Does Good Grammar Really Matter in a Thesis or Dissertation?
The short answer to that question is a resounding yes, good grammar matters a great deal, despite the fact that the validity of fussing over correct grammar seems to have become a hotly debated topic these days, particularly in an online context. For those authors who aim to produce publishable scholarly writing that communicates with precision and eloquence, the question seems a ridiculous one, and for students who are writing theses and dissertations that will be read by mentors and examiners sophisticated enough to detect errors and determine how they can confuse and contort the meaning of sentences, ensuring grammatical accuracy is vital to success.
Academic and scientific authors write to communicate, and the rules of grammar determine how words should be used and combined in order to communicate procedures, results and ideas accurately. It is important to keep in mind that facial expressions, voice intonation, physical context and a host of other signifiers present when a speaker stands before a listener are not available when a reader encounters a text. This means that both the main points and any subtleties intended by an author must be expressed in his or her written language, which can prove a significant challenge, but one that must be met to achieve successful and nuanced communication. When reporting the detailed and complicated methods and results of the advanced research characteristic of theses and dissertations, scholars who do not observe the rules of grammar can unintentionally irritate, confuse and mislead the readers they hope to inform and persuade, problems that tend to inspire negative feedback, generate requests for revisions and prevent the successful completion of those theses and dissertations.
While writing a thesis or dissertation, a student should aim to achieve an authoritative scholarly voice. Such a written voice should convey the author’s confidence in his or her knowledge and research processes in order to instil confidence in readers. Frequent and repeated grammatical errors that demonstrate how little a student understands the language in which he or she is communicating or reveals how little effort has been invested in improving inadequate writing skills may suggest an equal lack of attention to precision in research methods, data analysis and critical thinking. Your mentors and examiners may not be able to give up on your text as readers of a scholarly article might, but they will definitely read your text with uncertainty and caution. They may have to spend extra time sorting out what you are trying to say – extra time they do not have – and this can add resentment to frustration as they assess your work. Such a situation never bodes well when your aim is to impress your examiners and successfully attain your degree.
The solution to grammatical problems is to write each and every sentence with great care and proofread the draft of your thesis or dissertation with the utmost attention to every detail. Dedicating extra time to determine whether your grammar actually expresses your intentions with precision, accuracy and sophistication is necessary if you find grammatical structures particularly challenging or are not a native speaker of English. However, if you discover that you simply cannot decide in every case what the correct structure should be, it may be wise to engage the services of a professional academic or scientific proofreader who is an expert in both the English language and your field of study.
Why Our Editing and Proofreading Services?
At Proof-Reading-Service.com we offer the highest quality journal article editing, dissertation proofreading and online proofreading services via our large and extremely dedicated team of academic and scientific professionals. All of our proofreaders are native speakers of English who have earned their own postgraduate degrees, and their areas of specialisation cover such a wide range of disciplines that we are able to help our international clientele with research editing to improve and perfect all kinds of academic manuscripts for successful publication. Many of the carefully trained members of our manuscript editing and proofreading team work predominantly on articles intended for publication in scholarly journals, applying painstaking journal editing standards to ensure that the references and formatting used in each paper are in conformity with the journal’s instructions for authors and to correct any grammar, spelling, punctuation or simple typing errors. In this way, we enable our clients to report their research in the clear and accurate ways required to impress acquisitions proofreaders and achieve publication.
Our scientific proofreading services for the authors of a wide variety of scientific journal papers are especially popular, but we also offer manuscript proofreading services and have the experience and expertise to proofread and edit manuscripts in all scholarly disciplines, as well as beyond them. We have team members who specialise in medical proofreading services, and some of our experts dedicate their time exclusively to dissertation proofreading and manuscript proofreading, offering academics the opportunity to improve their use of formatting and language through the most exacting PhD thesis editing and journal article proofreading practices. Whether you are preparing a conference paper for presentation, polishing a progress report to share with colleagues, or facing the daunting task of editing and perfecting any kind of scholarly document for publication, a qualified member of our professional team can provide invaluable assistance and give you greater confidence in your written work.
If you are in the process of preparing an article for an academic or scientific journal, or planning one for the near future, you may well be interested in a new book, Guide to Journal Publication, which is available on our Tips and Advice on Publishing Research in Journals website.
