A dissertation is the document of your years-long research. This document is the reflection of your entire sleepless nights and full-day struggles during your postgrad (Masters/Doctoral) career. You must agree with me. Isn’t it? Your entire success is based on this document, so it has to be perfect and error-free. Dissertation writing starts with your research. It is a whole process of writing, rewriting, editing, editing again, editing again, proofreading, and then finally submitting. Right?
If you are scared of grammatical mistakes, misleading word order, misplaced commas, and irrelevant phrases, you should consult a dissertation editing service and proofreading where they efficiently improve sentence structure with the help of their professionals.
So, let’s start finding the gems.
Take a Little Break
When you are done writing your dissertation, it is highly recommended to take a little break before proofreading your document. Most scholars do not understand the importance of relaxing the mind, and they rush to proofread immediately after writing. Writing a dissertation is itself a long hefty process, and so proofreading.
Grammar, punctuation, and spelling
If you are not a native English speaker, it may be hard for you to write flawless and consistent documents. But you do not have to worry about it. It is normal and acceptable. Sometimes scholars take this on their nerves and make significant mistakes. But first, you have to stay calm and accept that you will write in another language to make mistakes. (Even native speakers make mistakes in writing dissertations, believe me).
You can easily overcome this problem. Microsoft Office is a convenient and friendly tool that can be your lifesaver too. You can change the language setting to English US or English UK, and then you will get to know about mistakes immediately by red or blue underlines. The cherry on top will suggest you to correct your errors.
Furthermore, you can use different online tools like Grammarly to check grammar, punctuation, and spelling. But please do not entirely rely on them. There are some terms and homophones that the AI tools do not recognize, so be careful and cross-check them by yourself.
Abbreviations and Acronyms
When using abbreviations/acronyms in your dissertation, make sure to use their full format first. If you are using these acronyms in 2 or 3 chapters, it is highly recommended to use their complete form at the start of each chapter because the reader may forget them. Another best way to provide complete information about acronyms/abbreviations is to list them at the start of your thesis book. It will be more accessible and attractive for the readers.
Formatting
Formatting the whole document is a hectic task in proofreading. Students generally start formatting at the very last, and it takes their massive time and energy, but RELAX! You can make it a lot easier. If you believe in my experience, I would suggest you find your university guideline of dissertation writing first and make a checklist for your ease.
Before writing your dissertation, closely go through the guideline and set your Microsoft Word accordingly so that you would not have to spend a lot of time on formatting in the end. An important tip is to set your Microsoft office setting before writing the dissertation, like Font style, Font size, Heading’s modification, Page layout etc. These are the bit settings that may save your time and energy.
However, you will have to cross-check all the formatting during proofreading, but you will be free from doing it from scratch. Finally, make sure you have done everything according to the guideline like the Title page, table of content, page numbers, tables, figures, paragraphs, page breaks and citation style.
Referencing Style
The citation is the critical element of the research thesis and dissertation. You have to be very careful in writing citations, whether in-text or bibliography. First, check out the university guideline on which style your university prefers. Then follow them accordingly.
There are convenient tools available that can be used while referencing, such as Mandley, EndNote. These tools can be downloaded easily and will ease you in managing different styles and their listings. You can also use Google Scholar to find the correct citation style. Most universities and Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine (STEM) prefer Harvard, Vancouver, and Author-date styles.
Finally, ensure you have correctly given the in-text citation and listed them in the bibliography.
Plagiarism
This is the step where your heartbeat may run like a roller coaster. Right? But hold on! I am going to give you some secret lifesaver tips.
First of all, whenever you write and quote from others’ research work, properly cite them, and make sure you write them precisely in your own words without losing the original context. It might be not accessible at the start, but you will be better after some practice. You can also rewrite and rewrite your sentences; it will reduce the chance of plagiarism at maximum.
Secondly, after writing the whole dissertation, self-check the plagiarism. For this purpose, some online and paid tools are available, like Grammarly premium. But suppose you are not comfortable doing so. In that case, you may ask your supervisor or any senior colleague, who has access to the Turnitin account, to check the plagiarism of your document before submitting it to the research committee.
Proofread in Breaks (Bonus tip)
Proofreading needs as much effort as writing the thesis itself. But here is a bonus tip for you all to make this process a little flowy and hassle-free.
If you want to proofread your dissertation like a professional, you should break it into pieces. Do not go to the whole document at once. This may leave you under pressure and frustration. Instead, divide the document into several sections and review them each day. This way, you will come up with the perfect and flawless document in the end.
Footnote:
Doing your dissertation up to the mark requires a lot of effort. This thesis document goes before the research committee and presents your entire struggle in front of them. It is as essential as your entire academic career. The perfect and flawless document will make your image more sensible and thoughtful in front of the research committee. Hence, it is required to proofread your entire document like a professional. By following these critical and straightforward tips, you can make yourself capable enough to proofread your document on your own rather than finding expensive services.
Follow the steps and make your progression a little easier.
Good luck, scholars!
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