Students & Academics

In editing academic and reference material, my main subject focus is on law and social sciences, drawing on the knowledge gained from my academic and professional background in these areas. I frequently work with Oxford (Hart’s/OSCOLA) and APA referencing styles, as well as (or in combination with) other publisher, university or bespoke house styles.

Students

I work on everything from undergraduate essays and TMAs to PhD theses. The distinction between copyediting and proofreading is not so relevant for student submitted work, so I provide a single discounted student rate that covers a proof-editing service. I will check spelling, grammar, and punctuation, that the words used fit the context, that author-date citations are listed in the reference section and vice versa, that references are in the correct format, that a consistent style has been followed (e.g. in use of capitalisation, list punctuation, cross referencing), and more.

From an ethical perspective, I will not make any broad changes to the structure or sequence of argumentation as this is a key part of what you are being assessed on, though if there are areas that do not make sense I will flag this up as a query for you to consider. Likewise, I will not edit citations and references to convert them to the required style, but I will check to make sure that you have complied with your university’s requirements and will correct minor and/or occasional errors; if any repeated or wholesale changes are required, I will add a comment that this is required. To make sure that it remains your work, I will restrict changes to amending for grammatical accuracy and clarity, as well as checking that it complies with your university’s requirements (if any) for formatting and style. (You must check with your course supervisor that you are permitted to use a proofreader, and you must let me know if they set restrictions that go further than the limitations set out here.)

By limiting the number and type of changes I make, not only will you be assessed fairly on your own work but it also helps to keep the cost down!

If you would like to receive a time and cost estimate for a comprehensive check of your work, or if you would like to find out what I could provide for a fixed budget, please get in touch via the contact form or by email.

Academics

I can help you with pre-submission or self-published articles, monographs, contributions to edited volumes, and blog posts. Depending on the stage you are at and the route you are following, I can provide either traditional copyediting and proofreading or a flexible proof-editing service. If you already know what you need, please contact me for a quote and to check availability. Otherwise, please get in touch with information about your project and we can discuss how I can help you achieve the outcome you are looking for.