You might have put in all your efforts in penning down the most important piece of document, the thesis, of your academic career. There is no iota doubt that you worked hard to formulate the right idea for your reader. But if you haven't taken time to edit and proofread, the idea that you have put across might not convey the idea as intended. Hence, the proofreading and editing process becomes important.
Proofreading and editing is not an add on process for writing. Rather, it is an essential step that lets you go back to your chapters, read every line of your text, fix the errors and refine your entire thesis to make it ready. As per the editors offering masters thesis editing services, the benefits of editing and proofreading process cannot be ignored. They let you,
- Eliminate minutest to major grammatical, vocabulary, etc. errors
- Check if the idea is communicated in an intended manner
- Implement right terminologies
- Check writing tone, style and logical flow between the sections
- Inspect formatting style
However, proofreading and editing process is easier said than done. While refining your thesis, you must:
1. Ensure effective organisation of content - For writing to be effective, one must ensure that the contents are well-organised. Once the first draft is ready, go through each section and check if the concept/idea is presented in a logical & clear way. In addition all check if each paragraph is well-structured. Paragraphs must follow conventional structure, typically beginning with a topic sentence. Also, each paragraph must be structured differently (e.g., the introductory paragraph must be structured differently from that of a body paragraph). This is followed by inspecting the headings and lists. All the headings must be formatted in the preferred formatting style.
2. Check for mechanics - You can use an automatic spell-checker to catch typos or grammatical errors. However, do not solely depend on automatic software. You must review your writing word by word to make sure that the grammar and spellings are perfect. While reviewing, ensure that the tense and voice are consistent. In addition, look for incomplete sentences, subject-verb disagreement and fix them.
3. Inspect tables and figures - If your thesis includes tables and figures and tables, then you need to carefully review it. All tables & figures must be mentioned in the text prior to their placement. Also avoid acronyms in figures, tables including in their captions and titles. Determine if the tables and figures are formatted consistently in terms of font size, style, in the use of capitalisation and justification. If you need any help in formatting tables or figures, take assistance from masters thesis editors.
4. Check for flow and tone - Flow and tone are the hardest elements to master, especially if you are an ESL student. One of the best methods to catch awkward sentence constructions is by reading it aloud. You can use this approach to check for sentence variety as well and polish it. Fret not if you are finding it difficult to check the flow of the sections or content. You can approach editors providing masters thesis editing services. They are always ready to offer you a helping hand.
5. Fix punctuation errors - Although punctuation falls under mechanics, there are few specific punctuation issues that need a thorough inspection. First eliminate exclamation marks and ellipses. In addition, utilise italics for emphasis rather than quotation marks. This is done to avoid introducing scare quotes into your text. Also ensure that en dashes are utilised for numbered ranges and em dashes for parenthetical information. Use semicolons instead of commas in lists containing long phrases or between independent clauses.
Editing and proofreading skills cannot be mastered overnight. However, if you are under a time crunch and require some aid, talk to masters thesis editors.