Editing Service 

I got high marks in all of my college preparatory English classes, but hit a sticking point in my freshman year of college, when a visiting instructor told me that my writing skills were lacking. I was devastated by her negative assessment, and my confidence in my writing waned.

The following semester, I finished my freshman writing sequence at another university. Despite the fact that I wrote my essays on the bus rides to and from class, I was able to achieve straight A’s. Still, my confidence in my writing remained shaken.

If you have suffered a similar negative experience, it is important to understand that time and continued practice will heal this wound. Writing is like everything else: the more you practice, the better you get. It is important to move past any confidence issues you have by just writing and writing more. Another good way to build confidence is to share your writing with trusted confidantes who will appraise, constructively criticize and help edit your words.

While I highly recommend using a third party to edit your work, it’s important to find the right person. Your thesis/dissertation will be written for a highly intellectual community, many of whom are experts in your field. As such, the editor you choose must be practiced in an academic style of writing that will appeal to this audience.

Evaluate potential editors by having them edit a few pages of your work to get a feel for their style. It’s helpful to provide samples of journal articles in your field, and to advise the editor of your style requirements and expectations. Some editors only edit for grammar and specific MLA or APA formatting issues. Others edit for overall continuity, and will check to ensure that the paragraphs are in the proper sequential order, and whether a particular argument makes sense.