Editing for students
Dissertations, theses, and application documents, polished within your institution’s rules on editorial help. Your ideas, your argument, your work.
You’ve done the work, and editing makes sure the writing does it justice, within the rules your institution sets.
What we work on
- Dissertations and theses
- Research proposals
- Personal statements and application documents
- Coursework, where your institution permits editorial help
Start with your institution’s rules
Most universities publish a policy on what an editor may and may not do to a student’s work. They vary, and the differences matter, so send us yours with the draft.
If we can’t find one, we’ll work to a conservative standard: language and consistency, with everything else raised as a margin comment for you to decide on.
If your institution requires you to declare that an editor was involved, we’ll give you an editing certificate stating exactly what we did.
What we do
Language and mechanics. Grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling, in your required variety of English.
Clarity. Where a sentence doesn’t say what you meant, we fix it, and where we can’t tell what you meant, we ask rather than guess.
Consistency. Terminology, formatting, headings, and citation style, applied throughout.
References. Formatted to your required style, and checked to make sure each source exists.
Comments where the decision is yours. Anything that affects your argument or your evidence goes in the margin as a question for you to decide.
Where we stop
We don’t write or rewrite any part of the work you submit for a degree.
Your qualification is worth something because the work behind it is yours, so we stay well clear of that line.
We also leave the substance alone. If there’s a problem with your argument or your method, we’ll point it out, and then it’s yours to work through with your supervisor.
If you want more help than an edit, coaching is the alternative: we work alongside you while you write it yourself.
What it costs
Editing is billed hourly at the line editing rate of $60, so the price depends on the length and the state of the draft.
Send us the document and your deadline and we’ll quote before any work starts.
Send us the draft and your institution’s rules
If you have a policy document on editorial help, send that too. We’ll agree the scope with you before quoting.
Get a quote