Services
Editing involves “carefully reviewing material before it is published, and suggesting or making changes to correct and improve it” (IPEd Standards).
To that end, I offer academic copyediting and proofreading services to researchers, scientists and postgraduate students to refine and improve their manuscripts or theses, prior to submitting for publication or examination.
Academic Copyediting
Copyediting is a line-by-line edit that aims to ensure your manuscript is engaging, clear and error-free. It's a service for those who want to put their best work forward to examiners or reviewers.
My copyediting service includes detecting and correcting any errors of grammar, spelling, and punctuation throughout your document. I may also suggest slight wording changes that can improve the clarity, readability, and flow of your sentences. The goal is to tighten up language and remove errors to communicate your research professionally and effectively.
In addition to editing the text, I'll ensure your document is formatted consistently and adheres to the nominated style guide of your university or intended journal. I'll check that things like font, margins, line and page numbering, headings, abbreviations, table formatting etc. are all within the guidelines, and I can create lists of tables and figures and a Table of Contents. I'll make sure all in-text citations appear in the reference list (and vice versa), and I'll even go through your reference list and flag any that aren't formatted correctly (high five!).
My copyediting service can be tailored to your personal needs to suit your timeline or budget. Some clients may request that I exclude references from the edit, or that I only edit the text without handling the document formatting (or vice versa)...it's totally up to you!
Proofreading
Are you confident with your writing and formatting, but need another pair of eyes to professionally check all the details before you submit? Then my proofreading service is for you.
Proofreading is a final detailed check of your document to ensure all errors are eliminated prior to submission. I'll check and remove errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation in the text, tables, figures and references. I'll also ensure that all document elements are included and consistently presented (e.g. correct placement and cross-referencing of tables and figures; correct cross-referencing between Table of Contents and body of document, and between citations and references; consistency of font, margins, line spacing, page numbers, acronyms, abbreviations and more).
Refining your document to become clear and error-free will present it as professionally as possible,
increasing your chance of success!
A note on scientific integrity...
Rest assured that I strive to provide a quality service that meets ethical and industry expectations, by adhering to the Standards for editing practice and Guidelines for editing research theses published by the Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd). Editing of student theses requires evidence of written approval from the primary supervisor (in fact, they may encourage it!).
Copyediting does not involve editing a manuscript's developmental structure, substance or scientific interpretation. Instead, I correct things like grammar, formatting and language impediments at the sentence-level, whilst preserving the author’s own voice, intent and meaning.
Please note I do not fact-check your work or check for evidence of plagiarism. However, if I notice something obvious I will flag it for your attention. I don't input your work into external AI tools or use generative AI to perform my editing, and your manuscript is held and edited confidentially by me for the duration of the job.
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Explore the FAQs page for more details of the editing process, or contact Donna in the message box below.
