A dissertation is regarded as an academic achievement at the highest level. That is why, the authorized scholarly committee does not evaluate your mere research, but also your critical and analytical thinking, as well as composing skills. Considering the significance of this oeuvre for your professional future, it is valuable to seek assistance, which will guarantee the supreme quality of your work. Such valuable help is embodied by a dissertation editing and proofreading service. Both undergrads and post-graduates address experts to proofread the final version of their scholarly project. An assigned specialist will identify the main drawbacks and enhance the implemented strategies. Only professionals can see how to preserve a complicated flow of thoughts in your dissertation thoroughly. The task of the specifically chosen specialist is to polish every part of your work.

How to Define Editing and Proofreading in the Dissertation Context

A dissertation embodies the pinnacle of your academic career. Apparently, this project has to be impeccable. Yet, dissertation completion is tough. It is not so intricate to write it, but it is difficult to make this work stand out.

What is editing and proofreading in relation to the dissertation project? Proofreading and editing reflect two different stages of dissertation evaluation. We will help you to describe these processes and observe the major discrepancy.

Proofreading is an in-depth grammar and stylistic check of your work. An expert who proofreads your paper has to correct spelling errors, grammar tense issues, fix punctuation problems, and any other inconsistencies in your context.

Editing is deemed to fulfill the above-mentioned proofreading tasks. It is more focused on enhancing the overall readability of your project. The editing stage often precedes proofreading. The latter one refers to the final touches made to your manuscript. When your dissertation is proofread, it means your final version is ready.

The Reasons Behind Dissertation Editing and Proofreading Are:

• Adhering to the academic publishing standards

Academic publishing was initially aimed at scholars, so its standards are strict and unbreachable. Even minor flaws in a dissertation project can significantly affect your grade. Linguistic and grammar mistakes are not tolerated. Such a crucial academic project should also follow a precise structure predetermined by international scholarly standards. Although many students resort to self-editing, it is much more effective to find assistance from dissertation editing experts.

• Meeting the guidelines of your institution

The seamless grammar and linguistic potential of such an oeuvre cannot be compromised. Besides, your dissertation should be styled according to one of the international educational writing formats. The most typical formatting choices of academic institutions are MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard, and Vancouver. Such formats are frequently observed in many published scholarly works. You may be not aware that the proper formatting of an extended project may require advanced knowledge of specific word-processing software. More complex requirements encompass setting page numbering, running heads, and making up automated lists of figures and tables.

Moreover, profound editing and proofreading helps you enhance your manner of referencing, making it more scholarly-oriented.

• Keeping up with subject-specific conventions

When you create the first dissertation draft, you have to adhere to a few subject-specific conventions, which are a bit different from general academic writing rules.

For instance, one of the common conventions is that a researcher must define all abbreviations the moment he mentions them. Of course, it is unnecessary to define some widely-used terms within a specific field. If your project’s audience is physical scientists, then they definitely know the term ANOVA. On the contrary, some terms have already become outdated, so you should be attentive not to incorporate obsolete phrases into your work. Therefore, it is essential to look into the terminology updates to keep up with topical subject-specific conventions.

• Gaining an alternative perspective

It is beneficial to look at the manuscript from a fresh perspective. A new-fangled viewer may get some insights even the original writer has not noticed. The paradox is, the author may create specific linguistic anomalies and get used to them (even when no one incorporates such terms besides you). It is also typical to make trivial grammatical errors during the process of dissertation writing. Your eye becomes trained not to notice certain petty mistakes, but your readers will definitely notice even minor typos. That is why it is favorable to have even several editors and proofreaders, as each new specialist discovers more trivial mistakes and eradicates them. Professional editors and proofreaders provide priceless assistance in this case, as they already know many cunning failproof methods of looking through the comprehensive compositions.

• Handling linguistic challenges at an international level

If your project was written in a different language and especially not as popular as English, it may be obligatory to translate it thoroughly into the English language. This ensures that a wider audience interested in your research topic is attracted. Apparently, in this case, you will encounter certain linguistic challenges. Why? Because most institutions require a fluent scientific level of English. Thus, you have to display a level close to a native English speaker. It is especially difficult for foreigners to grasp all the nuances of English linguistics. It means that even an error-free work may sound strange if you use some linguistic constructions not typical of English. For instance, it is normal to start a sentence with “But” when speaking informally. Some writers like Stephen King also began their sentences with “But”, and their talents have not been questioned. However, academic phrasing is stricter even than some embodiments of free-flowing literary writing. Hence, you should remember that it is better to write “Nevertheless”, “Still”, “Yet”, “Conversely” instead of “But” in academic writing. The list of such rules can be pretty wide-ranging, and even not all native speakers are aware of them. Of course, a native professional writer will know those nuances to help you out.

You face more and more obstacles when you try to translate a manuscript on your own. The worst thing you can do is to attempt machine translation – it will surely have lots of errors, grammatical, stylistic, and contextual ones. It is also important to pay attention to the translation of idioms and particular expressions common only for the English language. Your context will lose its sense and relevance if all your idioms are translated verbatim. Now you should understand much better why it is so essential to seek dissertation proofreading assistance from native speakers.

Proofreading hints and tricks

When you finished writing your dissertation, you can reread it to understand how many sections need exhaustive editing and proofreading. Take a chance to attempt independent proofreading. Our experts have come up with useful tips:

1. Look at your overall formatting

Although the content is considered the essence of your research, it can be seriously aggravated due to improper formatting. Look closely at all your paragraphs and see whether you divided them into proportionate chunks of information. Check the appropriate usage of headings and sub-headings. See whether you chose the correct font. Further, go to the labeling of your sources.

2. Observe your style consistency

Consistency means adherence to one explicit style throughout the whole paper. Your language and tone of voice should coincide in every paragraph. Such comprehensive work is completed in several months and even one year. So, if you postponed writing it for quite a significant time, you could have incorporated a different tone after the pause. Make sure that all your sources are capitalized properly. Pay attention to the sameness of hyphenation throughout the work.

3. Proofread a lengthy text in breaks

It may be ineffective to proofread such an extensive project as a dissertation in one sitting. You will likely be bored, and your focus will be rambling. Keep in mind that some mistakes are more difficult to spot than others, so hastening while proofreading is never beneficial.

In contrast, if you proofread your written work segment by segment, you will likely correct all the major inconsistencies.

4. Make use of good old Microsoft Word

Being one of the widely used word-processing tools, Microsoft Word has many handy functions not everyone uses to its full extent. Besides being convenient for writing your content, it is also beneficial for proofreading and commenting on mistakes. Make sure you set the right language to effectively track spelling and grammar issues.

5. Read your dissertation aloud

This simple tip is actually very useful. When you read everything you wrote aloud, your mind starts noticing all the mistakes more effectively. It will become much easier to discern structural mistakes, except for spelling and grammar. Such a conventional approach to dissertation editing and proofreading is surprisingly helpful.

6. Print your project to read from paper sheets

One more old-fashioned way to proofreading is printing your work. When holding the print in your hands, you can sense it physically, which makes you concentrate better on highlighting the mistakes. It is beneficial to use colorful markers to highlight different categories of errors. It has been researched that any errors become more noticeable on palpable paper than on a computer screen. It will definitely boost the effectiveness of the editing process.

7. Scan the paper for plagiarism

Although it does not belong to the actual proofreading, the last thing you want to do is to compromise the originality of your huge ambitions work, which reflects your noble academic strivings. Find an up-to-date plagiarism-checking tool to rest assured that none of the dissertation parts have been accidentally plagiarized. Academic plagiarism is a severely punishable misconduct, which may lead to the loss of your sought-after degree. You can choose from a variety of online plagiarism detectors to check your project for coincidences. A favorable score is under 5%.

These amazing tips for proofreading dissertation will help you make your work even more insightful and academically worthy! Just follow all these rules or address genuine professionals.

Final proofreading recommendations

Even if it seems that your dissertation reflects detailed research of a compelling subject matter; even if you envision yourself standing before the impressed audience greeting a newborn scholar, think twice before turning your initial draft in. Your ideas may be truly ground-breaking. Still, grammar mistakes and improper structure may significantly undermine the quality of such a quintessential project. To gain your future degree without impediments, it is smart to seek professional dissertation editing and proofreading services. Experts of scholarly achievements will put immense effort to make your language, paper structure, and formatting refined. May your major academic oeuvre be spotless!