Okay, so you’ve finished your long awaited dissertation but you feel that it needs some finishing touches – well, here at

The most important issue is to ensure that the editor has a good sound knowledge of what dissertation editing is all about – one that preferably has a PhD and, if you’re lucky, some academic experience. Then, the editor will be familiar with what examiners and supervisors are looking for when they read your dissertation. They will also know where references are missing or where there is lack of justification for your statements. They should be able to guide you to what your examiners are looking for.

The next step in how to find a good a good dissertation editor is that they should be familiar with all of the academic reference styles, such as APA, MLA, Chicago, etc. To ensure that your dissertation is formatted to these styles, plenty of websites can give you the basics, for example, english.purdue.edu or mla.  I especially like the one from Purdue as it gives you a guide to each of the different styles. Your school should also provide you with a template or guideline for your dissertation. Again, you need to feel stress free when you hand your dissertation over, so ensure that your editor is on top of all of these different styles and will format to the correct one.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly in this how to find a good dissertation editor blog is don’t be afraid to ask about your editor’s experience. At FirstEditing, we are often asked to write a mini autobiography for a client who wants to know if their dissertation is going to a competent editor. Giving over your dissertation to a dissertation editor is a big step, as it may have taken you years to reach that stage and you need to feel happy about it.

At FirstEditing, our dissertation editors have PhDs and are familiar with academic editing, so please feel free to ask all the questions you like and we’ll be happy to answer them. We know your dissertation is important to you and if you entrust us with it, it will be important to us too!

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1. What is Dissertation Editing? By a Professional Editor
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