The Scholiast
a scholiast reads
with notes in the margins
I read, map and track the literature for your project, so your time goes into thinking instead of drowning in PDFs.
The work is not just finding sources. It is seeing the theory a text works in, the argument it is making, the conversation it wants to join, and what any of that means for your project.
The work
Start small with a single reading, go deep with a full review, or keep me on to follow your field over time. Whatever fits where you are right now.
Send me your project and up to two key texts. For each one I write a proper reading: what it really argues, how it does it, where it sits in the debate, what it gets right and where it falls short, and how you might use it in your own work. Not a summary. The notes you'd take yourself if you had the time. (More texts, a little extra each.)
Tell me your topic and where you think you're heading. I map out the whole conversation for you: who matters, how the arguments group together, where the gaps are that your work could fill, and what you still need to read. It's the groundwork a chapter or a grant proposal really rests on.
Every couple of weeks I go looking for what's new around your project and send you the few things that actually matter, with a few honest lines on why each one is worth your attention. So you never again find out too late about the paper everyone starts citing.
The deliverable
A structured document, with references formatted clearly for your own reference manager. For each text, a reading that covers:
A sample
A short excerpt, on a well-known public text, so you can see how I read before trusting me with your own work.
Sample reading · excerpt
Fraser, N. (1990). Social Text, 25/26, 56–80.
The difference
A summary tells you what a text says. A reading shows what you can do with it. Same text, two very different things:
A generic summary
"Fraser argues the public sphere had exclusions. She introduces 'counterpublics.' Women and minorities were left out. An important article in political theory."
Repeats the content. Anyone with the PDF gets it. No judgement, no sense of what is at stake, useful to no one in particular.
A critical reading
"She turns exclusion into something built into the public sphere, not a flaw in it. That is the footing your own argument can stand on. And the line where she stops, the questions she never had to ask, is often exactly where your contribution begins."
It takes a side and ties the text to what you're writing. Then it shows you the opening your own work can fill.
In their words
"I really recommend this work. It does a complete curation and mapping of the literature, and it helps you formulate your questions and find gaps that would otherwise take you far longer to reach."
Sophia, master's student
Who it's for
Anyone doing serious research is welcome. But the prices make the most sense when there's some funding behind the work, when the reading has to be solid, and when someone's time is genuinely worth saving.
Working with a lab or group? The Radar can run for a whole group (from €700/mo), new members can be brought up to speed with onboarding dossiers, and a Strategy Map can ground a new grant. Just say so when you write, and I will quote for the group.
How it goes
Tell me what you're working on
Just describe it in your own words and send a few of the texts at the heart of it. Nothing formal.
First reading in about four days
You read it and tell me what feels right and what doesn't. I adjust to how you think, so the next one fits you better.
Keep going if it helps
Go deeper with a full review, or keep me on to follow your field. No contracts. You stay only as long as it's useful.
Questions
A reading usually takes about four days. A full literature review takes one to two weeks, depending on how big it is. The radar comes every couple of weeks. If you're on a tight deadline, just ask, I can often move faster.
Yes, one round of changes is always included. The first piece is really about getting on the same page: you tell me what works and what doesn't, and everything after that fits you better.
Completely. I never share or reuse your topic, your sources or your ideas, and I'll delete everything once we're done if you'd like. Your work stays yours.
No, and I won't. I read and organise the literature so you can write from a clearer place, but the writing is always yours. I don't write theses, papers or grants for people. It's help with the reading, nothing that crosses a line.
The Scholiast is run by a postdoctoral researcher in the social sciences, based in Europe, with years of reading, peer-reviewing and teaching across the humanities and social sciences. The name stays in the background so the work can be judged by the reading itself.
By invoice, once we've agreed on what you need. Nothing upfront. And while I'm just getting started, the first few researchers pay half.
Begin
Tell me your project and the texts at the heart of it. In about four days, you'll see whether this kind of reading is useful for your work.
Or email hello@thescholiast.com directly. I reply to every enquiry myself.