not happy with the editing. Hence, a good sum of money went down the drain. Pam quickly rescued me from this frustration, leading to appreciation from me and my supervisor.
Shafqat Rahman Doctoral Candidate (Assessment in Education)
The University of Melbourne, Australia
Pam’s quality work ensured that I had a level of confidence in the work I would not otherwise have had. She was efficient, thorough and thoughtful. Her work saved many hours that I know I could not have managed otherwise. I would not hesitate to recommend her.
Annette Rome Doctoral Candidate (International Mindedness)
The University of Melbourne, Australia
I am writing to express my gratitude to your patience in giving suggestions in detail and to let you know that your job is appreciated. I can absolutely understand the pressure of doing such a job because I was an English teacher before I started this research and I used to mark my students’ compositions for Chinese College English Test. Each time after marking their work, I felt I could not breathe for several days. So many tiny mistakes and inappropriate usages! Your work reminds me about those days and reminds me to reflect myself and to be a better teacher, with more patience and understanding. You are an amazing person.
Yu Han Doctoral Candidate (Chinese Teacher-Researcher Education)
Western Sydney University, Australia
Pam did a wonderful job editing my Master’s Research Proposal. I am really grateful for her exceptional professionalism and attention to detail. It was an absolute joy with Pam from start to finish. Pam’s extensive knowledge helped enormously with the nuances of the APA styling conventions and inconsistencies in writing. The final document has a lovely professional feel to it. I wholeheartedly recommend Pam’s editing service and look forward to working with her again in the future.
Jenny Pesina MEd (Research) Candidate, Centre for Research on Learning and Innovation, University of Sydney, Australia
Pam provided excellent copyediting and proofreading services for my thesis. She was professional, efficient, insightful and personable. Her capacity to pick inconsistencies, ask probing questions and clarify ideas was second to none. Pam provided a service over and above my expectations. Not only did she meet deadlines, she actually delivered ahead of time! Pam made just a monotonous task an enjoyable one for me. I highly recommend her services for any academic endeavour.
Peter Botross Doctoral Candidate (Curriculum & Pedagogy)
The University of Melbourne, Australia
I am so grateful for Pam. She not only brought exceptional expertise to the job I asked of her [copyediting a thesis], but she is genuinely kind, a brilliant communicator, and it is obvious that she genuinely loves what she does. She makes the gruelling, ‘pointy end’ of writing a delightful denouement. So many times I have thought about the qualities Pam brings to her work. I would use her again in a heartbeat!
Sarah Rutherford Doctoral Candidate (Education)
Monash University, Australia
Enormous thank you for the care taken and attention to detail throughout. An enormous effort and greatly appreciated. The manuscript looks so professional and reads very well. I have learnt so much from you! Thank you for the positive feedback, and the great care and attention to detail you have taken throughout. The thesis is looking polished and professional.
Rachel Pollitt Doctoral Candidate (Mathematics Education)
The University of Melbourne, Australia
Pam is the best. I wish I had found her earlier. She is very, very thorough. She did an amazing job with my thesis and was well worth every penny I spent. I cannot recommend her enough. Thank you ever so much for doing a great job, Pam. All the best.
Oshadie Korale Doctoral Candidate (Health & Wellbeing)
University of Central Lancashire, United Kingdom
Handing over the plethora of thesis chapters to Pam for final style formatting was one of the best decisions I made during the final stages of my PhD. This allowed me to focus on the content matter without the stress induced by ensuring the document presented professionally and beautifully. I was so happy with Pam’s work. The final document prepared was perfect and reflects her incredible attention to detail and pride in her own work. The whole process was enhanced by Pam’s prompt and clear communication and her understanding when unexpected things came up. I highly recommend Pam to my fellow PhD candidates for any editing they require of their theses.
Kate Hughes Doctoral Candidate (Earth Sciences)
The University of Queensland, Australia
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Academic researchers
Pam is the most effective and the nicest detail ‘devil’ you could hope to find. She finds bugs, missing references, commas that should not be where they are and spaces begging to be rescued with a meaning enhancing comma. Pam fixes actual problems and notices potential ones. She asks your opinion and gets your approval before she makes changes, but I came to see that she is always right. Pam looked at two research reports I wrote [see Portfolio: research reports] and improved the presentation logic, readability and prose in deep ways. I recommend The Detail Devil, but really Pam Firth, without any reservation. She’s great.
Emeritus Professor Joseph Lo Bianco
Language and Literacy Education, The University of Melbourne, Australia
We owe Pam Firth immeasurable gratitude. As our copy-editor, Pam’s valuable insights, attention to detail, and professionalism shone throughout the project. We are forever indebted, and readers will witness her ‘special touch’ in every chapter of this handbook [The Palgrave Macmillan international handbook of women in outdoor learning, 2018].
A/Prof Tonia Gray and Prof Denise Mitten (Eds.)
Western Sydney University, Australia, and Prescott College, United States
Thank you so much for your wonderful work, Pam! Your work is detailed and it has been a pleasure to read it through today. The document is much improved!! It looks amazing. You have done a wonderful job on my research report [see Portfolio: research reports] and it is so much better for your help!
Dr Francis Gale
Senior Lecturer, Social Work and Community Welfare
Western Sydney University, Australia
On behalf of Denise, Jill, and myself we’d like to thank you for the work you did with our book. Your expertise and insightful comments were very helpful and added greatly to the contents of the text. The book [Health and natural landscapes: Concepts and applications, 2021] is now with the publisher, CABI, so it’s in their hands now. Once again, thank you.
Emeritus Professor Alan Ewert
Outdoor Leadership, Indiana University, United States
I thoroughly recommend the Detail Devil. Pam assisted me to finalise submission of a book manuscript of over 130,000 words [Assessing mathematical literacy: The PISA experience, 2014, Springer]. She has an excellent command of English, including the finer points of grammar. She set up the styles for our Word program to simplify the formatting task and to deal with references, figures, tables and indexing. Pam is a master of academic style manuals and finds answers to complex referencing questions quickly and accurately. She is indeed good at detail and tracks it through the manuscript. Best of all, Pam is able to achieve just the right balance between making a decision and referring a decision to you. A pleasure to work with.
Emeritus Professor Kaye Stacey
Mathematics Education, The University of Melbourne, Australia
I have been thoroughly impressed by the work of the Detail Devil: professional and efficient with the promised attention to all detail. Pam has assisted me with both the proofreading and copyediting of book chapters, research grant submissions and academic journal articles. Necessary corrections for typos etc. are always clearly shown, and suggestions to improve clarity are indicated by comments that are respectful of the author and their intention. Recently, in response to the reviewers of a professional journal, Pam assisted with restyling all passive voice to active voice without changing the global meaning of the text. This task illustrated Pam’s ability to improve aspects of communication at all levels, from typos and punctuation to sense and structure.
Associate Professor Robyn Pierce
Mathematics Education, The University of Melbourne, Australia
We need to acknowledge our copyeditor Pam Firth of The Detail Devil. We have endless appreciation for her unwavering contribution to this project, where her professionalism shone through immeasurably. No doubt our readers will witness Pam’s editorial acumen contained in this book [The globalisation of higher education: Developing internationalised education research and practice, 2018, Palgrave Macmillan].
Dr Tim Hall, Professor Tonia Gray, Dr Greg Downey, and Professor Michael Singh (Eds.), Centre for Educational Research, Western Sydney University, Australia
I came across Pam’s work when she edited an article I had submitted to the Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education (for which Pam is Managing Editor). In the first draft I received from Pam I could see that her suggested amendments made my article more legible and readable … Pam’s attention to detail, whether it is in revising citations, checking that I have adhered to APA style or helping to prepare my papers for submission has been incredibly helpful. She is timely with her responses and I will continue to use her services for future publications.
Dr Will Dobud Clinical Social Worker
True North Expeditions, Australia
Pam is the Managing Editor for the international peer-reviewed Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education, and her role includes copyediting each paper then typesetting each issue using Adobe InDesign. As Editor, I rely on Pam’s keen eye for detail and her diligence in making sure that the issues we produce are of the highest standard possible.
Associate Professor John Quay Editor-in-Chief
Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education (Outdoor Council of Australia)
Pam has a pleasant personality, but when it comes to copyediting or proofreading, she actually assumes a ‘detail devil’ persona, making corrections/ suggestions or asking for clarifications with this sense of purpose and mission that adds to the efficiency of the overall service experience. Pam also displays appropriate cultural sensitivity to the ways in which language is used.
Professor Wee Tiong Seah
Mathematics Education, The University of Melbourne, Australia
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