Editing and proofreading services for academics and students

Whether you're a postgraduate student, an academic or an author looking to publish a non-fiction manuscript, my proofreading and copy-editing services will help you get your documents ready for submission, be that to university, journals or publishers.

I have experience of working on the following:

• essays and dissertations
• monographs and theses
• conference papers
• grant applications
• chapters and complete books
• journal articles.

For a tabular breakdown of the difference between my proofreading, proof-editing and copy-editing services, please see this blog article.

And for more details about the copy-editing service only, please see here.

I have over 14 years' experience of working on a wide range of topics for students and academics, mainly in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences fields, including but not limited to the following:

• business, economics, banking and finance
• politics and philosophy
• architecture and planning
• history and history of art.

If you're interested in having your work proofread or copy-edited, please get in touch, ideally with a sample, and confirm what service you want, what the word count is and what your schedule is. I will then provide a fixed quote based on this information.

Proofreading and editing service for non-native English writers

Having studied foreign languages (German and Spanish and now starting again with Swedish), I know how difficult it is to be accurate and understood in the written form so can assist with additional emphasis on sense and grammar.

Proofreading service for students submitting work for assessment

The traditional terminology used in publishing does not always translate easily to work for students and postgraduates so, to clarify, though I don't edit content, argument or overall structure for work to be submitted for assessment, I do edit the language.

I have written a few blog posts on the ethics of proofreading work for students and unless I have written confirmation to say a student submitting work for assessment is allowed to have their work copy-edited, including at PhD level, my proofreading service covers the following:

• correcting spelling, punctuation, grammar and formatting and ensuring consistency throughout the essay, thesis or dissertation
• suggesting ways of cutting very long sentences or dividing very long paragraphs
• making notes using comments boxes where the writing is unclear so you can re-write it. This relates to lack of clarity due to the language/grammar but does not include commenting on clarity of argument
• if your university permits, correcting spelling errors in the references and bibliography and highlighting inconsistencies for you to correct, where applicable.

This service does not include:

• translating any part of the work
• altering or advising on the structure of the thesis
• changing the argument or adding to the content of the work
• cross-checking references with external sources or making sure that in-text references are listed in the bibliography
• specifically reducing (or increasing) the word count of the thesis or dissertation. Obviously amendments may slightly affect the final word count but I do not cut (or add to) the word count to ensure the work fits the assessment criteria
• implementing format from scratch for the reference section or the essay in general
• making the work 'more academic'.

The above lists are a summary of the full details available here, which also include my Ts and Cs. If your university has a set of guidelines that differ from the level of service I offer, then they will take precedence over mine.

I have collated some of the most frequently asked questions about my copy-editing and proofreading services for students and academics in my blog.

What some students and academics say about my proofreading service:

"Kate did a fantastic job. I like the way she harmonised my writing style with professional UK English. Sometimes I hear opinions that the editor did a great job, yet the author can’t recognise their work. They lose the sense of being actual authors as the changes are massive. In my case, I can feel my thoughts and style, but the narrative is much smoother and more natural. Thank you for that."
Michal A. Piegzik, PhD in Japanese private law, lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University

"What I particularly liked about Kate's service was that she fully understood my needs and gave me the right kind and amount of editorial intervention. She is responsive and highly professional, and I recommend her service to any academic author who is looking for a reliable proof-reader with an eye for detail."
Princeton University Press author

"I can wholeheartedly recommend Kate Haigh's services. I have worked with her on several occasions. She answers swiftly, she is easy to collaborate with, and she provides excellent copy-editing and proofreading."
Mattias Solli, Researcher at NTNU, PhD

"Kate completed the work well in advance of our agreed date and to a standard which far exceeded even my highest expectations. Without her diligence, skills, and professionalism, I likely would not have achieved my distinction."
Liam, MSc student (Education)

"It's been a great pleasure to work with Kate! She is professional and thorough, and it's obvious that she loves what she does. Her attention to detail and nuances in my PhD thesis in architectural theory was vital, and we've had enjoyable conversations from which I learnt a lot."
Johanna Gullberg, Architect, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

"I really wanted to thank you for your work on my thesis. I really think that you have done an outstanding job and that your engagement with my work has been far more precise and thourough than I expected. You helped me at all the levels that make a text better: not only with grammar, spelling, choice of words and phrasing. You have considered my text both as an expert who knows everything about academic writing norms and policies, and as a non specialist reader engaged with the meaning of my text, trying to make sense of my ideas and honestly highlighting passages that necessitated development. You have even checked foreign languages and googled some film titles, references... You have also helped me to improve my English by highlighting errors and providing explanations. Furthermore, your feedback made me a better academic writer, you have spotted errors, explained the rules and suggested corrections that taught me many things I did not know when writing this thesis. Your help has been invaluable in the short term, with this precise text, but I will benefit from your help each time I will write academic texts from now on. I will without hesitation work with you again."
Fred, Film Studies PhD student, 2018

"We were delighted with your proofreading service on our slightly unconventional thesis. We had the oral defence and we got a score of ten so we are really happy - thank you, Kate, for being a part of our success. The service you provided was professional and you were a delight to work with - I am so glad that I looked for a professional proofreader and I would recommend your proofreading service to any of my friends and colleagues."
Peter Rytter, Copenhagen Business School

"I have been delighted to work with you. I have enjoyed your systematic precision and look for clarity. ... I find it tempting to start writing new pieces now that I've found an excellent proofreader!"
Eliza, Doctoral Student in Cultural Policy

"I found Kate accidentally but I'm very pleased that this has happened. You can see that she is very committed to what she does. Her service is very professional and at a reasonable price. She pays a lot of attention to details and her comments are very accurate. I look forward to further cooperation. Thanks again."
Dominik, EngD Student, The University of Warwick

"I am exultant with Kate's proofreading of my thesis. Kate dedicated her attention to linguistic detail without affecting the ideas and arguments presented by me. Her comments about standardisation of tenses, capitals and missing punctuation were very helpful."
Karim Ullah, PhD Candidate, Service-Systems Design

"Discovering Kate was perhaps one of the luckiest moments in my life as a PhD student. Kate is amazing because she is capable of developing an intelligent relationship with your text so that she can correct its errors without changing its tone, style or content. It is very easy and pleasant to communicate with Kate via email to discuss particular issues emerging during the work; she is someone who you can absolutely trust with your work; her service is a true luxury at an affordable price. Working with Kate has been an absolute pleasure but also an education for me. I'd never imagined how much I would learn as a result of this process and my error-free work is just so great now that I can't stop reading it over and over again; just what I needed in terms of a confidence boost prior to my PhD defence and start of my academic career."
Shirin, Scholar of Critical War Studies

"In Norwegian we call proofreading språkvask or 'language laundry' and Kate Haigh did this in the most professional, gentle, friendly and efficient way possible. It was a pleasure to see her confident way of handling the language and the content of the text, erasing all stains while maintaining the fabric."
Cecilie Andersson, PhD in Urban Planning

"You proof read my dissertation and I found out today that I had been awarded a 2.1. Grammar is so important at my University and I just wanted to say thanks for providing a genuine, professional service at a very reasonable price. I couldn't be happier right now :D Thank you so much."
Helen, BA Hons History

"Thank you! Your work has been fantastic. It has made me feel much more confident about submitting my thesis."
Natasha, MSc Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy

"Thank you so much for proofreading my paper, I feel it reads a lot better now. This is an important part of my final year and I'm really glad I got it checked by a professional!"
Laura, BA Combined Honours in Japanese and Classics, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne

"I am very pleased with your proof-reading so far. I believe it certainly enhanced the readability and I am particularly impressed by your exactness. Thanks a lot!"
Felix, Politics/International Relations PhD student, University of Newcastle upon Tyne

"I am extremely impressed with Kateproof. It was a great relief to have somebody pick up on my embarrassing typos before sending it off to a journal. Despite having proofread the paper dozens of times, it is amazing how easy it is to miss those little mistakes. Kate offered excellent value for money and even managed to get the paper back to me three days earlier than I expected. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Kateproof and will be using the service for all my work in future."
David C, University of Exeter Psychology PhD Student