THESIS EDITING SERVICES

Thesis editing services: options

Are you looking for a professionally trained and experienced thesis editor? Someone who can format your manuscript to your university’s requirements? Check that every reference in your reference list is precisely formatted to your chosen referencing style?

I can help. After many years of working with doctoral and master’s candidates, copyediting and formatting hundreds of theses and thousands of references, I’ve carefully designed the following options with your needs in mind, and these can be tailored to your needs. See the Options matrix further down the page for full details of each option.

Option 1 Copyedit (one pass)
Option 2 Copyedit (two passes)
Option 3 Proofread
Option 4 Page proof
Option 5 Manuscript format
Option 6 Reference format

Experienced thesis editor

I have lots of experience editing higher degree research theses (see my Portfolio for broad research areas), and my services are recommended by universities in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, so you can rest assured you’ll receive a high-quality service. Read some of my clients’ testimonials here.

APA fluent

I work predominantly and am fluent with APA (sixth and seventh editions), but I also work with a range of other style guides, including the Australian Style Manual, the Oxford Guide to Style, MLA, CMoS and Harvard. Talk to me about your institution’s preferences.

Guidelines for editing research theses

As a professional copyeditor, I adhere to the Institute of Professional Editors’ Guidelines for Editing Research Theses, for students and their supervisors, which outline the extent and nature of editorial services I can ethically provide when editing theses (download the revised 2021 version [PDF; 141 kb]).

Per the Australian Standards for Editing Practice (2nd ed.), the involvement of a professional editor should be restricted to copyediting or proofreading — please see Parts D (‘Language and illustrations’) and E (‘Completeness and consistency’) of the Standards for further advice in these areas. Regarding substance and structure please see Part C of the Standards a professional copyeditor may draw attention to such problems, but solutions cannot be offered.

All Australian universities are recommended to follow these guidelines, and your university most likely includes them in its information for higher degree research students. For students outside Australia, you should refer to your university’s ethics guidelines on contracting a professional editor. The Australian guidelines, however, are generally regarded as industry best practice.

Supervisor approval

Per the Guidelines, students are requested to obtain written approval from their principal supervisor to use a professional copyeditor and to provide this to their copyeditor before they start work. The supervisor should also confirm they have reviewed your full draft manuscript and it is ready for copyediting.

How to submit your manuscript

Submitting a manuscript to me couldn’t be easier. For details of the process, see the FAQs.

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