My name is Heather Stein, and I was awarded a Ph.D. in history from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (Maryland) in 2015. I received an M.A. from the University of Toronto in 2008 and a B.A. from Concordia University in Montreal (Québec) in 2007. I work as a freelance editor specialising in biographical writing (statements of purpose, letters of recommendation, etc.), academic writing (journal articles, dissertations, grant proposals, etc.), and historical novels. I am an avid reader of both fantasy and science fiction.
The vast majority of my wiki-editing is the result of attempts to put the scholarship of others in my own words for my own research. My interests are primarily late medieval and early modern Italian history -- particularly historiography, political theory and diplomacy. I also edit living figures' entries in conjunction with the subjects to make their research and activism more accessible to the general public.
A native Canadian, I make a conscious effort to use British orthography and grammatical conventions in any new pages that I contribute. I kindly ask that you respect the wiki-guidelines on maintaining the original author's choices; I attempt to do the same.
Wikipedia is not just the greatest project that humanity has ever embarked upon -- a free and ever-expanding encyclopedia of EVERYTHING. It is also an invaluable a method of conceptualising ideas and information and gathering input from other well-read, if not especially well-informed, readers. Few people have easy access to the scientific publications and research that are the basis of sound opinions, and Wikipedia, with its talk pages filled with debate and its active forums, fosters deep, critical engagement with "facts." I have been involved in or overseen the creation and editing of many entries as part of collaborative classroom assignments, and I urge anyone who notices an actual factual error, a dead-linked source, or an unsupported yet contentious claim to flag it -- or better yet, take the leap and fix it yourself!
