Our team at
The Ultimate Proofreader are acutely aware of the importance of completing your
Master’s dissertation and/or PhD thesis to as high as standard as possible. For
this reason, we offer a range of services in addition to those of
proofreading/editing. The purpose of this article is to detail these services
and explain how we can help you achieve success in your academic endeavours.
Referencing
One of the
most challenging tasks in any thesis or dissertation is ensuring the required
referencing style is used correctly and without error throughout your work.
This includes both in-text citations and the reference list/bibliography at the
end of your thesis/dissertation. Mistakes in referencing give the impression of
a lack of professional aptitude and/or insufficient care in writing and
checking your thesis. It is therefore essential to get it right, but doing so
can be a long and laborious process. At The Ultimate Proofreader, we will go
through every in-text citation and the entire reference list to ensure
everything is in order. Whether you are using APA, Harvard, Chicago, OSCOLA, or
any other system, we will make sure the requirements are fully met by checking
for errors in punctuation, use of italics, inconsistent/incorrect use of
&/and, the presentation of authors’ names, and whether the references are
correctly alphabetised.
Formatting
Another
time-consuming task that is vitally important to perform is to ensure that your
work is formatted correctly, consistently, and in accordance with the
requirements of the particular referencing system you are using. This
encompasses a wide range of technical features, such as fonts/font sizes,
spacing between sections/paragraphs, indenting of paragraphs, formatting of
headings/sub-headings, and, in particular, the correct presentation and
labelling of all figures and tables. The latter frequently gives rise to errors
such as incorrect italicisation (or lack of), headings in the wrong place (e.g.
under rather than above figures), inappropriate punctuation, cramped and
illegible text, and text/numbers that are incorrectly aligned. We will
meticulously go through your work and identify and then correct all such
errors. In some cases, it will not be possible to make such corrections as the
tables and/or figures are imported and hence cannot be edited. In these
instances, we will flag the errors using ‘comments’ bubbles and explicitly
state what needs to be addressed and how. Our aim is to ensure examiners are
not distracted or frustrated by unnecessary or careless mistakes, leaving them
free to focus on the content of your work whilst being impressed by the level
of academic professionalism on display.
Paraphrasing
Whilst
writing your thesis and/or dissertation, you may need to include work that you
have already published in a stand-alone paper. Your thesis/dissertation is also
a public document, therefore it is essential to ensure that you do not
plagiarise your own work (yes, this does happen) by simply copying text from an
existing paper. However, rewriting your work in different words whilst
retaining the correct meaning can be an extremely challenging task. This is
where we can help. Our team of experienced paraphrasers will rewrite the
specified task in clear, academic English, ensuring that it is of an equivalent
standard, does not lose any of the essential information, and conveys exactly
the meaning that was intended.
Scholarly
Review
Although we
will not necessarily be experts in your specialist field, our team of expert
proofreaders and editors know what it takes to produce a high-quality thesis or
dissertation. Accordingly, we will able to review your work from the standpoint
of a supervisor or examiner and comment on the overall structure, coherence,
and persuasiveness of your thesis. We will be able to identify any apparent
omissions, inconsistencies in argumentation, excessive repetition, ambiguities
and obscure references, lapses in academic style, and/or unsupported or dubious
assertions in your work. When conducting such a review, we will not seek to rectify
these issues but instead will flag them using the ‘comments’ tool and, where
appropriate, make suggestions as to how to remedy them. We can also highlight
areas where further explanation is required, such as in the introduction of
certain technical concepts, or conversely, where too much explanation is given
and the text is unnecessarily wordy or dense.
Checking
the use of acronyms
One of the
most common errors issues that arises when writing theses/dissertations
concerns the use of acronyms. For instance, sometimes acronyms are used from
the outset, leaving the reader mystified as to what they actually represent.
Conversely, there are occasions where acronyms are never used, resulting in
text that is too wordy and difficult to follow ‒ it also prevents the author from
including what may turn out to be more important material purely so they can
meet the word limit. Most commonly, students will tend to alternate between the
use of acronyms and full names (e.g. the UN and the United Nations). The
correct approach is to write the names in full on first mention, with the
acronym in brackets, and then use the acronyms thereafter. When writing
abstracts, however, acronyms should be avoided. We will therefore help to
ensure acronyms are used correctly and appropriately throughout your work.
Contents tables
and page numbering
Students
often find it difficult to construct a detailed and accurate contents table.
Thankfully, Microsoft Word will often do this for you, simply click on References
on the toolbar and then select Table of Contents on the left-hand side. You can
then choose from a range of formats, but will need to ensure that the style you
opt for is appropriate for the referencing format you are using (e.g. Harvard,
APA). We can help by checking this for you or even creating a contents table
from scratch) and ensuring that the chapter headings and sub-headings are written
and presented in the current way, along with the corresponding page numbers.
The main advantage of using this feature in Word is that it allows you to
automatically update your contents table, which means you can make as many
edits and changes as you like in the text without needing to go through the
painstaking process of manually updating the contents table (which also gives
rise to the risk of errors).
However,
although the page numbers are automatically updated, this will only work if you
have numbered your pages correctly throughout your thesis/dissertation.
Different institutions vary in their requirements, so you will need to check
these. Often, some sections will need to be numbered differently, with initial
sections such as the Abstract and Acknowledgments numbered using roman numerals
and the remaining sections (usually the body of the text) numbered using 1, 2,
3, and so on. You can set this up by clicking on Insert on the toolbar and then
selecting Page Number. This can be a tricky process, so we can help by advising
you on this or actually setting up the page numbers for you. We can also set up
appropriate Headers and Footers should you require them.
If you are
struggling with any of the above aspects, or are worried that you may not have
got things absolutely right when writing up your thesis/dissertation, than
contact us today for a free quote at info@ultimateproofreader.co.uk and we will help ensure your work is
as perfect as it can be.
