Below are some examples of my editing, writing, and informational materials work. For an external list of some academic publications I have edited and coauthored, please see my ORCID record, and note that some of my work was produced prior to taking my current surname. ORCID scholar numbers are a consistent identifier for authorship when a researcher’s legal name changes.
Academic Editing
I have many years of formal academic editing experience:
- Edited over 1,000 scientific academic journal articles for American Journal Experts (f.k.a. Research Square) from 2022–2024
- Served as the English language editor of Ancient Chinese Gold Techniques II for the Chinese University of Hong Kong Art Museum (2022; I am listed as the English language author on the copyright pages of both the Chinese and English versions of this book)
- Served as a volunteer contributor to the fifth edition of Garner’s Modern English Usage (2022; I carried out research and editing for the “Timeline of Books on Usage” and “Glossary of Grammatical, Rhetorical, and Other Language-Related Terms” sections of the book and am mentioned in the acknowledgments section of the book)
I served as an editor for the following articles and am listed as a coauthor or in the article acknowledgments sections for my editing role:
- Plant morphological and functional characteristics combined with elevation and aspect influence phytogenic mound parameters in a dry-hot valley, 2021 (listed as coauthor for editing role)
- High-severity wildfire reduces richness and alters composition of ectomycorrhizal fungi in low-severity adapted ponderosa pine forests, 2021 (see acknowledgments, where I am listed under my previous surname, Loretta Rafay)
- Endophytes alleviate the elevated CO2-dependent decrease in photosynthesis in rice, particularly under nitrogen limitation, 2020 (see acknowledgments)
- Estimating microbial respiratory CO2 from endophytic bacteria in rice, 2018 (see acknowledgments)
- In addition to editing over 100 humanities and environmental science dissertations for Antioch University from 2018 to 2020, I am acknowledged for my editing role in the following:
Academic, Technical & Professional Writing
Prior to beginning my graduate program, I was the lab technician, data collector, and primary author for the following seed germination testing project and report, with two faculty supervisors as my coauthors and mentors. This was the first scientific report (with accompanying conference research poster) I had ever prepared, and I structured and formatted it according to my supervisors’ guidelines: An assessment of seed production and viability of putative Castilleja levisecta × C. hispida hybrids, 2015
I was the author, designer, and formatter of the following:
- Green Valley Gardens Nursery & Arboretum informational handouts and signage:
- Bamboo cultivars, 2021
- Blueberry cultivars, 2021
- Ornamental graminoids, 2021
- Dogwood family tree cultivars, 2021
- Trees for narrow spaces, 2020
- Winter-hardy containers, 2020
- Gardening with native plants, 2020
- Master’s thesis: Try it with fire and lime: phytochemical responses to prescribed fire, soil amendments, and simulated herbivory, 2018 (note that this student document was created before I received formal training as a thesis and dissertation editor and contains some vexing formatting and punctuation errors)
I was one of two primary authors, designers, and researchers, as well as the primary formatter for the following:
- Correcting Food Policy in Washington Prisons, 2016 (see here and here for media coverage referencing my work on the Washington prison food system)
I was the author, designer, formatter, and primary researcher for the following:
Informational Poster Design
- Here is an example of one of four historical genealogical posters I made using Canva for a 2025 Dayton Historical Depot Society Exhibit: Boldman Family Tree (see here for more information about the Dayton Historical Depot Society’s Boldman House Museum)
- A research poster I made during my master’s program using PowerPoint for the 2015 Cascadia Prairie Oak Partnership Conference: Seed Production and Germination of Putative Castilleja levisecta × C. hispida Hybrids
Botanical Expertise & Curation
From 2020 to 2021 I identified, catalogued, and mapped over 300 arboretum living collection specimens for Green Valley Gardens Nursery & Arboretum in Walla Walla, Washington. I used PowerPoint to build a poster-sized digital arboretum map that can be easily edited as plants are added or removed to the collection. Here is a PDF version of the map I created, along with a specimens list.
Training Manuals
In many of the jobs and internships I have had, I have been the employee who writes the employee/intern training manual for my team, department, or company. In 2015, I wrote a training manual for ACLU of Washington interns on how to conduct case docket research using Washington state’s Judicial Information System. (My supervisor for this project was Staff Attorney Vanessa Hernandez.) In 2017, I collaborated with Dr. Anne Maxham of the Antioch University Writer’s Exchange program to draft a dissertation formatting handbook for Antioch University PsyD candidates. Below is a training manual and employee handbook that I drafted for Green Valley Gardens Nursery & Arboretum during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the goal of providing a hybrid written and online employee training curriculum that new seasonal employees could complete at home during pandemic lockdowns:
Green Valley Gardens Employee Handbook and Training Manual
Creative Writing & Blogs
- “Cell Extraction” – short story published in the anthology The Place Where Everyone’s Name is Fear, edited by Cody Sexton, Anxiety Press (2022)
- I was the primary author of this Antioch University blog post on citation managers (2017)
- Colloquial nonfiction writing (originally posted on a now defunct blog): Cultural moments in the wake of the Great Recession (2010–2011)
