Your Project, Perfectly Edited
Get your work meticulously edited and proofread by PhD-qualified, former dissertation supervisors, who understand exactly what markers want.
~ Thorough editing by PhD-qualified English specialists
~ Free comprehensive plagiarism report
~ NDA-guaranteed confidentiality
~ Delivery in as little as 24 hours
What We Cover
While many providers charge for editing and proofreading separately, our service includes both. This means we’ll take care of the following:
- Fix typos, misspellings, punctuation issues and ensure consistency of your spelling format (e.g., UK or US English).
- Undertake light rewriting of poorly presented sentences, to improve readability and ease of understanding. If substantial rewriting is needed, we’ll provide suggestions.
- Highlight areas where clarification and additional explanation is needed.
- Ensure that your in-text references are in the correct style, formatted correctly and are included in the end-text reference list.
- Ensure that your reference list is correctly formatted.
- Highlight areas where additional references are needed (e.g., sweeping statements, unfounded arguments, etc.).
- Generate the table of contents page, lists of figures and tables.
- Ensure consistent style for figure and table captions.
- Insert captions where we are able to, or highlight areas where captions are needed.
- Ensure consistency of heading levels and styles.
- Ensure correct page numbering (e.g., roman numerals for pre-matter).
- Ensure that your format/page layout is in line with your institute’s requirements.
What (Exactly) You Get
Every editing and proofreading project includes the following key deliverables:

Clean Final Document
You’ll receive a clean, finalised version of your document, fully edited and proofread, which you can use “as is” (if you’re happy with it).

Comments & Suggestions
You’ll also get a second version with all proposed changes tracked, as well as our comments and suggestions to improve your writing further.

Plagiarism
Report
On your request, we’ll provide a separate detailed report that highlights potential plagiarism issues
(view a sample report).

Framework
Visual Design
If your research includes a conceptual framework, we’ll polish this into a high-quality visual to give your work a professional look.
If your university requires a certificate of editing, we can provide this free of charge.

Academic Writing Specialists
Our PhD-qualified editors specialise in academic writing, so they know exactly what markers are looking for.

Combined Editing & Proofreading
Our service includes both editing and proofreading, while others charge separately for these two functions.

Full Plagiarism Reporting
In addition to a full edit and proofread, we can also provide you with a detailed plagiarism report, free of charge.
Below are some of the most popular editing-related questions we receive.
Editing & Proofreading
How do you edit and proofread?
Our editing and proofreading process is 100% manual - in other words, it's handled by a team of highly qualified human editors, not machines. We don't use any automation software or tools, as nothing can beat the quality and accuracy of human editing.
Our editing team consists of a diverse mix of Doctoral and Master's-qualified language specialists. The team is managed by Dr Eunice Rautenbach, who holds both a Master's and Doctoral degree in language practice. All team members have extensive academic editing experience, are native English speakers (from the US, UK and SA) and have worked on numerous dissertations, theses and research projects.
Can I see an example/sample of your editing?
Certainly. You can download a sample editing and proofreading project here.
Will you sort out my references and citations?
Yes. As part of the editing process, we will ensure that your references and citations are in the correct format (e.g., Harvard, APA, etc) as per your university's requirements (you'll need to advise us what these are).
However, keep in mind that we can't fill in incomplete references or find the relevant sources for you (as it's impossible for us to know which sources you've referenced). We also cannot check whether the references you have are accurate or suitable for the arguments you make in your writing.
Can you fix/build my table of contents?
Yes, we can create a table of contents based on the headings and subheadings throughout your dissertation or thesis. This table of contents will include the respective page number for each heading or subheading.
Can you lower my word count?
Yes - as part of the editing process, we will edit your work for concision. However, we cannot guarantee a specific word count or percentage reduction, as this would risk cutting out important content.
Can you check my work for plagiarism?
Yes - we can provide a detailed plagiarism report with every editing and proofreading project. However, please keep in mind that universities use a variety of plagiarism-checking services. Therefore, if your university provides you with a plagiarism-checking facility (as they often do), you should double-check your score on that system.
How long does the editing and proofreading process take?
It depends on the length of the document, the overall quality of the writing (i.e., the number of issues to be resolved) and our project load at the time of submission.
Generally speaking, we can complete a standard dissertation/thesis of 20,000 words within 2-3 days, but this varies depending on the factors above. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you pre-book your editing with us for a specific date. For pre-booked projects, we can provide a guaranteed timeline, which is generally shorter than that of "walk-in" projects. Please email us to pre-book your project.
Can you provide a certificate of editing?
Yes, certainly. We can issue a certificate according to your university's requirements. We can also sign any paperwork required by your university as proof of editing.
Will my document be treated as confidential?
Yes, absolutely. Your work will be treated as strictly confidential and will never be shared or published. We will gladly sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with you if you wish.
How much does editing cost?
Our fee is based on the total word count of the document. This includes the body content and the reference list (as we need to review this). You can also include the appendices if you wish, but it's generally not required.
Click here to view our pricing or book a free consultation to discuss your project.
When should I submit my document to you?
Generally, editing and proofreading should be the very last step in your writing process. This ensures that you don't "undo" any editing work, or introduce new typos or grammar issues.
However, if your supervisor has specifically instructed you to get your work edited before submitting it to them for final review, you should follow their instructions. If you're unsure which approach to take, get in touch with us.
Can you edit my dissertation/thesis as I complete each chapter?
We can, but we don't recommend it. By editing chapter by chapter, consistency is reduced and there is a strong chance that there will be conflicts between document versions in terms of references, page, table and figure numbers, and so on. As a result, a lot of the work will be "undone" and you'll need to spend a lot of time revising and checking each section.
How much time should I factor in post-edit to make corrections?
We recommend that you factor in a day or two to make your final corrections after receiving your document back from us. This is not essential (as you can just accept all our edits "as is"), but it is a good idea to have a buffer in case you want to make any additions or revisions. You might also need to fix issues highlighted by the edit, e.g., regarding clarity of meaning or problems flagged with your referencing.
Can you do a second review of my document after the first edit?
We can review your document as many times as you need, but each review is charged separately. In other words, we cannot provide a second review (after we've edited and proofread) free of charge.
Can you check that my Conclusions and Recommendations represent all my findings?
This is beyond the scope of language editing, as it involves data analysis and interpretation. If you would like assistance with this, we can assist with 1-on-1 coaching, where we review your work critically and provide in-depth feedback (you can view a sample of this here).
Can you write my abstract (or exec summary) for me?
No, we can't. As part of the editing process, we will improve the quality of your writing, but we cannot write any section for you. Having any section written for you would constitute academic misconduct.
Can you rephrase text to reduce my plagiarism score?
No, we can’t. While we may undertake some very light rewriting of poorly constructed sentences to improve readability and ease of understanding, we cannot revise content to reduce plagiarism, as we are not familiar with the articles/sources being referenced.
Can you arrange the separate sections of my document?
No, we cannot arrange (or rearrange) sections of content on your behalf, as this may impact the core meaning and/or the thread of argument.
That said, if we feel that a section could be structured better for clarity, we will comment on this and make suggestions. Additionally, we will check that your headings and subheadings are numbered sequentially and are consistent in style.
I still have questions…
No problem. Feel free to email us or book an initial consultation to discuss.
Still have a question? No problem – feel free to email us or book a consultation.
What Our Clients Say
I started using Grad Coach for my dissertation and I can honestly say that if it wasn’t for them, I would have really struggled. I would strongly recommend them – worth every penny!
Grad Coach is like a guardian angel. The value I derived from the guidance and coaching when writing my thesis was second to none. I’m forever grateful to Grad Coach.
Grad Coach gave me really good feedback that enabled me to submit my dissertation proposal early and get immediate approval. I would recommend Grad without hesitation.
Not convinced? Read more reviews and testimonials here.
Get A Quote For Your Project
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