Theses and Dissertations

Editing Press edits and proofreads master’s and doctoral theses and dissertations, including PhD and DPhil theses, in every discipline. Our editors are published academics. In the United Kingdom a master’s work is usually called a dissertation and a doctoral one a thesis, and in North America the names are reversed. We edit both, under either name.

General Proofreading suits a thesis or dissertation whose argument has been settled with the supervisor and which needs its language corrected before submission. It corrects grammar, punctuation, formatting, verb tenses, phrasing, sentence construction and word choice, and brings the text into line with the required style guide, including APA, Chicago, McGill, AMA, OSCOLA, CSE and MLA. One editor reads the whole text at least twice.

Thorough Editing suits a draft that would benefit from readers outside the supervision. It has two rounds of work, a review of the logic, organisation and use of evidence, and then the reading of General Proofreading. At least two editors comment in the margins, and most manuscripts also receive between 500 and 1,000 words of comments in a separate document. References can be checked and an index drafted for longer work.

Our editorial work must never assist academic misconduct. Our conduct is guided by the rules of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, as our Academic Conduct page explains. On request, we provide a certificate stating that the editorial assistance you have received from us does not breach the standing rules of academic conduct. To prepare it, we need a link to your university’s published rules on written work.

Corrections required by examiners are covered by our Infinite Revisions Policy. We review your tracked changes at no extra cost up to 10 per cent of the contracted word count, and further material is charged at the contracted per-word rate.

The Laura Bassi Scholarship, established by Editing Press in 2018, provides editorial assistance worth $750 to master’s candidates and $2,500 to doctoral candidates whose research addresses neglected topics, in any discipline. Awards are made three times a year, in December, April and August.

You retain all rights in your thesis or dissertation, which we use solely for the work you have commissioned and never share, reuse or publish, as the non-disclosure clause of our contract requires.