• "Hiredpen is an amazing resource for academics and researchers eager to get their work out to the informed public. You won't know how you did your work without them."
  
  
  -- Maria Kefalas, Saint Joseph's University
  Author of Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage
  
  
• "After Barbara Ray did editorial work for the MacArthur Network on Adult Transition, the feedback was so consistently positive that I invited her to assume a part-time position as both our principal editor and communications director. It is one of the best and most satisfying decisions that I've made at Network Chair."
  
  
  -- Frank Furstenberg, Zellerbach Family Professor of Sociology and Research Associate in the Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvanial, and Chair, MacArthur Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood
  
  
• "Your writing is terrific and you have a spectacular facility with the issues/literature."
  
  
  -- Duncan Thomas, Director, California Center for Population Research (UCLA)
  
  
• "Barbara Ray was wonderful at taking our rambling conversations and making them a tight grant proposal."
  
  
  -- Don Davies, Deputy Director, Operations, Illinois Department of Employment Security
  
  
• "Hiredpen has been a key resource for more than three years on a wide variety of projects--from newsletter articles to policy briefs. We know we can count on them."
  
  
  -- Eleanor Cartelli, Publications Manager, Harris School of Public Policy Studies
  
  
• "The format for its newsletter is excellent. Very informative. You are an island of scholarship in an ocean of spam."
  
  
  -- A reader writes in on  Perspectives, a newsletter written by Hiredpen
  
  

Need More Convincing? Read what others have said about the importance of writing clearly for a more general audience.

• "If you can't explain an idea or a policy plainly in one or two sentences, it's not yours; and if it's not yours, no one you speak to will be persuaded of it, or even know what it is, or know what you are. Words are not just the cosmetic clothing of some underlying integrity; they are the operational vehicles of that integrity, the visible manifestation of the character to which others respond."
  
  
  -- Stanley Fish, Dean Emeritus
  University of Illinois at Chicago
  
  
• "All articles should be professionally edited prior to submission. A well written article increases your chance for acceptance."
  
  
  -- Submission guidelines, Qualitative Health Research
  Sage Publications
  
  
• "Research should offer policymakers options that move the field forward, even in a small fashion. The research should be marketed in a way that is easily digested and "skimmable," from fact sheets, to policy briefs.
  The message should be targeted toward media consumption. Without this access, the odds of the message reaching Washington are slim. "
  
  
  -- Gary Stangler, Executive Director
  Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative
  Annie E. Casey Foundation
  
  
• "Brevity is a virtue in the policy field. Policymakers and other stakeholders simply do not have the time to read long research papers. Reports should be summarized in short briefs that lead with key recommendations."
  
  
  -- April Bender
  Partnerships for Quality
  Potsdam, New York