Editing and Proofreading IAQ (Infrequently Asked Questions)
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This is my IAQ page. None of these questions have been asked by anyone else; I asked them of myself to set some working guidelines for this service.
Will I accept your essay, assignment or thesis for correction?
The answer will generally be yes. However, there are some exceptions:
- I will not correct essays when the subject matter is English. This particular prohibition is for the English as a Second Language students: I am not touching your essay at all. You are being assessed on your English ability - not on medicine or physics or geography, but on your grasp of the English language. Your teachers expect you to do the work. They don't expect it to be given to someone like me to do it. I know - part of my work is in the ESL business.
- I can not and will not correct the essay when the material is absent. If there are big gaps in the essay, it's up to you to fill the gap, not me. To do more leads into the murky business of "Essay writing", which I will not do.
- Finally, there are cases where the result is such a mess that I cannot work with it. It happens. In such an eventuality, I will be honest and point out why it is such a mess. What's more, I suggest we meet face to face and discuss it openly - for free.
Where do you live? Is it central?
I live in West End. It's central enough for me.
I cannot come to see you because I have public transport issues | family to care for | a bad back | etc. Can you come to see me?
I could come to see you if you live in the Brisbane metropolitan area; I have a car.
Do you correct essays to conform to Australian (or British or American) English?
I generally will not correct essays to conform to a given variety of English unless specifically requested. Personally, I am fine with both "realize" and "realise". However, your academic department may have a strong preference Australian English. Please inform me if so.
Will you correct essays that don't conform to a given citation style?
Many departments and faculties have their own preferred citation style, and you should let me know what it is. If you don't, I will look for obvious mistakes and inconsistences, but will otherwise leave things as they are.
"Essay correction" - is that the same as "essay writing"?
No. Essay correction is trying to find errors in an existing piece of work, such as missing articles, subject verb disagreement, and formatting errors, and suggest alternatives. "Essay writing" is writing a completely new essay from start. They're different things.
Do you do essay writing?
No, I refuse to write essay writing. It is unethical. That's another way of saying immoral, or wrong, or bad or evil. I personally hate the essay writing business: the perpetrators are a bunch of illiterate crooked spammers. Engaging in this practice can have severe repurcussions. Universities expect their students to learn by doing the work, and paying a third party to do it for you is seen as cheating. If you get caught, you may get kicked out from university or college. Student visas holders might even get kicked out of the country. Think of the shame it would bring to your family!
Essay writing is also a pretty clear contravention of the Guidelines for editing research theses set down by the Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd).
It is expected that the academic supervisors of research higher degree students will provide their students with editorial advice relating to matters of substance and structure; language (including matters of clarity, voice and tone, grammar, spelling and punctuation, specialised and foreign material); and use of illustrations and tables. They may also assist with copyediting and proofreading. This type of advice is covered in Standards C (‘Substance and structure’), D (‘Language and illustrations’) and E (‘Completeness and consistency’) of ASEP.
Professional editorial intervention should be restricted to copyediting and proofreading. This type of advice is covered in Standards D and E of ASEP.
In relation to matters of substance and structure (Standard C), the professional editor may draw attention to problems, but should not provide solutions. Examples may be offered in order to guide the student in resolving problems.
If you are curious, you can access standards A to E of the Australian Standard for Editing Practice as one PDF.
What about me doing your research?
I'm not interested. One of the ways to learn an area is to research it, and paying someone else to do so is laziness. This sort of work is handled by Standard C of the Guidelines for editing research theses, I believe.
I've got my essay finished, but it may contain some factual errors. Would you correct them?
No. This kind of advice also falls in Standard C, and with rare exceptions, I will not have studied your area of expertise. However, I may look a little sceptical or agonised if I see something silly like E = mc3.
There are so many editing services on the Internet. What makes you so different?
I try to do personal editing one on one. I prefer to give feedback in person, rather than as an anonymous person on the Internet, and can be argued with. For these reasons, I'm only offering my proofreading services to people in the Brisbane area.
What if I am in a hurry?
If there is an emergency, such as an assignment due tomorrow morning at 8am, then perhaps some arrangement may be made. I prefer to have two days notice for proofreading. Submissions due before this will cost extra.
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