The Importance of Proofreading Your Thesis or Dissertation
Writing a thesis or dissertation is for most postgraduate students the first instance in which they are required to produce a long academic or scientific document. The content of theses and dissertations tends to be complex and contain a great deal of complicated data and other information that must be carefully presented and explained. Every detail must be correct, the text as a whole must be carefully organised, references must be accurate, thorough and consistent, and the student’s writing must be clear and avoid all errors of grammar, spelling and punctuation. There are, then, many concerns to keep in mind while drafting a thesis or dissertation, and it is absolutely essential to proofread each and every page, part and element with eyes sharply focussed, editing and revising as necessary to produce a text that is just right in every way.
Each student should proofread his or her own work before it is shared with mentors for criticism and again before it is submitted for examination. Whether you are proofreading a single chapter or the thesis as a whole, it is wise to give yourself a little time (if possible) to gain a bit of distance and objectivity between drafting the work and proofreading it. Reading through the document from beginning to end without major distractions or interruptions is best for critically assessing your argument and checking for inconsistencies in content and formatting. There are so very many matters, both major and minor, to check and correct for accuracy and appropriate format as you read – citations and references, headings and divisions, grammar and transitions, spelling and punctuation, numbers and capitalisation, abbreviations and specialised terminology, and tables and figures to name only the most obvious – that it can be difficult to do everything simultaneously. Working through the text more than once with a different focus each time can be helpful. In-text references and the reference list, as well as quotations can, for instance, be productively checked for accuracy and consistency on their own, and tables and figures can be as well, though the information they contain should also be compared with the same or similar information in other parts of the document.
It is always beneficial to engage a second set of qualified eyes to help you through the proofreading process. A new reader will bring a fresh perspective and often be able to detect problems that you, as the author who already knows what he or she wants to say, cannot. A fellow student who works within your discipline, ideally in the same subject area, can be immensely helpful, and you can return the favour when he or she requires a proofreader. However, if your language skills are not strong or you do not have the patience or inclination to check minute details, a professional proofreader is the answer. An academic or scientific proofreader who is familiar with your discipline and subject area can catch not only errors in typing, grammar, spelling, punctuation and formatting, but also awkward phrasing, unclear expressions, missing information, inconsistencies of all kinds and even mistakes in data. The effect is often striking, providing you with concrete corrections and enabling you to make further improvements based on the proofreader’s expert suggestions.
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.
