Why You Should Hire an Academic Proofreader for Your Thesis or Dissertation
Careful proofreading are required at many stages in the lengthy process of producing a successful thesis or dissertation. The parts of your writing that you share at various times with your supervisor or primary mentor should be proofread carefully, and the same is the case when you present your work to other members of your advisory committee. If your degree programme involves formal upgrading or another kind of intermediate assessment for which you need to complete significant chunks of your thesis, you will certainly need to proofread and edit your writing before you pass it along to your committee and meet to discuss it. Finally, painstaking proofreading are absolutely essential before you submit your completed thesis or dissertation for final examination, and they might be required again to perfect your work after the exam, especially if your examiners have identified problems with your writing that must be resolved before your degree can be awarded.
You should obviously proofread your own writing with great care – as the author of the thesis or dissertation, you know better than anyone what you want it to say and do. However, being deeply involved in a research project and knowing exactly what you intend to write can also be drawbacks. To ensure that you are clearly communicating your intentions to your readers with precision and sophistication there is no substitute for a pair of fresh eyes. Your supervisor may be able to assist you to some degree, though he or she will no doubt have a limited amount of time to dedicate to your work, and fellow students who are conducting research in your field can also prove immensely helpful, though in that case you will want to return the favour when they are in need of some help. A third option involves engaging the services of a professional academic or scientific proofreader who can bring both objectivity and expertise to your work.
Professional proofreaders tend to be perfectionists who fuss over each and every detail, so one who is familiar with your discipline and subject area can catch not only errors in typing, grammar, spelling, punctuation and formatting, but also awkward phrasing, unclear expressions, missing information, inconsistencies of all kinds and even mistakes in data. If you struggle when attempting to express your ideas in writing or are not a native speaker of English, the skills of a professional proofreader will prove invaluable, and not just for correcting and perfecting the documents he or she proofreads and edits for you. The corrections made by your proofreader will reveal patterns of usage that can be emulated, and after you have reviewed the proofreader’s work, you may find that you are better able to execute successfully those constructions and formatting that were once problematic.
The best proofreaders also offer comments explaining their corrections and suggesting further changes that would render your prose more effective, and these comments can be used in educational ways to help you improve all your writing. The services of a professional proofreader who is familiar with the scholarly standards of communication and the conventions of formatting and style expected in your field can therefore provide not only an effective means of polishing your thesis or dissertation so that it meets and exceeds your university’s requirements, but also some constructive help for the challenging learning process required to improve your writing skills in the kind of fundamental ways that will enhance your academic or scientific career and your chances of successfully publishing your work.
