Do you know any Free "prove reading"

[Deleted User]

Celifein wrote: »

The whole idea of proofreading is to find and fix errors. There's no reason why you can't do that yourself. Yes, a fresh set of eyes can help, but it's not a necessary part of proofreading, it's an added bonus.

If your grammar or spelling is poor you are not going to find anything

I think proofreading is essential as it's common not to see mistakes in your own work. If I were writing a thesis, i'd arrange a mutual agreement with several other students that they'd proofread each others when the time came.

The_One_Who

What students are going to agree to proofreading? They have finals and other things going on, they don't have the time. Also, how do you know that the student's spelling and grammar is any better than your own?

[Deleted User]

Fine, hand in your essay/thesis without anyone else looking at it..

The people i know that did PhD's would never have handed in their thesis without several people reading it first. I did this for a few people when i worked in academia. I also did it before people submitted papers to journals... it's just important to have several eyes look over important documents before you submit them.

Also, PhD's don't usually come with exams and they do tend to have the time to do this

Oldernotwiser

ringo_24601 wrote: »

If your grammar or spelling is poor you are not going to find anything

I think proofreading is essential as it's common not to see mistakes in your own work. If I were writing a thesis, i'd arrange a mutual agreement with several other students that they'd proofread each others when the time came.

If your spelling and grammar are poor then perhaps you shouldn't be at university! At the very least your lack of basic skills should be reflected in your grades so why not just improve the skills you need. Your problems in this area aren't going to go away when you leave university.

The_One_Who

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Fine, hand in your essay/thesis without anyone else looking at it..

The people i know that did PhD's would never have handed in their thesis without several people reading it first. I did this for a few people when i worked in academia. I also did it before people submitted papers to journals... it's just important to have several eyes look over important documents before you submit them.

Also, PhD's don't usually come with exams and they do tend to have the time to do this

Agree with Oldernotwiser. If you are in academia and you don't know basic grammar and spelling then something has gone wrong somewhere.

I never said don't show it to anyone else, just don't expect busy students to do it for you. At undergraduate level I can forgive some grammar and spelling mistakes to an extent, but most of those should be picked up when you read it back.

[Deleted User]

The OP asked about thesis proof-reading. Undergraduates don't write theses.

A thesis is typically 100,000 words.. however good your grammar and spelling is, human error creeps in eventually.

Do you think books get published without several people reading and re-reading them? PhD students don't usually have a lot to do once their thesis is written, so they would typically have an hour free to read someones thesis. If it was a mutual thing, it would be highly beneficial.

The OP might be dyslexic, who knows. That wouldn't hinder their academic progress but would require an extra level of proof reading.

My spelling, punctuation and grammar is of a reasonable level, but I still would never send off a CV/publish a document without having someone else read it first. If you think your can successfully proofread your own docs, great, but it does defeat the point of having several sets of eyes check for errors.

The_One_Who

No, books don't get published without several people reading them, but then, those people tend to be getting paid or at least getting something out of it. They don't usually do it for the joy of proofreading. From the PhD students I know, during their writing up period and after it money is running short. Most are looking for jobs or are about to start working.

Sure, ask someone if they could be kind enough and read it, but at least offer them something for it.

[Deleted User]

Friends don't ask/offer friends money for small favours

melancholly

ringo_24601 wrote: »

PhD students don't usually have a lot to do once their thesis is written, so they would typically have an hour free to read someones thesis. If it was a mutual thing, it would be highly beneficial.

an hour to read a phd?! mine will be 200/250 pages - that's a hell of a lot longer than an hour!

i tell you what, once my thesis is written there is no way i would want to sit and read through someone else's!! no money in the world would make me!!!! i intend to submit it and go away somewhere with no internet access and have my mobile turned off to recover

to help out someone who was a friend, and whose work was related to mine, i might do a chapter. but i wouldn't even dream of asking anyone to read my whole thesis. it's not like reading a fiction book - it's specialised and technical and difficult to read for people even slightly out of the area! it also should be my work.... my supervisors will read it and give feedback, obviously, but i'm being assessed on my abilitity. if someone cannot write sufficiently good english in their thesis then it's questionable whether they should be doing a phd. papers are a different thing because there are usually multiple authors who all need to give input.

for students who have trouble with academic writing, there are usually courses run at universities where they can get feedback on small sections of writing to learn how to improve. this can be really valuable early on in a phd.

melancholly

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Friends don't ask/offer friends money for small favours

that's true, but proofreading a thesis is no small favour! if it's going to be of any use and pick up any problems it will take a long time and a lot of concentration.