PhD Copy Editing Services

Get your Thesis Edited through our PhD Editors and Experts in Technical Writing.
The Resourses of Stark Technovision comprise of professional editors with years of expertise in this field. We ensure to offer error-free and grammatically sound thesis for your PhD with an Assurance to make you Successful.

Introduction

As a researcher, you must have gone through so many research papers. Out of those, you might have enjoyed something and some might not have drawn your attention. Ponder for a while, why didn’t the paper draw your attention. This reflects that, there is something missing or lacking in the content, i.e. the paper is unedited. The same thing holds good for PhD related paper like thesis or dissertation. Research paper without editing would fail to convey the purpose accurately. Hence, the written work must be refined for easy comprehension as well as gaining insights over the researched topic. Therefore, the edge of copyediting is must and this is the area where students fail to deliver.

Basic Procedures of Editing

The basic procedure for editing the manuscript or research paper involves ‘marking’ to the content. Thus, the initiative kicks off with the marking to the wrongly presented things which needs editorial decision for making necessary changes as corrective measure. In this respect, procedures for editing involves two types of approaches: traditional and modern. Traditional procedure was followed before the advent of computer. Nonetheless, the procedure is still working wonders. The modern approach is about on-screen copy editing, i.e. through the computers. Both the procedures have its place and it depends on how the writer is convenient to adopt a specific approach. Procedures of traditional editing are:

  • Marking
  • Querying
  • Record keeping
  • Cleanup

Let’s have a briefing over marking which is done through specific marks after spotting the errors. Those are: caret, delete, close up, delete and close up, space, transpose, stet, run in, para, spell out, period, comma, apostrophe, quote marks, parens, hyphen, en dash, em dash, lowercase, capitalize, small cap, superscript, subscript, italic, delete italic or bold, bold, flush left, flush right, center, and align. As per the copy editing marks, the text requires contextual change. This procedure is applied for hard copy material through pen or pencil. The same marking could be done through the means of on-screen word processing as well. Track change option with redlined text will do the necessary. Now focus on the aspect of querying, where the following things are addressed:

  • Question
  • Comment
  • Explanation

The procedure involving query is sought for when the text is with:

  • Factual inconsistency
  • Incorrect points of fact
  • Inconsistency in context to presented evidence and interpretation of it
  • Inconsistency involving text and the contextual diagram or graphics
  • Lack of attributes like footnotes, endnotes, bibliography, etc.

This is how the theme of the editing procedure needs to be incorporated.

Why Copyediting Matters

As already discussed, copy editing matters for easy comprehension. In addition to this, the very first thing that matters is the fact of performance. A neatly written thesis only fetches maximum marks. To ensure this, there should be:

  • Clarity in language
  • Key terms precisely defined
  • Overall structure of the content in order
  • Accurately formatted and referenced content.

All these things fulfill one desire in the long run. Chasing the academic goal with ease. Another desire is to make the research paper suitable for publication in a leading journal.

How to edit

When it comes to copy editing, its area is not limited to correcting the grammatical aspects and sorting out the errors involving spelling, hyphenation, punctuation, etc. Rather, it encompasses the technicalities of writing like usage of key terms, abbreviation, the way the paper is presented as a whole. For details of the editing task, go through the following.

Language editing

As far as language editing is concerned, the immediate attention is on: grammar, punctuation, spelling, words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs. The errors in these areas needs editing intervention to make sure, it goes well with the content. In this respect, the edge of editing requires for errors in:

  • Subject-verb agreement
  • Troublesome verbs
  • Split infinitives
  • Subjunctive mood
  • Dangling participles
  • Dangling and misplaced modifiers
  • Parallel form
  • Pronoun-antecedent agreement, and so on.

In addition to the above, a lot of things need attention to set the tone of research copy in order.

Punctuation

While writing, the aspect of punctuation cannot be ignored. Though, it might appear that, even if the punctuation is not used; it will convey the meaning in a sentence. However, it won’t go well with the reader as the punctuation with improper placement or without it becomes difficult to decipher. Sometimes the write-up might require presenting complex sentences. Thus, it needs a proper structure and coherent presentation for which infusing the exact punctuation will do the necessary. There are certain functions which need to be adhered to produce effective meaning are:

  • Terminal punctuation
  • Joining clauses
  • Setting off phrases
  • Indicating omission

These attributes find place as comma, colon, semi colon, hyphen, em dashes, quotation marks, exclamation marks, etc as per the requirement. Therefore, writer has to look at the content from this angle to fix the errors if any.

Spelling and Hyphenation

When it comes to spelling, the writer must have the sound knacks in this regard. If the write-up is going to be generated on-screen, the writer spots the error immediately. Though the writer has the option to resort to spell check option in a computer, but it doesn’t ensure the accuracy in certain cases. For instance, in the case of homophone; the spell checker is of no purpose. Consider the words ‘principal and principle’. Here the spell checker fails to distinguish. Thus, a small error in this form has the chance of miscomprehension to a reader. Even if the word is misspelled in some cases, the on-screen tool won’t highlight the wrong ones. Take another example: for instance the writer wants to write ‘from’. While he or she is in a writing spree, accidentally the concerned person might write the word as ‘form’. In terms of spelling, both words are in accurate. However, from reader’s perspective; it would sound weird. Reason, spell checker fails to spot the error. Therefore, the essence of spelling skill is must to rectify the wrong words. Similarly, the importance of hyphenation can’t be ruled out. With the usage of the hyphenation, it assists in fixing complex modifiers. For e.g. the writer wants to convey ‘tax free trade’. In actual, it indicates an error. As per the rules of two-word attributive adjectives; it should be tax-free trade. There are so many rules to fix errors which comes under the the purview of hyphenation..

Capitalization

The role of capitalization is also wide pervasive which needs to be adhered while writing PhD paper. If the write-up requires developing proper noun and proper adjectives; the rule says that, the first alphabet must be in capital. Again, it requires focussing on convention while treating words in a sentence as per the requirement, which could be categorized as: down style and up style. If the content is going to be published for a newspaper, the need is to use ‘up style’. Otherwise, if it is for book publishing; the aspect of down style must be infused. For example, consider the word ‘ the prime minister. In the down style, it is- The prime minister. In the up style, it should be- The Prime minister. Thus, the alphabet ‘p’ is capitalized. Look at the following where, it requires incorporating capitalization like:

  • Personal name and titles
  • Geographical names
  • Racial and ethnic groups
  • Company names
  • Trade marks
  • Brand names
  • Cyber jargon
  • Titles of works, etc.

So, the PhD paper is also evaluated in terms of capitalization as well. Hence, error in this type has to be sorted out.

Terminology editing

Terminology or technical terms matter a lot in a research paper. If the paper is scientific, the contextual terms should be in the paper. If the research study is on economics; the exact economical terms must be defined in accurate to make it easy for understanding. Error in this respect, will thwart the purpose of the study. Therefore, due care needs to be taken to deal with errors.

Abbreviation, Acronyms, and Symbols Editing

Use of abbreviation, acronym, and symbol also find place in the research paper as per the requirement. The usage of these things is to present something in short and to comprehend as well. For instance, a scientific paper requires mentioning ‘deoxyribonucleic acid’. Instead of writing this in elaborate, it could be presented in acronym as DNA’ which is very simple and easy to understand as well. The application of abbreviation in the paper has also its purpose. For instance, the content requires mentioning united nations several times in the paper. The spelled out aspect several times is a time consuming process and requires space as well. Here, it needs to be abbreviated as UN. The same principle holds good to symbol or sign as well. When a symbol is enough to present something, there is no need to write in detail to convey the same. To present dollar, it needs a symbol $. These things presenting seems very easy but resorting to errors is a common phenomenon. The errors could thrive in terms of wrong:

  • Capitalization
  • Latin abbreviations
  • Wrong abbreviation involving state and time
  • Units of measurement
  • Symbols and signs

If these wrongly presented things are not sorted out, it would convey wrong message to the reader.

Structural editing

Structure is like a skeleton around which various sections branchout. Research paper also needs its content to be developed in certain structure. Sections of the research paper like title, abstract, introduction, literature review, research methodology, etc should follow the convention of introduction, body, and conclusion. Jumbled up sections would fail to convey the intention of a researcher. Therefore, proper order needs to be followed. For instance, developing the introduction might require presenting in several paragraphs. Here, there must be a linkage from one paragraph to another while enumerating the research story. This aspect will generate interest to a reader and the concerned person will remain glued to it. Every aspect of the content matters in order to present structurally. Even the flow of information or idea must be in a logical sequence. To ensure this, it requires paying attention to the essentials like pagination, footnote, endnote, and so on.

Style and format editing

Writing a research paper is ordained to a certain style and format as per the need of institutional standard. Any wrong in formatting would invite only rejection. Reason for following certain standard is in order to route the reader to original source from where information or idea were extracted in developing the paper. Consider a institute accepts the research paper, if it has the vibes of MLA style. Thus, as per this style, the research paper needs to be incorporated in order are:

  • Section heading
  • Citation
  • Paper size
  • Font
  • Margin
  • Endnotes
  • Pagination
  • List of references
  • Bibliographic list

In addition to this the prominent thing which requires high attention is while referencing the sources. For instance, certain source of information is used from a text book. Thus, while referencing, the name of the author, edition of the book, place of book and name of publisher need to be presented in order while focusing on the aspect of punctuation as well. A small error in reference might be a reason for rework or reassess. Therefore, one needs to be well-versed in this respect as a part of copyediting responsibility.

Quotations and References

Writing a research paper at times require quoting something from other sources as per the requirement. This while quoting the same, there are chances of occurrence of errors in terms of :

  • Spelling
  • Mistyped words
  • Deleted words
  • Syntax of the quoted matter

Sometimes certain information could be presented in the form of a quotation and during which the chances of proning to mistakes in the form of punctuation, quotation marks, syntactical fit, ellipsis points, etc. When it comes to referencing, the specific source must be cited as per the standards prescribed. Acknowledging the source with inadequate referencing won’t impress the evaluator and reader. Therefore, error prone aspects in context to referencing are:

  • Author date system
  • In-text citation
  • Multiple citation
  • Multiple authors
  • Institutional author

These things require copy editing with an aim to maintain the order of referencing standard

Numbers and Numerals

Presenting the numbers and numerals in appropriate is one of the prerequisites to develop a research paper. In this respect, two things are prominent for treating the numbers like technical style and nontechnical style. If the research paper requires presenting in the form of technical and scientific writing; it requires infusing technical style. Otherwise, resorting to nontechnical style is the need. In this respect, the confusion is whether to write in words or numerals. If the sentence begins with numerals, it is an error. Rather it should start with words. But in the middle of the sentence, numeral finds place in a scientific paper. The same thing requires presenting in wording, if the paper involves nontechnical text. The errors in this regard thrive in terms of wrong:

  • Punctuation of numerals
  • Fractions
  • Percentages, percentage points, basis points, percentiles
  • Monetary units
  • Time
  • Units of measurement
  • Roman numerals
  • Inclusive numerals
  • Mathematical signs and symbols
  • Style sheet entries

While writing the paper, these highlighted things require high attention.

Tables, Graphs

Tables and graphs form a considerable part of the research paper in order to present various information effectively. In the parlance of copy editing, it requires assessing the purpose, the graphics meet. The table must convey a story with the attributes of easy comprehension. The information in the table should do the talks, even if it is presented in texts. To make sure the table is in order, the focus is on the accuracy of:

  • Table numbers
  • Titles
  • Column heads
  • Footnotes, etc.

Whatever information is produced in the graphics must reflect the sense with the aspect of consistency. Otherwise, it requires corrigendum.

How we assist in copyediting

Now after going through the content, it specifies that; there are so many errors which could thrive in various facets. The error needs to be dealt with; otherwise, the researcher will realize the repercussion if the document is submitted without the edge of copy editing nuances. There could be more lapses in the paper than what has been enumerated in this content. Recognizing the ordeals on the part of researchers to deal with errors; we have come up with swift copyediting solutions to fix the errors for all kind of research papers in pursuit of PhD degree. We have the expert copyeditors who have the potential to go through the research paper in detail to ensure the aspect of clarity, consistency, and coherency. Our scope of copy editing assistance encompasses:

  • The quality of writing remains intact
  • The targeted research community
  • Adhering to preferred style manual, etc.

Moreover, we are equipped with reference books and sources in context to research paper to have the theme of expository writing. Consult us for further information related to copyediting help.