Dissertation & thesis coaching that turns a stalled project into a finishable one

No. This is the line we don’t cross. We coach you, give structural feedback, track your progress, and can edit your own words at the end, always as tracked changes you approve. We never write your dissertation, run your analysis, or author your content. Many services calling themselves “dissertation coaching” are quietly writing for hire. We aren’t one of them, and that protects your degree.

Yes. Coaching, planning, and feedback on work you write yourself are permitted at most institutions, and it’s common. What isn’t allowed is another person producing your ideas or your text, which we never do. Policies vary by program, so check yours; we work within it.

Your advisor is the expert on your research, and your committee judges the finished work. Neither role was designed to keep you planning and accountable week to week. Coaching fills that gap, alongside your advisor rather than around them. When your chair’s feedback comes in long gaps, the coaching keeps you from stalling in between.

Coaching supports you through the process; editing works on the words of a finished draft. Many candidates use coaching throughout and editing at the end. The Finish Line Intensive includes an optional editing add-on, and ECS offers a separate Dissertation & Thesis Editing service. Editing here always means your own words, tracked and approved by you.

No. No honest coach can guarantee an outcome that rests with your committee and your own work. What coaching provides is the structure, feedback, and accountability that make finishing considerably more likely.

Sessions are one-to-one on Microsoft Teams, in your browser. Monday to Friday, email or WhatsApp us between sessions and you’ll hear back within one business day. On Saturdays and Sundays, when a lot of coursework actually gets done, send a quick question on WhatsApp and we’ll usually reply the same day: a short answer to get you unstuck, not a full review. Longer feedback and sessions happen on weekdays. Need to move a session? Give us 24 hours' notice and we’ll rebook it. Later cancellations and no-shows count as used, and unused sessions can be rebooked within 30 days.

Usually, yes. Reaching “all but dissertation” and stalling is one of the most common places to get stuck, and a long stall is almost always structural rather than a failure of ability. We rebuild momentum in small, finishable steps: the kind of thesis and dissertation help that gets you writing again, not someone writing for you.

Yes. The risk for part-time candidates is the gap: one heavy month at work becomes a quiet semester on the dissertation. We set milestones around the hours you can protect each week, and check-ins between sessions keep the work moving when your job takes over for a while. John finished his own PhD as a working parent, so he knows how that juggling feels.

Yes, and it’s a core strength. We help your ideas read clearly in English without flattening your voice or writing it for you. We work with Dutch and international candidates writing and defending English theses, and with non-native speakers in the U.S. We coach and polish your own English; we never replace it. ECS works in English and doesn’t offer Dutch-language services.

You’re working with a PhD who coaches dissertation writers, which is rare, and who finished a doctorate as a working parent. The value is continuity, expert structural coaching, and real availability. ECS is standard-to-premium by design, and we’re open about it.

Yes. Everything is online, across time zones. ECS is based in The Hague and works with candidates in the U.S., the Netherlands, and beyond. Outside the U.S., a dissertation is often called a thesis; it's the same work, and we coach both.

Options run from a single Strategy Session to a three-month Finish Line Intensive; see the options above. The Strategy Session fee counts in full toward a coaching package if you continue. You get pricing in writing before anything begins. Monthly plans are paid at the start of each month and run month to month. We recommend three months, because writing routines take time to stick, but you can stop any time before your next month begins. Term and three-month packages are paid in two parts, half at the start and half at the midpoint. If none of them fit, we can build a custom PhD coaching plan around your project and your deadline. No VAT added, subject to change.