What is thesis copyediting?

Thesis copyediting aims to correct any errors or lapses in grammar, usage, and diction while maintaining the author’s individual style or ‘authorial voice’.

What does this service include?

Thesis copyediting focuses on highlighting or correcting any text in a thesis manuscript that is incorrect, unidiomatic, confusing, ambiguous, or inappropriate.

Does this include mechanical editing?

Yes. Mechanical editing is critical. The heart of thesis copyediting – mechanical editing – consists of making a thesis manuscript conform to the university’s house style. We ensure consistency in:

• spelling
• hyphenation
• capitalisation
• punctuation
• use of numerals
• footnotes and endnotes
• acronyms
• italics and bold type
• Treatment of special elements. These can include headings, lists, tables, and images. Images fall into two main categories: figures (including photographs, illustrations, drawings, diagrams, logos, graphs, and maps) and tables.

Do you cross-check a thesis manuscript?

Following the mechanical editing stage, correlating or cross-checking the different parts of the thesis manuscript is crucial. This includes:

• verifying any cross-references that appear in the text
• checking the numbering of footnotes, endnotes, figures (including photographs, illustrations, drawings, diagrams, logos, graphs and maps) and tables
• specifying the placement of figures and tables
• checking the content of the tables and images against the captions and against the text
• reading the list of tables and images against the captions and comparing the entries in the list to the tables and images themselves
• checking the citations and permissions of tables and images
• reading the table of contents against the headings and sub-headings in the manuscript
• reading the footnotes or endnotes against the bibliography.

Does thesis copyediting change the author’s argument or findings?

No. Copyediting should not change an author’s arguments or findings. As copyeditors, we will not attempt to impose our stylistic preferences or prejudices on the author.

Does thesis copyediting include fact-checking?

As copyeditors, we are generally not responsible for the factual correctness of a scholarly thesis manuscript.

However, we may spot-check some facts in the manuscript to identify potential inaccuracies. We may highlight any issues with the author and ask them to resolve them, especially if these random checks indicate more pervasive errors.

Sometimes, we will ask an author to address serious internal inconsistencies, major organisational problems, or provide additional elements such as tables, maps, a glossary, or an index.

Do you provide heavy editing or rewriting?

Sometimes our copyediting reveals previously undetected problems with the manuscript. Postgraduate students, who may not have benefited from the usual peer-review process in academic publishing, may be keen to address these issues, especially if they are substantive.

If the budget and the thesis examination or submission schedule allow, an author may ask us to fix these problems by doing heavy editing, substantial rewriting, or preparing supplementary content. However, these are tasks beyond a copyeditor’s usual remit. Often, we point out any difficulties, provide advice on what content should be added or deleted, and ask the author to resolve them.

Who benefits from thesis copyediting?

Honours, Masters and PhD students wanting to raise the quality of their writing, ensure their thesis is free of inaccuracies, infelicities, and errors, and improve their chances of a successful thesis examination.

If you would like to know more about how Wise Directions Copyediting can benefit you, please contact us today.