Process Used By Academic Proofreading Services

Many academic proofreading services employ different practices and processes. Therefore this article will set out the industry standards of how academic proofreading should be conducted by a proofreading service. It is good practice to make changes made to academic writing using the Microsoft Track changes functionality. This enables the company to provide a comprehensive proofreading service that is clear, transparent and professional. Once your work is sent back to you should ideally receive two copies, a ‘Proofread Copy’ and a ‘Final Copy’.

The proofread copy will have been edited using Microsoft Track changes, the changes will be visible slightly differently depending on whether you are using Windows or a Mac. In Windows any deleted text will have a line through it and all inserted text will be underlined. However, on a Mac all deleted text will appear on the right hand margin and all inserted text will appear in the main body of the text highlighted. Also, comments made by the academic proofreading service editors regarding your work will appear on the right hand side of the screen in the changes column.

The Microsoft Track changes function can be turned on or off by navigating to the ‘Review’ tab at the top of the screen, followed by clicking ‘Track Changes’.

Once you receive the proofread version back from any academic proofreading services you will see the changes that have been made. You can then either choose to accept each individual change by clicking either ‘Accept’ or ‘Reject’. Alternatively, once you have reviewed all of the changes that have been made and you are satisfied and are happy with all changes, you can select the option to ‘Accept All’, this will apply all changes made to the text.

The changes most proofreading services will make

Academic proofreaders will make a wide variety of changes, these changes will depend upon the nature of your work and context. However as a minimum the changes made should address and correct the following areas;

• Academic Tone
• Vocabulary
• Consistency of verb tenses
• Sentence and paragraph structure
• Grammar and punctuation
• Presentation and layout
• Consistency of reference and bibliography

If there is a particular area of your work that you would like the academic proofreaders to specifically focus on then you should let the academic proofreading service know before placing your order.