The Through-Line
Editing & Ethnography

Qualitative research and editing services
for academics, policy-making, community organizations,
and applied business and design projects.

About

The Through-Line is based in Singapore. We work with an international clientele of writers and researchers, academic institutions and community organizations, to bring out the full power of new ideas.

We bring books to publication, new research quickly into top-ranked journals, grants to efficient implementation.

We bring ethnography to policy-making and to the making of new futures.

Services

Editing

We work with manuscripts of all lengths and at all stages. Most of our experience is with young authors whose first-writing language is not English.

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Ethnography

We design and conduct ethnographic research for policy-oriented and future-looking projects.

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Training & Workshops

We offer courses, workshops, and one-on-one coaching in ethnographic research and writing skills.

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Grant Preparation and Management

We provide support to all stages of grant preparation, management, review, and reporting.

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Review and Reporting for Large-Scale Projects and Small-Scale Organizations

We provide conceptual frameworks and strategies for review and reporting.

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Contact

  • 17 Upper Circular Road, Singapore 058415
  • Registered Co. 202014505Z.

About the Owner

Jennifer R. Cash

Owner and Principal

The Through-Line is owned and run by me, Dr. Jennifer R. Cash. I hold a Ph.D. in Anthropology, and have more than 20 years of experience in ethnographic research and a decade of editorial experience.

F.A.Q.

What does it cost to edit, index, proofread...?

We provide quotes on a per-project-basis. We follow the indicative rates of professional organizations like the Editorial Freelancers Association (https://www.the-efa.org/rates/), and prefer to employ a German Normseit calculation (https://www.vfll.de/honorare-im-lektorat/) for editing projects because it includes a formal evaluation of the complexity of the tasks to be undertaken.

What about the costs for research design and project management?

We provide quotes on a per-project basis. Generally speaking, we follow the rates for experts/consultants on state- and NGO-led projects. (One easy-to-read guide to such pricing can be found at https://www.developmentaid.org/#!/news-stream/post/60500/development-consultancy-fee-and-per-diems-insights-and-tips-from-developmentaid-recruiters).

Following the guidelines for public work means that our services are competitively priced compared to those offered by marketing firms or corporate consultancies.

Can I afford your services if I'm an author/project director from a low-/low-middle/middle-income country?

Yes! It is important to us that good ideas and key insights get known to the rest of the world! Many of our clients - e.g. in Bulgaria, Hungary, China - have tight institutional budgets or even pay from their personal funds. Because we quote our prices on a per-project basis, we are able to fine-tune our efforts with the client to produce quality work at the right price.

Do you provide translation services?

No. In general, we do not undertake dedicated translation work. However, many of our projects do involve a component of work in a non-English language. Our familiarity with several languages (French, German, Romanian, Russian and - soon - Malay) is one of our key strengths in providing editorial and ethnographic services. We are happy for clients to correspond with us in any of these languages for their own convenience. As with pricing, we discuss the degree of foreign language work to be undertaken on a per-project-basis.