Advice for students
taking some of the stress out of using a professional proofreader
So, you’re a student needing some proofreading done as part of the final preparation of your thesis, dissertation or essay.
Do you know where the ethical boundaries lie in the contract between you and your proofreader?
Do you know what your university’s academic standards require of you in respect of the presentation of your work?
Have you been disappointed and confused by some of the responses you’ve had from proofreaders so far?
Whether you are a native English speaker or not, working with proofreaders as a student can be a bewildering experience.
Below, I’ve set out a few tips that will hopefully help you navigate these waters, save yourself some stress, and present your work for examination at its best.
You must be the author of your examinable work
Whether it is a PhD thesis or a modular assignment, the presentation of work for assessment or examination at university requires the highest standards of academic integrity. Each institution will have its own defined standards, but this broadly means that you must have written your own work, presented your own thoughts clearly and ensured the accuracy of its contents, which may include references to other people’s work.
It also means that you are responsible for declaring if and how you have used other inputs to the material that you are presenting for examination. These might include reference materials, translation services, AI-generated material or proofreading services.
You may need authorisation to engage a proofreader
Very often a university will require a student to obtain authorisation to use such a service before you can go ahead and do so. You should check with your supervisor what these standards are, early on.
Some universities veto the use of internal and third-party proofreaders altogether, so make sure that you aren’t breaching your academic regulations before engaging a proofreader.
Your proofreader cannot be your copy-editor
The Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading has strict professional ethical standards when it comes to proofreading students’ work. There is no scope for offering the type of critique that comes with copy-editing for students’ work. It would compromise the academic integrity of your examination submission if another person had contributed to its writing or the presentation of your research or argument.
Asking your proofreader for advice on presentation or to re-structure, re-phrase or re-write your work will place you both in difficult ethical territory, and may even result in your proofreader withdrawing their services.
In some instances, the quality of the writing may require strong language editing as part of proofreading, and the degree of intervention required by the proofreader may mean that they would need to agree this with your supervisor. Your proofreader will talk with you about this, if this seems to be the case.
What your proofreader is permitted to do
These are the things that professional standards permit your proofreader to do when it comes to proofreading students’ work:
Check spelling, punctuation and grammar
Check the numbering systems you have used
Format the text according to the style system you prefer
Check whether the correct referencing style has been used for all references
Query inconsistencies in common-knowledge statements of fact
Note that your university may have its own definition of what your proofreader is permitted to do.
What your proofreader is not permitted to do
The following remain the responsibility of the student, and the proofreader is not permitted to do these activities:
Fact-checking
Checking the accuracy of references
Judging the best structure for the arguments presented in your work
Re-writing and re-presenting sections of work
Correcting non-grammatical or non-typographical errors
Judging whether the arguments presented hold together
It is also the responsibility of the student to ensure that all references are formatted correctly. However, it may be possible to negotiate a separate fee from your proofreader for them to do this work.
Note that your university may have its own definition of what your proofreader is not permitted to do.
The code of practice, or academic agreement
Most proofreaders will provide you with a template academic agreement as a code of practice contract to maintain both their professional integrity and your academic integrity. It will usually set out clearly the services that the proofreader will provide and which are expected to be done by the student.
Some universities have their own templates which state their own specific requirements, which you will prefer to use, so please share this with your proofreader if you do. Others require students to confirm that their proofreader has received and read their university’s policy on the use of proofreaders. No professional proofreader will have a problem with doing this.
It is your responsibility to know whether you have a template academic agreement at your university. If you don’t know, check with your tutor or with your academic standards team – they will be able to tell you.
Try to plan ahead
Even if it feels like a real hassle, it’s a good idea to think ahead. At the beginning of the academic year, plot out your assignment delivery timetables. Work out when you will need to get the work done, proofread, corrected, and submitted and plan your work around that schedule.
The best time to seek quotes from proofreaders is when you are about half-way through writing up your work. That way, you will have a sample of text to send them – so that they can judge how heavily they will need to edit it, and therefore provide you with a quote – and give your chosen proofreader enough time to plan doing the work well for you. A sample of 500 words from the middle section of your work is a good indicator of your standard.
The following are really useful to bear in mind and will save you some stress further down the line:
Proofreading services are provided by professionals with schedules that are usually quite full of work. You will need to give them quite a lot more than a few days’ notice to perform the work if you want to receive quotes from interested proofreaders.
Proofreaders are often prepared to offer slightly reduced rates for students, but this doesn’t mean that they will be prepared to work weekends or through the night, even if you are burning the midnight oil. Make sure that your timetable is based around professional working hours.
You will need to take action on any issues that the proofreader identifies, so make sure that the date that you arrange for your proofreader to deliver your edited work back to you is not the same as your submission deadline. Give yourself a couple of days to make those changes before your work needs to be submitted.
If you develop a good relationship with a proofreader that you like, and you know that you will need similar services in the future, ask whether they will tentatively pencil in time later in the academic year to work with you. This might save you the difficulty of finding quotes and of you (and possibly your supervisor) needing to develop a relationship with a new proofreader again and again throughout the academic year.
The specialist proofreader
Because the proofreader is only editing your text for essential spelling, punctuation, grammar and consistency, it is not actually necessary for them to be a specialist in your academic topic.
However, if you are studying in a niche area of expertise, you may find that someone with familiarity with the terms you are using will understand a very complex piece of work better, and therefore take less time (and therefore cost less) to proofread your work.
It is perfectly reasonable to ask for your specialism as a preferred expertise from your proofreader, but bear in mind that if you make it an absolute requirement the chances of you finding the expert you want to proofread your work may be quite low.
Budgeting for the work
Even though many proofreaders will quote lower rates for examinable work, many students are still surprised by the fees charged for proofreading.
Proofreading is a professional editorial service and is charged accordingly. If you don’t understand the quote you have been given, feel free to speak with your proofreader about it, and ask them to break it down for you. It’s possible that you might negotiate a revised contract that is more affordable to you. If you are working to a smaller budget, be prepared to accept a limitation to the things that the proofreader will provide (for example, you may find that you prefer to re-format all references yourself than ask a professional to do so, or only have the largest sections of your work proofread, and you proofread the rest).
Proofreaders will usually ask students for a representative sample of their work before they quote for their services. The reason for this is that this helps the proofreader work out how much editing is required of the work. If – after the proofreader has worked on the text for a little while – it becomes apparent that the sample was not representative after all, the proofreader is within their rights to approach you to re-negotiate the contract.
Once you have had a piece of your work proofread, you will have a basic benchmark from which to plan the budget for any future work that you will need done.
Be very wary of using your fellow subject students or peers to unofficially review your work in order to save on costs. Your university may have disciplinary procedures that are activated in these instances. If in doubt, speak with your supervisor who will put you on the right track.
Finding out what you need to know
Quite often, students find themselves in difficult situations because they were simply unaware of the academic regulations they should have been observing. Unfortunately, the onus is on the student here. It is your responsibility to look it up and read it, if it hasn’t already been explained to you.
Many universities offer a tremendous amount of resources to support their students in clarifying the requirements of their academic standards. They also tend to be pretty good at helping students develop their language and writing skills, and their own proofreading skills. These resources range from simple guidance on their internal and external websites, to tutorials, online courses, and links to external sources of advice. Have a look and see what resources your university has made available to you. You might find that you don’t need a proofreader at all after attending some of their courses.
Different universities use different names for their internal organisations, but some search terms that might lead you to help and support on this topic may be:
Academic standards and support
Academic governance and policy
Academic quality
Educational policy support
Academic misconduct
Disciplinary policy
Declaration of authorship
Proofreading policy
Don’t forget that your tutor, your student services team and the Students’ Union will also be able to point you in the right direction.
Finding a proofreader
It’s possible that your university has a list of proofreaders that it recommends for use, but it’s more likely that you will be expected to find one yourself.
Searching online for a proofreader local to you will lead to you to freelancer websites like this one, or larger editorial organisations that hold employed and freelance proofreaders on their books, where you can enquire after a quote for services. Adding your speciality to your search terms may refine your search further and save you some time.
A number of freelancer registries exist, such as findaproofreader.com and freelancersintheuk.co.uk, where you can submit enquiries to all of their members for a quote. Quotes for services will vary depending on who responds to your enquiry and which organisation you approach. Most freelancers will explain their broad fee structure up-front, either on their website, or in their interactions with you, but wait until you receive the quote before making your decision.
Choosing your proofreader
When selecting your proofreader, consider the following before making your decision:
Check out their professional accreditation and training: In the UK, the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and the Publishing Training Centre (PTC) are reputable bodies.
If they publish testimonials, what does the gist of these tell you about working with them?
Not all proofreaders started off in the editorial business but will have relevant background knowledge and experience. How well does this align with what you need?
How many questions do they ask you about your work? Do they want to talk through the outline of the project with you? Do they understand the ethical requirements of working with students? You are more likely to get on better with an engaged and conscientious proofreader.
Ask them to return your sample text, edited (many proofreaders will edit a small sample for free as part of the quotation process). This will give you a sense of their capability, and also hopefully give you something to compare with others’ work.
An experienced professional will understand that this process will be new to you, and that you are likely to be stressed about completing your work on time. How accommodating are they about structuring the delivery schedule?
An experienced professional will not make promises that they cannot keep. Have they been clear about what they can and cannot do? Do they give you confidence in what you will receive from them, and when?
Getting the proofread off to a good start
From the proofreader’s perspective, the following is really helpful information:
Your name and contact information
The title and topic of your piece of work
Its length in words
What type of work it is (PhD or Master’s thesis, dissertation, project, examinable, not examinable etc.)
Your supervisor’s name and contact information
If you have one, your university’s policy on the use of third party proofreaders
Your required referencing style
Any stylistic preferences you have
Your proposed timetable for delivering the work before the final submission deadline, and any issues that you have with it
Your agreement to a code of practice or academic agreement – either yours or the proofreader’s
A representative sample of your text (preferably 500 words, from the middle of your work)
Whilst I hope that you are feeling better-equipped after reading this page, your university’s policies and practices take precedence over the advice in it. Please speak with your tutor or supervisor if you have any questions about this topic.
Good luck!
Please get in touch so we can get the conversation started.