Arlene McCoy

Record

Documentation available on request.

Education and experience

The full record behind the guidance published on this site, so you can judge it for yourself.

Education

Master of Arts in Applied Psychology

University of Southern California

Graduate study in applied psychology, with coursework in research methods, cognition, and the design and evaluation of interventions. The research training is the part I use most: how to frame a question, judge evidence, and report a finding without overstating it.

Professional experience

Writer and academic coach, EssayPay

2020 to present

Educational content development and one to one academic writing guidance. Work covers essay structure and organisation, thesis development, research papers, source integration, reflective assignments, and long form capstone projects, mainly for undergraduate and graduate students in the humanities and social sciences.

Educational content author

Ongoing

Author of more than fifty published resources on academic writing and research, covering essay writing, research method, citation systems, academic style, and study practice. The full list is under publications.

Teaching and instructional materials

Ongoing

Development of teaching materials and structured writing guidance, including worked examples, revision frameworks, and assessment focused explanations of common assignment types.

Subjects I work in

  • Argumentative and analytical essay writing
  • Research papers and literature based assignments
  • Thesis and research question development
  • Source evaluation, synthesis, and integration
  • Reflective and experiential writing
  • Capstone and long form project planning
  • APA, MLA, and Chicago citation practice
  • Academic style, register, and revision

How I develop guidance

Advice on this site comes from three places, and I try to be clear about which is which. Conventions, such as how a citation style handles a source with three authors, come from the relevant style manual. Claims about how people read and learn come from published research, cited where it matters. Everything else comes from watching what actually helps students in practice, and I mark that as experience rather than evidence.

The rules I follow are set out in the editorial standards and the sources policy.

Verification

If you are considering my work in a professional context and want to confirm any of the above, get in touch and I will provide documentation for education and professional history.