Dissertation Editing Service | Get The Benefits
A dissertation editing service will alleviate one of the most daunting tasks a PhD candidate faces when preparing to submit their dissertation. While most PhD programs now allow publications as dissertation chapters, the ≥ 3 remaining chapters (e.g., introduction, rationale, conclusions, etc.) typically exceed 100 pages.
This dissertation must again be proofread multiple times, consisting of several hours per edit. For this purpose, dissertation editing services can be quite valuable. Of these, there are many options, based on your budget and desired final document.
Example Pricing Models & Methods For Dissertation Editing Services
Many dissertation editing services offer a package consisting only of copyediting and typically costs $0.06 – $0.12 per word. Keep in mind, however, that this service merely corrects typographical errors and basic grammar.
Besides mere copyediting dissertation editing services will also offer some combination of "mechanical" and “substantive” editing (see below).
Mechanical Editing
Mechanical editing requires services that are much more intense. With a focus on spotting problems with punctuation, spelling, usage, grammar, and placement of commas.
Substantive Editing
Substantive editing significantly supersedes mechanical editing, including high levels of editing rigor, consistency of verbiage, maximizing impact, word choice, and academic editing. Even more rigorous processes include maximizing clarity and “flow” of the narrative, reduction or addition of words, paragraph restructuring, evaluation of figures/figure legends, and “fact checking.”
Both of the above mentioned services generally require customized estimates for documents exceeding 10,000 words (often with additional costs). Taken together, these manipulations greatly enhance the “readability,” and effective communication of the material, to the intended audience. This level of editing generally costs, at minimum, $100/hour.
Services To Be Leery Of
Another avenue is direct hiring of a freelance scientific writer. There are several websites like this that offer a wide repertoire of science writers, skilled in specific academic research specialties. However, these freelance writers vary greatly in their science subspecialties, and one would be wise to check the references of these writers. In addition, the fees for these freelancers vary widely, generally from $40-$120/hour.
Many scientific editing services truthfully claim their editors to be scientists, skilled in scientific writing, and offer substantive editing in a scientific format. However, dissertations are not generally critiqued for scientific merit (commonly referred to as “peer review” in academic circles). Rarely will scientific writing companies outsource such review services, these are generally “stand-alone” services. For example, some of these companies offer scientific review for a flat fee of $650, with a turnaround of two weeks. These costs, however, are in addition to document editing (performed elsewhere), resulting in total dissertation expenses well exceeding $1000-$2000.
.
Our Pricing & Competitive Advantage | Bioscience Advising
At Bioscience Advising, we offer “one stop shopping” for numerous editing services, including dissertation editing and manuscript editing services. Each of which incorporate all of the attributes described above (substantive editing, with assessment of scientific merit) for $70/hour for dissertations, up to 15,000 words, and reduced to $65/hour for longer documents. If you believe those rates are unachievable, we ask that you contact us anyhow, as we can often, on a case-by-case basis, work with various clients (particularly, PhD students paying “out-of-pocket”) to establish a plan or price that is mutually acceptable.
To avoid miscommunications, we greatly prefer to confer with our clients prior to the commencement of editing, to establish that we “are on the same page” with regard to your preferences in style, experimental performance, interpretation of your findings. This desired communication can be via e-mail, but more preferably, telephone or videoconference; we also request updated feedback as the editing proceeds. A delivery time of ten business days is generally requested. This includes what we believe to be a “complete” editing job of your dissertation, well communicable to your committee members, a strong basis for your oral dissertation presentation (many figures can be used for slides), as well as “publishable.”
Taken together, there are many options for editing dissertations, based on your time, budget, and desired quality of outcome. Of course, having a faculty member review it (as a favor) would be the most inexpensive option. However, due to the amount of time and intellectual effort required, this is a tall order, and everyday distractions could (of course, unintentionally) compromise the rigor of your colleague’s editing.
First Time Customer Discount
It is our goal, regardless of which level of service you choose, to deliver “reader-friendly” verbal/visual presentation and a concise, logical, and “well-flowing” narrative, to achieve the greatest likelihood of retaining the reviewer’s interest, endeavoring to generate enthusiasm for the proposed work.
Best of all, we offer a 25% discount for all first time customers.
