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AP Gov Prep and Essay Coach from a College Professor
Laura Y.

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About Laura

Bio

I am a Professor of Political Science and the founding Chair of the Department of Political Science, Criminal Justice, and International Studies at a liberal arts college. I bring advanced training in political science and years of teaching experience focused on clear writing, strong arguments, and evidence based reasoning. Students work with me when they want a coach who can turn a rough draft into a persuasive paper, or a confusing topic into a plan that makes sense.

In higher education...

I am a Professor of Political Science and the founding Chair of the Department of Political Science, Criminal Justice, and International Studies at a liberal arts college. I bring advanced training in political science and years of teaching experience focused on clear writing, strong arguments, and evidence based reasoning. Students work with me when they want a coach who can turn a rough draft into a persuasive paper, or a confusing topic into a plan that makes sense.

In higher education I teach introductory through advanced courses and I design step by step support for big projects, from research questions and annotated bibliographies to literature reviews, research design, and polished final drafts. I also tutor AP Government, help students prepare for exams, and support college admissions writing, including personal statements and supplemental essays. I publish on teaching and feedback, so I use a practical approach that gives you structure, targeted revision goals, and strategies you can reuse.

I have taught traditional college age students, graduate students, advanced middle and high school learners in a Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth program, and adult learners through volunteer work with DeNeuville Learning Center. In every setting I set clear goals, give direct feedback, and help students build independence and confidence.

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Education

University of Memphis
Int'l Studies
University of Memphis
Masters
Purdue University
PhD

Policies

Schedule

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Approved Subjects

College Counseling

College Counseling

I am a college Professor of Political Science and a department chair with extensive experience teaching American government and coaching students in analytical writing and argumentation. I help AP US Government students master the core content and the skills that earn points, including FRQ structure, evidence selection, and clear explanations tied to key concepts like federalism, separation of powers, civil liberties, and public policy. Sessions focus on active practice with timed prompts, targeted feedback, and a repeatable strategy for studying and note building. I also support students who need confidence with reading dense material and turning it into strong, test ready answers.
Data Analysis

Data Analysis

am a political science professor and department chair who uses data analysis regularly in research and teaching. I help students learn how to frame questions, clean and organize data, and choose appropriate methods, including descriptive statistics, basic regression, and clear interpretation of results. I also coach students on turning outputs into strong written analysis, with accurate tables, figures, and explanations that match the question and the evidence. I also incorporate the use of AI in data analysis. My goal is to make data work feel manageable and methodical, so students build confidence and avoid common errors.
Debate

Debate

I coach debate with a focus on clear argumentation, strong evidence, and persuasive delivery. I have led debates and Model UN in a Johns Hopkins program, and I teach political negotiation, conflict resolution, bargaining, and diplomacy, so I bring real strategy to how arguments work in practice. I help students build cases, anticipate counterarguments, and respond under time pressure without losing clarity or composure. We also work on speaking style, cross examination, and strategic framing so you can sound confident, organized, and credible.
Environmental Science

Environmental Science

I teach environmental science and related policy topics and I have taught these courses at Purdue, Georgia Gwinnett College, and the University of Arizona. I help students master the core concepts, including ecosystems, climate change, energy, water quality, pollution, biodiversity, and sustainability, while connecting the science to real world decisions and tradeoffs. I also support lab style writing and data interpretation, including graphs, basic statistics, and clear explanations of methods and findings. My tutoring focuses on building strong study habits, improving scientific writing, and helping students feel confident applying concepts to exams, projects, and everyday environmental debates. I also publish in top journals related to environmental politics.
Essay Writing

Essay Writing

I am a college Professor of Political Science and a department chair. I teach writing intensive courses that require students to craft clear thesis driven essays supported by credible evidence. I coach students through every stage of the process, including brainstorming, outlining, organization, paragraph structure, integrating sources, and polishing style for clarity and voice. I work with high school, college, and adult learners, including AP level students and college admissions writers. My approach uses direct feedback, scaffolding, and targeted revision plans so students improve quickly and learn a repeatable method they can use in future classes.
Interview Prep

Interview Prep

I coach interview prep with a focus on clear stories, strong evidence, and calm delivery. As a professor and department chair, I interview and evaluate candidates and I mentor students applying for internships, scholarships, jobs, and graduate or professional programs. I help individuals build a tight set of examples using a simple story structure, then practice answering common and "curveball" questions with confident, direct language. We also work on their opening and closing, and how to ask smart questions that make them look prepared and thoughtful.
Legal Writing

Legal Writing

I bring both professional and academic experience to legal writing. I worked as a paralegal for ten years, and I designed and taught legal writing focused coursework for the Paralegal Program at Georgia Gwinnett College. I help students write clear, professional documents such as client letters, case summaries, demand letters, and basic pleadings, with strong organization, accurate tone, and careful attention to facts. I also coach citation, proofreading, and revision habits so your writing reads like something a supervising attorney would actually want to file or send.
Machine Learning/ AI

Machine Learning/ AI

I am a political science professor and department chair who leads a large campus wide AI project focused on how generative AI affects student learning, grading and feedback, and faculty efficiency. I can help students understand the core ideas behind machine learning and modern AI, including training data, prediction, evaluation, bias, and why models sometimes hallucinate or fail. I also coach practical skills like prompt design, tool comparison, ethical use, and how to document AI use clearly for school or work. My strength sits in applied AI literacy and responsible implementation, not advanced model building, so I focus on helping students use these tools well and think critically about their limits.
Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook

I have deep, real world experience with Microsoft Outlook from using it daily in a law firm for ten years and continuing to use it every day in academic and administrative work. Before graduate school, I also taught Microsoft Office certification courses at DeNeuville Learning Center, which required helping adult learners master core Outlook skills quickly and confidently. I can help students set up and manage email and calendars efficiently, including folders, rules, categories, flags, search, shared calendars, meeting invites, and professional workflows that keep you organized. I also coach best practices for communication, including clear subject lines, clean formatting, and managing high volume inboxes without missing important messages as well as protecting sensitive information.
Personal Statements

Personal Statements

As a professor and department chair, I have reviewed and mentored many students through high stakes writing for college, scholarship, and graduate or professional programs. I help students find a clear story, choose the right details, and connect their experiences to their goals with a confident voice and strong structure. Students leave with a sharper narrative, cleaner writing, and a draft that feels authentic, purposeful, and easy to read but which meets all the standard expectations for a personal statement.
Public Speaking

Public Speaking

I bring real classroom training and regular professional practice to public speaking coaching. I taught public speaking at Purdue for three years, I regularly present at academic conferences, and I have taught an upper level course on presenting complex material clearly called Communicating Technical Information. I help speakers organize a talk with a strong opening, clear through line, and clean transitions, then improve delivery with pacing, tone, eye contact, and confident body language. I also coach slides and speaking notes so you can present with clarity and control without sounding memorized.
STATA

STATA

I use Stata as a core research and teaching tool, and I relied on it almost exclusively until recently, when I added R to my workflow. I use it in my research methods course and help students get comfortable with Stata basics and best practices, including importing data, cleaning and recoding variables, labeling, merging datasets, and building reproducible do files. I also teach common analyses in Stata, such as descriptive statistics, cross tabs, t tests, ANOVA, and regression models, plus interpretation and presentation of results. My multiple publications using quantitative analysis attests to these abilities.
Thesis Writing

Thesis Writing

I support thesis writers from the first idea to the final polished draft. As a political science professor and department chair, I have guided students through research questions, theory building, literature reviews, research design, data analysis, and clear results and conclusion writing. I also run a Paper to Presentation workshop that helps students turn strong course papers and theses into conference style presentations and publishable manuscripts, and that process has produced multiple student papers that have been published. I also am one of two professors who teach the senior seminar course that requires students to write a senior thesis.
United States History

United States History

I tutor US History with a strong emphasis on American political development and the founding era, grounded in my work as a political science professor and department chair. I teach American government and institutions in a way that connects events to the Constitution, federalism, separation of powers, civil liberties, and the long debates over who counts, who decides, and what government should do. My research and publications on the presidency, political behavior, and American environmental politics span the historical depth of the country, which helps students connect specific moments to bigger patterns in leadership, parties, public opinion, and institutional change. I help students build clear timelines, understand cause and effect, and write strong evidence based responses for classes, AP style work, and exams.
Government & Politics
GRE
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Word
Political Science
SPSS
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Hourly Rate: $40
Contact Laura