Matthew A. Roberson

Pittsburgh, PA

Phone: 412-354-7218
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn profile
Résumé in PDF format Roberson_CV
Writing and Editing portfolio

 

Summary

With more than 15 years of editing experience, largely in academic publishing for education institutions, I pride myself on my strong attention to detail and excellent collaborative skills. I’ve continued to refine my skills throughout my career, including pausing professional pursuits several times to advance my education. I have a Bachelor of Arts in English from Ohio State University as well as an Associate of Science in IT and a certificate in technical writing from the Community College of Allegheny County.

 

Professional Experience

Copy Editor — edX Learning

April 2023 to present 

  • Copy editor for edX, a company that works with colleges and universities to develop online degree programs. 
  • This role requires an excellent grasp of both US and UK English and the capability to pivot between Chicago Manual of Style, AP Style, the edX house style guide, and individual requirements for each partner institution.
  • Extensive experience with Google Drive, Jira Cloud, Jira Server, SmartSheets, and Slack.

 

Proofreader — Macmillan

August 2023 to present (active biannually)

  • Proofreader for Macmillan Learning, ensuring that information is up-to-date and error-free. This includes ISBNs, release dates, author names, marketing information, FAQs, and prices.
  • Apply general touch-ups to improve layout.
  • Coordinating changes and corrections with multiple stakeholders via Google Docs and Sheets.

 

Copy Editor — American Economic Association

April 2022 to August 2022

  • Copy editor for the American Economic Journals, a group of four quarterly peer-reviewed field journals in economics. 
  • Technical copyediting of manuscripts in the layout/production stage, including applying AEJ‘s modified Chicago Manual of Style guide 
  • This position required knowledge of many software applications as well as extreme attention to detail as to copyedit extensive mathematical and scientific jargon without introducing errors.

 

Assistant Managing Editor — American Economic Association, American Economic Review

July 2010 to April 2021

  • Began with American Economic Association in June 2010 as a temporary proofreader, with promotions to Senior Editorial Assistant in 2012 and Assistant Managing Editor in 2014.
  • Managed manuscripts during every stage of the production process including assisting authors with submissions within the content management system, returning decision letters, proofreading accepted manuscripts, copyediting, coordinating author proofs, implementing corrections, approving final proofs. 
  • Generated weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports in Microsoft Excel, as well as improved the quality of processes and reports where needed. 
  • This position required extreme attention to detail as to copyedit extensive mathematical and technical jargon without introducing errors.

 

Editorial Assistant — Triple Crown Publications 

September 2009 to April 2010

  • Proofread and copyedited accepted manuscripts to prepare them for publication as well as read submissions and forwarded promising ones to the editor in chief. 
  • Performed website updates with new titles and wrote synopses and other metadata (HTML, WordPress), along with registering ISBNs and sending cataloging metadata to bookstores and other partners.
  • Fulfilled mail and web orders, as well as monitored inventory at a warehouse and a regional distribution center.
  • Provided customer service and troubleshooting. 
  • Interviewed candidates for positions and sent promotional materials to media outlets.

 

Student Assistant — Goldberg Technology Center, The Ohio State University

September 2008 to September 2009

  • Assisted faculty, staff, and teaching assistants in the History Department at Ohio State with any technology-related requests, which included digital archiving, scanners, printers, and archive access.
  • Proofread materials used in online archives and updated web content for an academic history journal, Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective. 

 

Section Editor, Staff Writer — Daily Athenaeum, West Virginia University 

June 2004 to September 2006

  • Staff writer for the Entertainment Section and editor of the Opinion Section for a daily student-run newspaper.  
  • Interviewed artists, attended events, wrote reviews, and created articles from press releases to inform students of interesting and relevant information at the university. 
  • Maintained a production schedule for a staff of 15 student writers, read editorials on the wire service to supplement the daily requirements as needed. 
  • Wrote a monthly editorial piece, and laid out the Opinion Section for each daily issue. 

 

Staff Writer — The Dominion Post 

June 2002 to September 2003

  • Staff writer for the entertainment section, which included attending events and reporting on them as well as interviewing local artists and residents about the local art scene. 
  • Collaborated with the other writers and the section editor to write, edit, and publish relevant local news. 

 

Freelance Projects

Writer and Editor — Alleged Beef

2020 to present

  • This is my personal website where I cover movies, television, the NBA, and books. I sometimes collaborate with other creators. 
  • I also edit the articles, illustrate, lay out pages in WordPress using HTML/CSS, and post updates to social media.

 

Copy Editor —The Lotus People

2017 to present 

  • Write copy and copyedit for a yoga instruction and lifestyle website, with media including press releases, instructional hand-outs, social media updates, and blog posts. 
  • Audience is people into general fitness and lifestyle improvement, with a primary focus on yoga.

 

Technical Writer — Radiology Oncology Systems, Inc. 

2016 to 2017

  • Wrote marketing copy for a medical equipment distributor, with media including press releases, blog posts, and email drip campaigns. 
  • Audience was primarily oncology and radiology specialists and budget/purchasing departments at medical facilities.

 

Education

Bachelor of Arts in English, The Ohio State University

Issued June 2009

Associate of Science in Software Development, Community College of Allegheny County

Issued December 2022

Certificate of Completion in Technical Writing, Community College of Allegheny County

Issued January 2014

 

Skills and Training

Languages and Writing

  • Strong attention to detail and excellent communication skills
  • Strong math skills
  • AP Style, 56th edition
  • Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition
  • English (native speaker)
  • Spanish (basic written proficiency)

 

Software and Applications

  • Google Drive, Docs, Sheets
  • Markup
  • Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Access, SQL Server 2019, Visual Studio 2022
  • Zoom, Slack, Google Meet, Teams
  • Adobe Creative Cloud: inCopy, Acrobat, inDesign, PhotoShop 
  • Jira Cloud, Jira Server
  • FileMaker
  • WordPress
  • Basic familiarity with Java, C++, SQL, HTML, CSS, C, Visual Basic, XML
  • ScholarOne