Bang for your buck
Hello all!
I’ve been happily receiving your enquiries this past month, but some of you have run away when you’ve realised how much editing costs. It’s not as cheap as I wish it was, but you do get a lot for $0.03–0.04 per word. (I’m proud to say that although I’m a private business owner, my rate is competitive with the rates of much larger companies where editors do bulk work.) This blog demystifies just what you will get from me as your editor, and as such shows how it all comes together to improve your final product.
I use an Interactive Process
As I’ve explained on other parts of my site, I work with you while I’m editing your document—I don’t just take your thesis for 3–5 weeks, mark it up with a million corrections, and send it back. Instead, the document moves between us every day, as this list describes:
Every day, I read and make corrections and suggestions, which are visible in Track Changes. I leave remarks when I need your clarification, or to explain why I’ve done what I’ve done, so you can clearly understand my suggestions/corrections.
I return the document to you every evening with a different filename (thus creating a trackable version for every stage of the editing process) and you review the changes every evening.
You accept the changes you agree with and leave replies to answer my queries. You also save the file with a slightly modified filename, so we don’t double up and use a previous version at any time. You then send it back to me by 8.30–9.00am the following morning.
The next day, I read the sections we’ve worked through the previous day again, going through your remarks and resolving most of the edits. These sections will then be designated “clean”—but you can still add to them, because Track Changes will show me where you’ve added text, and I can edit that, too. After I’ve reviewed all the previous day’s material, I then go on to the next section and repeat the process on new sections.
But what am I looking for? What am I going to find and fix? The following sections detail all the ways in which I will be paying attention to your document.
Punctuation and Grammar
This is the part that you know I will do—this is what even my friends think I do with their text messages—fix grammar and spelling. (Actually, I only edit text when I get paid per word, so if you email me, imagine it’s a conversation we’re having, and do not worry about my Eagle Eyes condemning you. Life is too short to edit ephemera.) These are the kinds of things I work on in this category:
Sentences make sense: subjects and verbs match, the subject is in the subject position, no missing (or unnecessary) articles, modifiers sit where they should be, typos/spelling mistakes found and eliminated, etc.
Punctuation is dot-perfect, including the consistent use of your style of inverted commas (e.g., APA, Harvard, etc.).
Flow, Style, and Tone
Grammar ensures that sentences “make sense”, but documents make sense at other levels. For example, content and logic both need to flow so that an argument can be made; academic style requires certain language use and that particular conventions are followed (e.g., using inverted commas around informal words); tone (that bridge over the river of co-created thought between the writer and reader) strengthens text so that points are made clearly, elegantly, and without overstatement. In this category of editing, I ensure:
Paragraphs and sections work together to make logical sense; a reader will be able to clearly follow your points/argument. In this category of review, I often leave remarks such as, Can the reader follow this section if you don’t introduce it clearly? or This section ends rather abruptly, and the reader is “dumped” into the next one—Help the reader follow your ideas by adding a summary sentence here, or You seem to be saying […]. Is this what you mean? Perhaps a sentence about this might create stronger flow for the reader.
Key terms and argument demonstrate overall consistency. In this category of review, I might leave a query such as, In section 2.3 you used this term to describe […]; here, you are using it differently. Is this correct? Will your reader understand the difference between these two ideas/be able to see how they connect up? or It seems you may have said something similar in section […]. What about referring to this here with a cross reference?
Paragraph/section/chapter/document makes a clear argument. Technically, this is inside the purview of your supervisors, but as an independent reader, I find my clients really appreciate the odd remark about whether their argument is being clearly made. In particular, academic documents require a lot of literature discussion, the point of which is (a) to acknowledge the preceding scholarship on your subjects/s, and (b) to draw together threads from these various texts and create your own argument—one that justifies your choice of research questions, for example. Sometimes, however, it’s easy to forget to use the words and phrases or include the summary sentences that make the argument, for example, As you can see, I review your document very carefully. Thus, as I read your text, I sometimes find and point out missing moments in your narrative that could be harnessed to draw out your argument and keep its thread highlighted in the reader’s mind.
Style is academic, and tone is appropriate and consistent. One of my often-repeated remarks is, Softly, softly: It’s better not to make strong generalisations in qualitative work. “It seems that” or “This suggests that” is a more appropriate tone to use here.
Citations and Referencing
Most of my clients use Endnote, but that doesn’t stop me checking your references, as this list describes:
Every citation is checked in the references list to make sure author names and dates match and that you have used all your references (I mark them off as you used them, on a printed copy of the list). You may think Endnote does not make mistakes, but believe me, it does. It’s also quite easy to forget to include or to accidentally make mistakes with direct quote pagination. I’ll find all that.
When I check a citation in the references list, I keep a note of formatting errors that Endnote is making, and I give you a “hit list” to help you fix up these mistakes by wrangling the robot. This list would include items such as, Journal article titles should be in sentence case, not title case, or Remove publisher location: APA 7 does not require a place of publication for books, just a publishing house, or All online news articles require a Month, day addition in the date field.
If in the end you can’t wrangle Endnote to your will (it can be horrendously stubborn and capricious), after we completely finish with the whole of the document text, I offer a cheap ($0.02/word) reference-cleaning service, which means I can clean your references to style standard after Endnote is turned off and its fields are turned into regular text.
Formatting
Documents always appear at their best when they are formatted into a Word template and all text and heading styles are consistent throughout. I advocate that the main text is set in Times or Times New Roman and that headings are set in a standard sans-serif font such as Arial or Helvetica Neue. Formatting consists of attention to these main issues:
Front end matter (e.g., title page, Declaration, Abstract, Lists of Figures/Tables, Table of Contents, etc.) are all laid out clearly and professionally;
Text is clear, font is consistent, all extra spaces are removed, and paragraphs are evenly spaced (no carriage returns/enter marks used as “spacing”);
Long quotes, numbering, and bullet lists are correctly and consistently formatted;
All headings are formatted with scientific-numbering (e.g., Chapter 2, 2.1, 2.1.2, 2.2, Table/Figure 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, etc.);
Cross references are added as “hot links” so that the reader can click them to go straight to the section referenced;
Figures and tables (their headings, notes, captions, etc.) are laid out in professional thesis style, and are compliant with your specific APA/Harvard/etc. needs;
Figures and tables autogenerate their own lists at the front of the document;
Table of Contents is formatted to a professional standard;
List of Abbreviations is complete and correct, and all abbreviations and key terms are made consistent throughout; and
Footers and page numbers are correct and consistent.
The bottom line
As you can see, you will get quite a bang for your buck if you decide to engage me as your editor. And just a final word about the lurking idea that an editor is hired to “correct” or “fix up” your document: All academic documents represent a huge amount of work, especially theses; as such, I believe that things are included the way they are included for a good reason. As such, it’s not my job to correct you or fix up your work; it’s my job to make everything you’ve already done shine as brightly as it can. In short, I begin with respect for you and the document, and all my suggestions and corrections flow from that.
So, no need to fear the editor—I’m on your side.
Have a beautiful day!
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