#phd proofreading

The PhD Writing Template is a way to visualise every element of your PhD on one page. Once you have filled it in you will have an overview of each section of the thesis and an executive summary of the thesis as a whole. It'll show you how to write a PhD.

We're really proud of it and we've got great feedback from people who have used it.

It's the most useful guide to structuring a thesis there is.

In this post, I explain how to use the template. It doesn't matter whether you've just started your PhD or you're about to submitting, you'll find it useful.

What is the PhD Writing Template?

The PhD Writing Template is a way for your to visualise your PhD on one page. It guides you through creating a synopsis for each chapter and an overall outline of the thesis using simple questions to structure and guide your thinking.

Whilst no two PhDs are the same, they share a number of core sections.

Ten, in fact:

   Abstract    Acknowledgements,    Introduction    Literature review    Theoretical framework    Methodology    Empirical chapters    Discussion chapters    Conclusion    References

It’s true that some PhDs may place greater emphasis on each of these elements than others. The theoretical framework, for example, may or may not be a standalone chapter. The methods may just be one or two paragraphs. But however they’re presented, you'll find these ten sections in practically every PhD.

The PhD Thesis Template contains eleven elements: one for each of the nine sections above and one (at the very top) detailing the overarching aims and objectives of the thesis.

Within each element is a number of questions. By answering each of these questions in order, you will have a synopsis for each particular element. By combining all of these together, you will have an outline of the thesis as a whole.

The very top element - 'Aims and Objectives ' - is where you detail the headlines of the thesis. Think of these as the answer you give when people at parties ask what your research is on. They also form the thread that runs through the entire thesis. That’s why they're discussed first. By coming up with solid answers to the questions in this first section, you’ll have an anchor on which to rest at every stage in the thesis itself.

After that, each element corresponds to a particular section.

How do I write a PhD using the template?

It’s simple to use.

First, print it out.

Then, answer each of the questions in each section.

Answer on post-it notes. One for each box. That way you can change your answers over time. But aren’t post-it notes too small? No! Small is good here. It means you have to be clear and concise. If you can't fit your answers onto a post-it note, you need to refine them.

To save space, use bullet points, but make sure you carefully think about and respond to each point.

Why do you need the template?

The template will allow you to understand:

   All of the elements required in a thesis.    Where they fit and how they relate to one another.

Because the template is contained on one page, you can easily refer to it for an overview of a particular chapter and the thesis as a whole. Print it out, stick it to the wall above your writing desk and use it to clarify your thought process. The PhD writing process is messy and complex. It’s easy to lose track of where you are, what you are doing and why you are doing it.

You can use it at any stage in the PhD process.

If you’re just starting out, you can use it as a mind-map, jotting down answers and refining them over time as your knowledge and understanding develops. If that’s you, expect to go through a lot of post-it notes! If you’re writing up, you can use it to make sure you’re hitting the target in every chapter and not putting things in the wrong place.

Or, if you’ve just written your thesis (well done!) you can use it as a resource to help you edit and to help you prepare for your viva.

Conclusion

Writing a PhD is rarely a straightforward process. At times you’ll feel lost and you’ll be drowning in pages and words. You’ll struggle to see the wood through the trees. Having something as simple as this template pinned to your notice board can help you to remember what it is you are doing. It can anchor you, when otherwise you’d be drifting.

See it as a work in progress, you’ll re-write each of the post it notes again and again. That’s fine - that’s just how PhDs work.

Deciding whether or not to hire a proofreader for your PhD is a big commitment. Whichever way you look at it, it’s expensive.

Plus, you may think that your English language skills are good enough.

So why bother?

In this post we list ten reasons why you need a proofreader for your PhD.

By the end, you Will see that it’s about more than typos. It’s about the value of having a professional and independent writing expert comb your thesis to make sure you have presented your research in the most compelling manner possible.

The peace of mind that brings is priceless.

1 : It’s a cost effective solution to a critical requirement

Let’s be frank. By the time you’ve finished a PhD you’ve likely spent (or borrowed) thousands and dedicated years of your life. You need to hire a proofreader to make sure you don’t undermine that investment by submitting something that contains errors or that is badly written.

Not everyone is good at writing complex texts. That's fine and nothing to be ashamed about. You know from your literature review that most academics struggle to write in a compelling manner. We see it all the time; fantastic PhD research gets undermined by poor quality writing. In any other industry, if there is a skill you aren't fantastic at, you can get outside assistance. Your PhD is no different.

A proofreader will work with you to give your research the love it deserves.

2 : You will maximise your chances of passing first time

One of the things that PhD examiners are looking for is your ability to write clearly and coherently and that your writing is error-free. If your thesis contains grammatical or punctuation mistakes, or if it is poorly written in general, they’ll likely send it back to you for further work.

Sure, a proofreader may be expensive, but so will months of extra corrections.

3 : You will present your research in the best possible light

A proofreader will correct your grammatical and punctuation mistakes and suggest edits that will mean your arguments are as clear and well developed as possible. Their job is to present your research in the most compelling manner possible.

This means the examiner can focus on what you’ve written, not how you’ve written it. You’ll be surprised what a difference that makes.

4 : You will reach the required level of English

You may struggle to write to the required level of English, perhaps because you’re an international student. A proofreader will make sure your thesis reads fluently. When they’re finished, it’ll read as if a native speaker wrote it, because it would have been checked by one.

5 : You are paying for the expertise of a professional

You wouldn’t trust the health of your pet to someone who wasn’t a vet. So why trust your PhD to someone who hasn’t been down that road before you?

Proofreading your thesis is about more than just correcting typos; it’s about making sure that your writing is fluent and consistent and that you’re developing and presenting your arguments in the best possible way.

There’s an art to writing a PhD that you would only know if you have written one yourself. Make sure that your proofreader has a PhD themselves, so they know what's expected.

6 : You can delegate the workload

In the run up to submission - or indeed at any other time of the writing process - you’re going to be busy. Really busy.

Don’t underestimate how much there is to do. At The PhD Proofreaders we do things other proofreading companies don’t do (such as formatting your thesis, dealing with all the necessary paperwork, checking your references, and more). This frees you up to focus on other things.

7 : You need a fresh set of eyes

By the time you’ve finished your chapter or thesis, you are so familiar with it you are unable to spot your own mistakes.

There’s a scientific reason for this. As you write, your brain starts to generalise simple, component parts (such as the links between individual letters and words) so that it can focus on the more complicated tasks (such as linking entire sentences and paragraphs).

That means that, because our brain knows what we are trying to say in our own writing (we wrote it, after all), we expect the meaning to be there. What we see when we read our own work is competing with the version that already exists in our heads.

The means you need a fresh set of eyes to look over your work. A proofreader can provide them and easily spot mistakes that you would otherwise miss.

8: You'll get independent advice

A lot of people ask their friends of family to proofread their work. This presents two problems.

   They’re not experts, either in proofreading or your discipline.    They can’t be honest in their feedback because they aren’t independent.

A proofreader isn’t just a professional, but they’re independent and impartial. That means that they can be honest in their appraisal and assessment of your work, just like your examiner will.    

9 : You will get a human, not an algorithms

There are a number of free, online tools that claim to correct your language. These are fine for emails to your supervisor, but they’re useless as correcting complex texts like PhD theses or chapters. You need a professional, not a Silicon Valley algorithm.

10 : Proofreading is supported by universities across the world

Universities have recently begun publishing guidelines on proofreading. Almost all allow proofreading and many actively encourage it, particularly for international students and those for whom English is a second language. If in doubt, check with your supervisor.

When proofreading a legal document, you should first read it slowly and carefully to determine whether or not it communicates the desired message and tone. If the title or the introductory paragraph do not clearly signal the intent of the legal document or if the paragraphs that follow do not flow naturally from that introduction, you may want to rewrite those parts of your document or rephrase them. Also if the content does not seem to verify what you are attempting to communicate, you may need to rethink your legal document or you may need to conduct further research. However beyond this process there is also the final challenge of proofreading to ensure that it is ready to be released.

Once that part of the proofreading process, the overview editing, has been completed, it is time to perform a more exacting analysis of the paper. During this part of the proofreading procedure, you should search for errors in spelling, word usage, grammar, and punctuation. After all, a poorly written contract or document cannot possibly communicate its message properly to the reader.

As highlighted legal proofreading is an extremely careful and time consuming process, the question is whether this should be done in-house or outsourced to legal proofreading services. Proofreading your legal document in-house would certainly provide a number of benefits such as, the cost savings. Proofreading in-house could potentially save the fees of paying proofreaders as it enables you to make use of an already available resource in the form of your existing employees. However, this may not be as clear as what it may first seem, as if your staff are proofreading then they are not doing vital legal work that they should be doing such as drafting. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the division of labour principle.

Outsourcing and using a proofreading service may be a good option if you take those factors into account. Most companies are quite flexible and if you are a business customer then they may be able to offer you a discount and form an agreement with you to deal with your outsourced legal work on a regular basis.

Good academic writing is essential for every student, academic or researcher. There are several things that you can bear in mind that will help you to improve your academic writing.

First you should create a focused and informed argument out of your good ideas and intended topic. Your argument needs to be true and arguable. At the beginning you should think of your argument or hypothesis as changeable; as you test your argument, your ideas will become more focused. Academic writing requires analysing and not summarising your focused argument by first considering your topic from all sides and then examining how these parts relate to each other or to the whole. When you analyse, you break the whole into parts so that you might see the whole in all the different ways your readers might. Some readers may agree with you, some may not. Think about how you want to own your ideas; and how you will leave your mark on your ideas, either by analysing them in a new way, organising materials in ways that make your ideas stand out, or by offering a counter argument that no one has thought of.

Also consider: Who is your audience? When writing an academic paper, you must not only consider what you want to say, you must also consider to whom you are saying it. It’s important to determine not only what you think about a topic, but also what your audience is likely to think. What are your audience’s biases and values, expectations and knowledge base? Remember, your audience is NOT you.

Additionally you should ask yourself: What is your purpose? If your audience knows less than you do on the topic, your first purpose is often instructional or an informative stance. If the audience knows more than you do, your first purpose is usually to display familiarity, expertise, and intelligence. Be as specific and detail oriented as possible. Don’t expect your readers to know what you know. You are the expert in this study.

A few more tips to bear in mind are as follows:

1. Create an objective, confident voice

Use the third person (this means not using 'I')

Most of the time you will be expected to use the third person as it enables you to show that you are being objective.

2. Use appropriate language for your audience and purpose

Academic writing need not be complicated, but it does need to have an element of formality. Your choice of words for an academic assignment should be more considered and careful.

 Thesis Tips for PhD Students

It can be easy to use the wrong words when writing academic documents. Often spoken English is, in a sense, more relaxed than written, academic English. We can get away with things when we speak that we cannot get away with when we write. One area where people tend to make mistakes is in their use of singular and plural forms of words. When we speak we might get away with misusing the singular or plural form of a word, but this will not work when we are writing. Too much hangs on the words we choose. If the wrong words are used, our audience may miss our written message completely. And so it is important that we use the correct words when writing.

Because we do not always use singular and plural terms correctly when speaking it can be hard to know whether we are using the correct terms in our writing. We are so used to using language incorrectly; it can be hard to know whether the words we have chosen for our writing are appropriate. One instance of this is the difference between Criteria and Criterion.

Criterion identifies a single standard on which a judgement or decision is made. For example, “the ability to sing in tune is the number-one criterion for winning the singing competition”. Criteria are the plural form of criterion. For example, “The criteria for winning the singing competition include: being able to sing in tune; having good stage-presence; and having a general ability to entertain an audience”.

For most of us, when we are speaking we probably use the term criteria more often than we use criterion. As a result, we may use criteria in our writing when we should have used criterion. Without thinking about it we might write “the ability to sing in tune is the number-one criteria for winning the singing competition”. But that is an incorrect use of criteria. While your reader might understand what you meant to communicate, it is always best to use language correctly when writing. Choosing appropriate words can make all the difference between your reader understanding what you are trying to say, and them missing your point completely!

If you are still not sure whether you have chosen the right words in your writing, the team at proofreadmyessay can help. Even if you think you have chosen the right words, it is always a good idea to have a second set of eyes look at your work. With their fresh perspective, the professionals at proofreadmyessay will be able to identify mistakes you might have missed. In addition to word choice, they can help you with grammar, spelling, referencing and formatting. The best part about their service is that it is inexpensive. You can check out their prices here, and even get a free sample here! So why not submit your document to proofreadmyessay today?

When you write essays, theses, dissertations, and any academic paper, you focus on your ideas about a theme. However, the ones expressed by other people before influence your own ideas. Ideas that are completely new are very rare since human knowledge has developed in a cumulative way and the input information needed to create new one comes from people who have studied or reflected on them before us. Such influence can be expressed in an implicit or explicit way. The former is perceived subtly. For example, when you write about the earth roundness, you do not acknowledge the work of Pythagoras, Yajnavalkya, IbnHazm, or Galileo Galilei unless you are discussing their specific contribution to that idea. The latter obliges you to acknowledge the source of the ideas you are discussing.  In other words, you must cite the author of an idea that you use but do not belong to you. You must do it either paraphrasing the original idea or quote it directly. In this article, we discuss how you reference ideas taken from a book using different referencing styles. Harvard style Surname, INITIALS. Year.Title. Place of publication: Publisher. Hart, C. 2006.Doing a literature review: Releasing the social science research imagination. London: Sage Publications. APA style Surname, INITIALS. (Year). Title. Place of publication: Publisher Hart, C. (2006). Doing a literature review: Releasing the social science research imagination. London: Sage Publications. MLA style Author’s name. Title. Publication information. Hart, Chris. Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination. London: Sage Publications. 2006. Print. Chicago style Surname, First name.Title. Place of publication: Publisher, year. Hart, Chris. Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination. London: Sage Publications, 2006. Oxford style SURNAME, FIRST NAME, Title (Place of publication: Publisher, year). HART, CHRIS, Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination(London: Sage Publications, 2006). Vancouver style Number of reference.Surname, INITIALS Title. Place of publication: Publisher; year. 1. Hart, C. Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination. London: Sage Publications; 2006. MHRA style Surname, First name or INITIALS, Title (Place of publication: Publishers, year) Hart, Chris, Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination (London: Sage Publications, 2006) OSCOLA style First name, Surname, Title (Publisher, year) Timothy Endicott, Administrative Law (OUP, 2009) Referencing can be a difficult task since you have to know the peculiarities of the style you are asked to follow. That is why proofreading experts are necessary. You can find online proofreading services at www.ProofreadMyEssay.co.uk ProofreadMyEssay is one of the leading providers of proofreading and editing services. The company offers one of the best proofreading services for essays, thesis, dissertations, research papers and lot more. ProofreadMyEssay also offers a great PhD Proofreading Service at a very reasonable and competitive price.