Academic writing is tiring. You start with an idea, but then it is up to you to research your point and back it up. The same goes for a non-fiction book – an idea isn’t enough. The research, and documenting that research, is a huge part of both of these enterprises. Finishing a research paper, dissertation, or academic or non-fiction book can be an ordeal. Synthesizing analysis into salient points, and making certain that that your structure and composition are clear is complicated. It must be well-researched, well-written, correctly formatted, and error-free. Academic writing just isn’t for the slacker; however, it really is not easy to be a perfectionist, either. There so much ground to cover. Here are some ideas to help you edit your academic book or paper to make sure your message comes across to your reader.
Probably the most immensely important tip that this professional editor can offer you is to use the spell check and grammar check software program on word processing program. It sounds so very simple, but some men and women simply assume that it is unnecessary. Please, even the smartest and most talented writers of academic books and papers have errors and typos in their writing. Apply the computer software to choose any egregious spelling/grammar errors. Remember to keep in mind that the software systems is fallible, but it’s a good place to start.
The second tip this professional editor has to completing a successful academic paper is to cite, cite, cite. Any idea In your academic paper or non-fiction book that is not your original notion must be cited. This can’t be stressed enough. Look at it this way, if a person read your paper and took one of your ideas, put it in their paper, and didn’t give you credit, how would you feel? More importantly, not citing another’s work can be plagiarism, which is death to any academic paper. So it is very important to give credit exactly where credit is due. A typical in-text citation looks like this:
This fabulous line of text comes from an idea I got from another person’s work, so I will cite the reference to the author at the end of this sentence. And include a properly formatted reference at the end of this paper or book (author, year of publication).
When making use of a direct quote, ordinarily it looks like this:
“This is a direct quote from an author. It really is not my original concept, and I copied it word-for-word” (Author, Year of publication, page from where the quotation came).
Now, those are merely two generic examples of how not to plagiarize unintentionally. Style guides provide specific, detailed instructions on how to write in-text citations and how to include a proper reference list. Every thing down to the placement of commas and periods in citations will need to be checked. This is crucial to academic work.
Finally, this professional editor has a suggestion to ensure that your work is of the highest quality before it can be submitted and/or published: Hire an academic editor! As long as you tell your editor what style guide governs your paper, an expert editor will make sure the formatting of your document is in compliance with the style guide, and also check punctuation, spelling, usage, mechanics, structure, and clarity. A expert academic editor can edit your paper with a trained eye. It’s generally okay to ask for help. The professional academic editors at First Editing are standing by to help you!
