How To Write A Good Dissertation: A Few Words About Editing

How to Edit the Final Version of Your Postgraduate Thesis

You’ve edited your own essays, term papers, and research papers before; but a post graduate thesis is a whole new matter. The sheer magnitude of such a large paper is enough to generate procrastination and avoidance behaviour second to none. Most theses are between 80 – 300 pages long, so asking someone to edit one is like asking someone to proofread a book within a few days.

The 10 page system

Quite honestly, you will need to factor in the time it takes to edit your thesis into the writing time. Work on an estimate of 10 pages a day where editing will be performed after the writing is complete. Make a point of not going over 10 pages. Editing is tiring and can really become monotonous if done for too long—inevitably resulting in errors. You want to ensure as much accuracy as you can during this time, as small mistakes can end up in embarrassment.

Small chunks for accuracy

Once you have your allocated 10 pages in front of you, work on a paragraph at a time. The reason you’re taking on just 10 pages a day is also because you want to make sure you can scrutinize every line carefully—and this takes time. Scan your paragraphs sentence for sentence and check for the following:

  • Relevance
  • Spelling
  • Punctuation
  • Correct word usage
  • Grammar

If there’s anything from a language perspective you’re not sure about, highlight the area and ask someone to assist you later.

Backtracking

If you’ve written a draft version of your postgraduate thesis, go back to it and scan over it for any elements you may have accidentally excluded from your final version. Students often disregard information within their draft that they wish they had added to their submitted version.

Hand your thesis in without any regrets. Do a quick check for anything you left out and ask yourself if it isn’t relevant enough to be inserted somewhere. You may be surprised at what forgotten material you end up finding.

Academic writing services also play an important role in this area. If you are at a loss, or simply can’t find the time to edit your postgraduate thesis, simply contact a good writing service and ask them to proofread it for you. You can check the edited version against the original version and make any changes you deem necessary.

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