Statement of Ethics for Academic Editing
Reading thesis and dissertations is fun because it allows the editor to learn about your research interest! However, writing these papers is meant to reflect the knowledge you have acquired during your academic career—and your skill at communicating that information to others. Your goal is to submit the highest quality manuscript you can. Yet, after so much time honing content, sometimes you need an objective set of eyes. That is where the Copper Fern Studio can help.
As you already know, it is unethical to plagiarize the work of others. In other words, it is a serious violation of academic ethics to represent someone else’s writing or research as your own. An ethical editor will not research information on your behalf, nor write or substantively edit your content. Instead, you can expect:
- A careful review for spelling errors, punctuation, style, and typographical errors you may have missed. If an editor occasionally inserts or substantively rewrites one or more sentences, it is usually because it would be too tricky to try to explain without creating a model for you. It remains the dissertation or thesis author’s responsibility to own the final, submitted content.
- A second pair of eyes to catch references that should have been cited, and to call attention to citations that are not correctly formatted for your style guide.
- Marginal comments that call attention to statements that are unclear or repetitive. After being so close to your work, you may assume your readers have more knowledge than they do. An editor is your surrogate audience, before you hit the big time.
- The editor has a basic working knowledge of your discipline (or related disciplines). However, dissertation editing is not a substitute for peer review, and your committee may require that step before your manuscript is ready for a final edit.
By hiring The Copper Fern Studio, you assert that the arrangement does not violate any requirements of your dissertation or thesis committee. If you are not sure, please check with your advisor!