Registration ends December 31, 2024

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A dissertation coach is an accomplished academic writing professional, hired by doctoral candidates to work in partnership with them toward reaching an identified dissertation-related writing goal, which is determined by the client and the coach prior to engaging in the initial coaching session.

Dr. Matthews is the founder and principal coach of The FinishEdD Dissertation LLC.

She is the HBCU and Ivy-League educated doctor who helps serious candidates become doctors too!

Dr. Matthews is beyond "qualified" to support the academic needs of female doctoral candidates of color engaged in writing a dissertation based on qualitative research. In addition to having earned the doctor of education degree, Dr. Matthews is also an elementary-level certified educator and an expert in alignment, structure, and synthesis.

In 2007, at the start of her career as an educator, due to her well-planned approach to teaching and learning, Dr. Matthews stood out as "the" teacher parents trusted and requested over and over again. Later, while working as the Reading interventionist to 3rd - 6th grade students, she also guided and supported new and tenured teachers using best practices for 3rd - 6th grade student growth in the content of Reading. Dr. Matthews is a natural leader, an independent thinker, and a life-long learner. Her commitment to learning has been noticed and applauded at every stage of her career in education, especially long her doctoral journey, where she was nominated to serve as a mentor to other doctoral students experiencing stress and struggle. 

Relative to her doctoral journey, Dr. Matthews completed and defended 164 pages of qualitative research within a four year timeframe (2 years of coursework and 2 years engaged in research and writing). During that four-year period, she experienced academic struggles and the feelings of stress and frustration that many present-day doctoral candidates experience. However, she kept her end-goal in mind and she pushed herself to work past her feelings of stress and occasional discouragement. She had help though. Through word-of-mouth, she learned that she could reach her end-goal faster with the help and support of an experienced coach. So, after about 11 weeks of stressing and struggling to complete The Review of the Literature chapter, she talked with her husband, finalized her decision, and hired a coach. That choice enabled her to master the skills of academic writing and synthesizing. That decision to hire a coach also led to a gigantic leap in her clarity and productivity.

In the end, Dr. Matthews' amazing acceleration gained the attention and recognition of her chairperson and committee members. By her final defense, she had become a strong subject-matter expert in Reading intervention for 3rd - 6th grade students from families having limited resources, a master of academic writing, and a subject-matter expert in qualitative research.

After much hard work, Dr. Matthews effectively earned the title, the honor, and the distinction, Doctor. 

After several rounds of coaching and teaching many female candidates of color about the nuances of academic writing, Dr. Matthews is now recognized as a skilled qualitative researcher and reviewer with a profound knowledge of the APA style of academic writing.

Her professional coaching strengths include: authentically connecting with female doctoral candidates of color, sharing strategies in a way that is attractive to all learning styles, and focusing on all areas of the traditional 5 chapter dissertation, capstone study, and project study in a manner that leads to clarity and progression along the writing journey.

Editing services are included in the weekly document review. The editing service includes a purposeful and targeted focus on the mechanics of writing such as spelling, grammar, sentence structure, flow, consistency, and readability for the target audience. 

"Professional" editing, as an independent service, is not provided. Clients who desire the services of an editor should seek such a professional separate and apart from coaching.

Ghostwriting and done-for-you services are not offered. Doctoral students are responsible to be the authors of their own work. Having any other person write your dissertation for you is unethical and violates academic responsibility.

Yes, coaching contracts are required.

The contract serves as the official, professional documentation of the requirements and expectations of BOTH the coach and the client and it is a legally binding document across the United States.

Providing a guarantee would be nice, but because the outcome of coaching largely depends on the urgency, time availability, and commitment of the client, the outcome is truly up to them.

As the coaching relationship is a PARTNERSHIP between the coach and the client, the coach cannot be held solely responsible for the outcome.

In short, the client is 100% responsible for her diligence and effort to ask questions at all points of confusion. It is also the client's responsibility to seek support from the coach AND from her chairperson and committee members as needed.

Dr. Matthews' professional goal is to help each client produce 1-2 "clean" chapters of a traditional dissertation within 12 weeks of private, 1:1 coaching.

No. Refunds are not provided - regardless of the circumstance.

All coaching sessions time reserved for clients based on their selected service option. As a result, other clients are denied opportunities to secure coaching services in those exact same time slots. Thus, if any client is faced with the unfortunate need to cancel receiving pre-purchased services, a refund option will not be provided.