I Originally read this as a cartoon. Now it arrived by email and it still make me smile. This form of humor has a name. Not important you know the name though, but does it make you smile.
“Why are you moving? You’ve only arrived in our lovely neighborhood a few weeks ago.”
“I know, but I read some frightening statistics in the local paper: most auto accidents happen within eight miles of your home.”
Whatever you do, give your best effort to an editor. If you send careless work, the editor will always be dealing with the first layer of the onion or the first rung of the ladder. The idea of using an editor is to raise the bar and improve the level of your work.
A few steps before you use an academic editor:
Now you can send to an academic editor. Be prepared to pay a reasonable fee and wait a reasonable amount of time for the edit. You want excellence; give the person the space to provide you with excellence.
Quite simply, provide your best first and then use a good editor: the perfect formula for success.
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A theory is something nobody believes, except the person who made it.
An experiment is something everybody believes, except the person who made it.
Albert Einstein
I classify three basic types of editing.
As a editing service, Language Online offers copy and content editing. Format editing is absorbed into a copy or content edit. Almost impossible to do it separately. Proofreading is for you and for your friends and family who might read for you. It is also forms a part of any copy or content edit.
But what do you need to do. First, get your content in place. This is actually what your advisor and advisory committee are for. They must work with your on content. Then pass your writing on to your academic editor to copy edit: refine and ensure all the language, punctuation, academics style, school style preferences, and formatting are correct and consistent. Content and how work is written are really not mutually exclusive, but if you are needing to separate the focus, start with content and then move to honing the writing detail.
Ironically, if there are problems with your content, the reverse is true. Some advisors actually want you to get the written part sorted out before they finalize the content with you. The reason is actually very simple.
Clear writing reveals problems with content.
Fuzzy writing, hides content problems.
So if you have the time and financial resources, have an academic editor edit before and after the input of your team.
The best way to ensure good writing and content is to involve your chosen academic editor step by step. Give each chapter to an editor and be sure to edit at the proposal and dissertation stage as well.
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Hope this does not offend, but I thought it amusing. Humor can be very different for people and so I tread with caution. As always, there is some word play and hence my smile. Email humor.
Don’t LOOK at anything in a physics lab.
Don’t TASTE anything in a chemistry lab.
Don’t SMELL anything in a biology lab.
Don’t TOUCH anything in a medical lab.
and, most importantly,
Don’t LISTEN to anything in a philosophy department.
You are busy with your thesis or doctorate. You have identified what you wish to write a about and have narrowed your focus. You understand about your advisory team and have a good or not so good relationship.
When does one engage an editor? Does on engage a professional academic editor?
Anyone who has written anything for public consumption knows that one edit is not enough. Editing is like an onion or a ladder. One needs to keep editing until it reads well. The more one strives for excellence, the more one needs to peel another layer/edit to get it ever-refined. Or another image. One edits and gets to an acceptable level. If one wants to improve the quality, one needs to climb the ladder and have repeated edits.
Students have one professional edit, make changes, and think the work should still be perfect. It’s not and even one change or non-acceptance of even a small part of an edit can mess up a perfectly good edit. So if you are looking for anything close to perfection, pay for repeated professional edits. As I always try to remind students: writing is a dynamic process and not a static process. Layer by layer; step by step.
I have yet to write anything that I have not repeatedly read and repeatedly changed. Depending on time and importance, I get someone else to look. With your own work you always miss something. So pass it on to others to also read for you.
And next is what kinds of editing are available to you. But if in a rush to see what a good editing service offers, browse around the Language Online website.
Now for a different type of puzzle from briangle.com.
What common phrase is represented by this rebus?
rebus = a puzzle in which the syllables of words and names are represented either by pictures of things that sound the same or by letters
Easy going:
Weak, “I’m going.”
Tough, “I’m staying.”
Medium going:
Weak, “I’m going.”
Tough, “I’m staying.”
Tough going:
Weak, “I can’t do it, I’m staying!”
Tough, “Lets get going.”
So you have too much help. Or you have too little help. Or you are too needy and not being confident about what you need to do.
Two thoughts to ponder:
And of course, you should be proofreading your work yourself before passing it on to an impartial laser-eyed academic editor. Learn how to self-edit. Download your own handy copy of the Language Online 21 Proofreading Tips. http://tinyurl.com/self-editing
Braingle teaser borrowed for today. If you are a reader, you are bound to have great fun with these. I missed one title and confess to struggling with some authors. See how you do 
The following are famous books and their authors.
Letters have been taken from each book and each author.
From the letter list below fill in each letter to give the names of the books and authors.
D- Vi–i C-d-
Da- B-ow-
G-e-t E-pe-ta-io-s
Ch–le- D-c-e-s
To K–l A Mo-k–g Bird
Ha-p-r L-e
Fr-n-en-t-in
M–y Sh–l–
Of M–e An- M-n
J–n S-ei–e-k
The O-t-id–s
S. -. H–t-n
The A-v-ntu–s of H–kle-er-y F–n
M–k Tw–n
T-e Sil-n-e of t-e L-m-s
T–m-s Har–s
This is frustrating especially if the person is meant to be helping. The worst is probably an “absent” advisor. A missing advisory committee member or committee members is less troubling, but can backfire in the long run because committee members are meant to be the sounding board before you put yourself out there for approval to your school and eventually to the world.
But if an important team member is “missing,” it does at least leave you the option of finding good, outside, often paid-for help. Your most likely option is a good content editor at a fairly substantial fee. Problem is that if an academic editor is your main source of help, you have no barometer of what your school might accept. For example, there is literally nothing worse than to have poured your heart into a proposal only to have the proposal thrown back with little guidance. There is nothing you or an editor can do about such poor help and often it means huge delays because of a dysfunctional system.
Always equip yourself with a thorough understanding of what you can do. For starters, access the no cost and paid-for help professionals like Language Online editors’ offer.
Too much help? Too little help? Any of this ringing a bell. Share the blog posts by using the Share It button below; email or posting available.
