Proof reading service I aim to improve the correctness and clarity of written English whilst maintaining the originality of the author. I can cover a wide range of fields: previous assignments have included medicine, human geography and migrant studies, anthropology, computer science, clinical psychology, history of music, project management, architecture and many more. However, I can't undertake projects where philosophy is a major part of the content. (This is because specialist terminology in, for example, medicine, is very clear and unambiguous, and easily found in a dictionary, whereas philosophers over the ages have taken existing words and assigned new meanings to them, which are often not in dictionaries, and the reader - and especially the proof reader! - needs to be immersed in the field to understand the language used.) Process When I process a (Microsoft Word) document, I make suggestions by editing a copy of it. I correct grammatical, syntactical, punctuation and spelling mistakes, and suggest more suitable words if something sounds unnatural, or insert a comment if I suspect it might be terminology that is used differently in a client’s specialist area. I also split up very long sentences, and sometimes substitute words according to Plain English principles to make the text easier to read. I also suggest alternatives if a particular word or phrase is repeated often enough to start to sound awkward, and point out any inconsistencies in style, format, etc. All these changes are logged using the “Track Changes” function, so can easily be reversed with the "reject" button. Obviously, I can't comment on the academic/intellectual content but I highlight anything that's ambiguous or doesn't seem to follow. I restructure ambiguous sentences if possible, but of course that depends on whether I am able to grasp the subject matter well enough. The service includes a reasonable amount of dialogue (usually by email) about tricky phrases, comments I've made that aren't clear, etc., and re- reading a few lines here and there if they need to be rewritten for whatever reason. If it's more than a few paragraphs then I can offer a discounted rate for re-reading a revised document (whole or part as required). For further information, please send me a message using the contact form link at the top of the page.