1
Proofreading
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Typing errors (typos).
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Inconsistencies (e.g. capitalisation, variant spellings, use of font and effects such as bold or italics, formatting issues such as margins, indents and line breaks, consistent presentation of references).
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Spelling (including confusion of homophones which are those words that sound the same but have different meanings, such as there/their/they’re).
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Grammar (including syntax, incomplete sentences, verb formation, subject/verb matching, etc.).
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Punctuation (including apostrophes, commas, semi-colons, etc.).
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Inappropriate word choice (including malapropisms).
2
Editing
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Inappropriate style for academic writing (which might include colloquialisms, emotive language, personal language where inappropriate, but also overly formal registers).
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Lack of cohesion or ‘flow’ in structure or argument.
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Clumsy, repetitive or wordy expression.
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Ambiguous or unclear meaning.
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Lack of structure, inappropriate, repetitive or unclear structure.
3
Referencing and Formatting
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Adherence to house style in your assignment or module guide, or School handbook. This includes referencing styles.
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​Omitted elements (eg subheadings, labels for figures etc, page numbers, incomplete references)
4
Quality Assurance
We ensure that our suggestions don’t change your work so much that it’s no longer yours. You could use proofreading as a developmental opportunity to identify your own common mistakes or stylistic quirks to improve, so that you become independent of the need for a proofreader.
