5 Tips To Help You To Proofread A PhD

Proofreading your PhD can be a difficult task, after months of research and putting your research to paper, proofreading can seem like a laborious task. Especially since you will be so familiar with the content that you may find it difficult to spot even the most obvious of errors. In this post, we provide five key tips to help you proofread your PhD.

Take a break

If you are close to the deadline for submitting your PhD the last thing you want to do is to proofread your PhD while you are tired and fatigued. Having some rest will allow you to gain your energy and focus back. It will also allow you to look at your work with a fresh pair of eyes. As often people can become accustomed to their work and writing style glossing over errors.

Read it aloud

Trying to pronounce the words will make you more effective at spotting potential flaws. As the sound of your own voice will help you to focus on the words and notice any errors. It will also help you to better focus on whether the points you are making are logical as often when we hear words and phrases aloud they can sound different to how we imagined.

Make a list of errors

You may also find it helpful to make a list of mistakes that you have spotted. Most people will repeat the same mistakes over and over again, making a list will allow you to spot the mistakes you repeatedly make, helping you to avoid them in the future. This will also make you better at spotting those mistakes further down the text.

Double Check

An immense amount of research and work goes into writing a PhD, however people often leave checking it to the last minute. Ultimately the way it is presented can have a big impact on the reader, seeing mistakes also creates a negative impression and can affect your credibility as the author. This is why it is essential that you allow enough time for proofreading your PhD. Check your PhD, take a break then proofread it again. Until it is perfect keep repeating this process, as your PhD once out there cannot be changed, so you have to get it right!

Second Opinion

It is sometimes helpful to get a second opinion, you may find that you have checked your work numerous times and just as a precaution you want to get the advice of a third party. Having friends and family proofread your PhD can be one option, you can also ask your tutors. After exhausting such options you should also consider using a professional proofreading service, who are trained in meticulously proofreading PhD's.

Express Proofreading’s Proofreading Service

At Express Proofreading we provide a professional PhD proofreading service. Placing an order for our proofreading services is easy, simply visit the Instant Quote page. Upload your document then our Quote Generator will calculate a personalised, instant quote for you based upon the word count of your document. If you are happy with your quote you can then click ‘Place Order’ and proceed to our secure checkout page. Then sit back and wait for the proofread copy to be returned back to you.


4 Tips to Structure a Strong Argument

In an essay you should aim to persuade the reader by developing one or more arguments in support of your thesis. Being able to write an effective and convincing argument is then an essential skill in academia. Below are four tips to help you craft effective arguments that will convert the strongest of sceptics.

Know your argument

Do extensive research and, from this, be sure of your position. How can you hope to convince your reader if you are not convinced yourself? It will be clear in your writing that you do not know what you’re talking about if your arguments are vague and confused. Your argument represents an informed position on the question you have been set. It is key to determining the reasoning and structure of your entire essay, so it’s important you get it right. Test whether you have a solid grasp on your position by condensing it into a single sentence. Once you are sure of your argument, think about its key themes, how you are going to demonstrate these and the evidence that relates to them.

Provide sufficient evidence

You simply cannot make a strong argument without sufficient evidence to back-up your position. Using compelling arguments is important, but you are unlikely to persuade the reader unless it is supported by facts, data and/or examples. For this, thorough research is essential to ensure you have a wealth of credible sources in support of your argument. Avoid using anecdotal or personal evidence. “In my experience…” is not the start of a convincing argument. Similarly, familiarise yourself with logical fallacies so that you can avoid them, as these will only serve to undermine your argument. For example, a “slippery slope” argument based on the premise that if A happens, so too will B, C, D and eventually Z, through false equivalency, lacks evidence and is unlikely to persuade the reader. Never simply assert that something is true.

Engage opposing viewpoints

It’s not enough to only provide evidence in support of your own viewpoint. You must also successfully predict and refute any potential opposing positions. You may have presented very strong evidence in favour of your position, but by failing to address potential counterarguments, you leave your viewpoint open to criticism by sceptical readers. Opposing viewpoints should be apparent in the literature when undertaking your research, or perhaps you have identified possible logical objections yourself. Ideally these would be mentioned in the background section of your introduction and investigated further in your discussion. By doing this you lend additional credence to your position.

Put it all together

Your main argument should be visible throughout, so it is useful to think about the relationship between the argument and the beginning, middle and end of the essay. Put simply, you should aim to first tell the reader what you are going to tell them, then tell them, then reflect on what you’ve told them. This will keep your position clear for the reader in the context of the essay question. After introducing the arguments, develop them by presenting information that supports your thesis and refutes contradictory viewpoints.

Here is one way you could structure your argument that considers evidence from both sides:

1. Evidence that supports your thesis
2. A critical evaluation of your supporting evidence
3. Evidence that contradicts your thesis
4. A critical evaluation of the contradictory evidence, exploring why you consider it insufficient
5. Reaffirm your thesis in relation to the argument

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How to Plan & Draft Essays

Properly planning and drafting an essay will help avoid rambling and make your arguments more coherent. Many students believe that they write best when under pressure, but often a rushed essay is laden with grammatical errors, muddled arguments, poor structure and other signifiers of poor writing that would likely have been avoided through sufficient planning. It may seem like a lot of extra work, but getting into the habit of writing drafts is sure to improve the quality of your essays.

Why draft?

You should already have a good idea of what you want to say before you put pen to paper. Obviously research is a crucial first step, but much of the important thinking and organising occurs once you begin writing and making connections between ideas. This synthesis of ideas and concepts is what demonstrates a deeper understanding of the topic, but such connections rarely gain clarity and take shape without drafting, reflection and re-writing. Early on, drafting helps you focus your ideas to structure them in a way that makes sense. During the writing process new issues arise constantly, forcing you to make corrections as you go, which is very time-consuming and often results in poorly constructed arguments. Whilst writing multiple drafts may seem like unnecessary effort, it is a more efficient approach to writing.

Make a basic plan or outline first

Firstly, plan out the main structure of your essay with the question firmly in mind. Read through your research notes and list all the central points and ideas you want to cover. At this stage it’s important to develop an idea of how your thesis relates to the prevailing arguments and how you will approach them. It may be helpful to set out the sections of your essay with a brief summary of each and the main points to be addressed. Quickly review this to ensure you have included all relevant information and that you are answering the essay question.

First draft

The first draft should flesh-out the ideas highlighted in your outline. Rather than worrying about spelling or grammar at this stage, you should focus solely on writing freely and adding content, using the outline as a guide. Exactly what you write here isn’t too important as it will be subject to heavy editing later. The point is to avoid writer’s block and keep going. The first draft is typically a long and disorganised arrangement of your thoughts and ideas, so naturally it will contain logical and structural errors. When you lay your thoughts down without focussing too much on details, you may find that certain concepts and ideas lead to novel associations as you begin to synthesise information. Note which side tracks are particularly useful to your essay and follow them, but keep the original framework and essay question in mind. The end result may well be very different from the original plan.

Subsequent drafts

Once you’ve completed your first draft it’s a good idea to take a step back for a while and look at it again with fresh eyes. This will allow you to review what you have written more critically. It may even help to pretend the draft was written by someone else to lessen your attachment to it. Read through the draft, carefully searching for any passages that need rewriting or rethinking entirely. Is any important information missing? Try to critically assess the essay’s structure. Will it be clear to the reader what is meant? Is it logical and coherent? Does the introduction still make sense in relation to what you have written in the main body? Are your arguments clear in relation to the thesis? These are the kind of questions you need to ask when reviewing each draft. It may be helpful to note how each paragraph relates to others and whether they should be rearranged to improve the flow of your essay. Once you are satisfied with the content and organisation, you can move on to a final draft.

Final checks

At this point the broad structure and content of your essay should be finalised. The final steps are all about proofreading and editing. This involves meticulously reading through your essay, focussing on style, presentation and word flow. And of course, ensure that your grammar, punctuation and spelling are faultless.

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How to Write Better Introductions for Academic Essays

Getting the introduction to your essay just right can be a challenge. It’s your first chance to make a good impression on the reader and grab their attention. A well-written, informative and imaginative introduction will convince the audience that your paper is worthy of interest. A good introduction should provide a broad overview of your topic, why it matters, and how you will approach it. Here are some tips on how to write an effective introduction that informs and grabs the reader’s attention.

Be broad but relevant

Your introduction should provide some background information on the chosen subject as well as defining any potentially ambiguous terms or concepts. This should set the scene and help bring the reader up to speed before you jump into the main body of your essay. It can be tempting to try and cover too much in your introduction, but this runs the risk of making your introduction feel irrelevant and confusing in the context of your essay as a whole. Your introduction should tell the reader what to expect, not provide a history of the universe. Similarly, don’t engage the main facets of your argument in your introduction. Ask yourself “is this providing context or evidence?”, if it’s mainly there to support your argument then it probably belongs further down in your essay.

Structure

Generally you want to avoid sticking too religiously to a set structure as your introduction may appear formulaic. However, it is good practice to begin by stating the problem you wish to address, followed by background information on the general topic and why it is important. Then explain the focus and purpose of the paper, and conclude with a thesis statement and/or a brief summary of the essay's contents.

Avoid clichés

A good introduction should be original and grab the reader’s attention. A worn-out and uninspired phrase used in your first paragraph is guaranteed to make your reader lose interest. Clichés are neither informative, nor interesting. Avoid simply re-stating the question. Include the question in your own words if you must, but remember that any marker has likely already been through a stack of papers beginning, “Does X, do X?”. It doesn’t sound very inspired. Perhaps the biggest offender of them all is, “The dictionary defines X as…”, which has become so common it’s almost laughable. It can be important to clarify certain terms and concepts, and how they will be used early on, but try to do this in a more creative manner. The “Since the beginning of time…” introduction is particularly vague and suggests that the writer likely has little interesting to say about their chosen topic, which is exactly the message you want to avoid. If you can delete your opening lines without losing any information, it’s time for a rethink.

Be engaging

Set the scene with interesting background information. Try including some controversial information that the reader may question or disagree with. This will make them think about the topic in depth and be excited to read more. If appropriate, offer some kind of hook, perhaps an interesting anecdote, shocking data, or a startling fact, for example. Ask yourself why you have chosen this topic and what has led you to your position on it. Transfer your interest in the problem to the reader.

Try writing it last

Just because it’s the first thing the reader comes across, that doesn’t mean you have to write it first. Often by the time you finish your essay, your thesis or certain focal points will have changed significantly. The best way to write an informative and relevant introduction is to do it once you already know what the paper includes in its entirety. It is a good idea to have a rough draft introduction including general points you want to address in your paper, but it should be one of the last things you finalise.

 


Writing Tips From Express Proofreading Services

Keeping It Simple: Writing Clearly & Concisely

Being able to write clearly and concisely is an important academic skill that makes your writing easier to understand, ensuring your position comes across efficiently and with more impact. Why make your sentences longer than they have to be? By following the simple steps outlined below you will be able to communicate information more effectively within the same word count.

Know what you want to say

Good writing reflects good thinking. You will find it difficult to communicate your points clearly if you don’t fully understand your own position. An impactful sentence rarely writes itself. Waffling is often the result of a writer being unclear on what they want to say and not planning out their sentences. Properly planning a sentence before you start writing will make it more concise, greatly improving the clarity of your argument.

Keep sentences clean

Avoid overly wordy sentences to keep your point simple and easier for the reader to understand. This may sound obvious, but every word should have a purpose. You should delete any unnecessary words and phrases to improve word-flow and make sentences shorter. Consider the sentence: “The reason I’m going to the pool is because I love swimming”. Here, the words “reason” and “because” in the same sentence are redundant because they imply each other. “I’m going to the pool because I love swimming” communicates the same point far more concisely.

Go easy on the thesaurus

It can be tempting to spice up your writing with an array of obscure synonyms to trick the reader into thinking your work is more elaborate than it really is. But by adding unnecessary complexity to an otherwise simple piece of work you risk misinterpretation and ensuring the reader wastes time trying to decipher what you actually mean. That is not an effective way to communicate. However, there is nothing wrong with letting a particularly good or clever phrase stay. A skilled writer knows when flowery prose is appropriate. Being able to get that powerful phrase just right can be critical, as is knowing when to give up and say it simply. Clear writing does not have to be boring. Varying sentence structure with transitions and conjunctions will greatly help concise writing feel less stale.

Be direct

“Weasel words” are words or phrases used to make a statement seem legitimate, but are actually vague and baseless. While these can be qualified with sources, they sound non-committal and serve to unnecessarily draw-out sentences. It is far better to simply make your point and provide evidence for it. For a strong, clear and well-reasoned argument, weasel words are best avoided.

Consider these examples:

- “Popular wisdom has it that…” (Who’s wisdom? Is that a legitimate test of truth?)
- “In most respects…” (What respects?)
- “There is evidence that…” (What is this evidence? What is the source?)
- “It may be that…” (And may not be?)

Use an active voice

In an active voice sentence, the subject performs the action. In a passive voice, the subject receives the action. Using a passive voice is often less engaging, more vague and uses more words than an active voice. Using an active voice can therefore make your message easier for the reader to understand. For example, “10% of applicants failed the exam” is more concise than “the exam was failed by 10% of applicants”. Although the active voice is more common in non-scientific disciplines, overuse of the passive voice in scientific writing can ultimately cloud your meaning.

Kill your darlings

This cryptic-sounding tip could be interpreted in different ways, but it offers solid advice: don’t get too attached. A good writer must be willing to cut out their favourite sentences, paragraphs, and even entire chapters if it will improve the overall quality of their work. This is more to do with editing than writing itself, but knowing what to include will greatly improve how your writing comes across. We all get attached to certain elements of our writing, but it’s important to consider whether they are beneficial, or even necessary. If not, and they are burdening the overall piece, it’s time for them to go. Remember, you could have written the best paragraph ever put to paper, but if it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t fit.

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Researching An Essay Effectively

One of the best ways to improve your essay writing is to be well prepared. Effective research lays the foundation for a great essay as it informs everything you write and leads to stronger arguments. The more effort you put in at the research stage, the easier your essay will be to write and the better it will be. Here is some guidance on how to approach your research to take your essays to the next level.

Gathering information

Choosing the right sources for your research can be difficult. Several options are available to you, including: websites, books and journal articles. Avoid relying solely on your lecture notes however as, whilst they provide a good starting point, examiners want to see that you have demonstrated strong research skills from diverse sources. Many researchers are rightly suspicious of web-based sources as they could be written by anyone! But not all are created equal and websites can be used to great effect. They can provide the most up-to-date information on current topics and may contain, for example, government reports, maps and statistics. But be sure to carefully scrutinise them.

Consider the credibility of the source, any potential biases and whether the information is verifiable. Books can be immensely useful sources of background information as well as expert views on topics and issues. But be wary. Books are not subject to the same peer-review processes as journal articles and the information may be inaccurate or outdated. Depending on your subject you may want to use them sparingly to maximise the accuracy of your claims, particularly in scientific disciplines. Articles from established scholarly journals are generally the preferred source of reliable information and are especially useful when original research is needed. A key advantage of such articles is the inclusion of comprehensive bibliographies, which allow you to quickly trace primary sources, contradictory results and other relevant research.

Target your research!

The importance of understanding the essay question cannot be understated. By failing this you risk taking your research astray and missing the point of the essay — relevance is key. It can be tempting when delving into a research rabbit-hole to get carried away and try to cover everything you come across. Many students fall into the trap of thinking that quantity is everything, but including too much often does little more than muddy your argument. Knowing what, and what not, to focus on is key as you want to avoid spreading yourself too thin. When investigating a subject, remember that you are not expected to know everything, nor could you. The best way to avoid burdening your essay with irrelevant information is to keep the essay question in mind from the outset and target your research accordingly. Ask yourself, “is this relevant to my argument?”.

Question everything!

Do you have a good grasp on the topic you are researching? Many students make the mistake of diving straight into complex studies without first understanding the basics. Sufficient background knowledge is essential to be able to approach sources critically and question any claims you encounter. It may be worth reading a topic introduction in a book before delving in to bleeding-edge research papers, for instance. Once you feel you that have gained a solid foundation, remember that it is good academic practice to provide a balanced argument to any position highlighted in your essay. That means researching different perspectives on your chosen topic and scrutinising the evidence behind them to develop your own informed opinion. This ensures that you don’t rely too heavily on one, potentially flawed, position and address any potential objections the reader may have. Get into the habit of searching for several papers covering similar topics and consider how they are connected. This will help you synthesise information, elevate your research skills and formulate more convincing arguments.

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Top Tips for Proofreading Emails

Writing emails is an essential part of modern day life, whether it’s in relation to work or personal. However, often people write their emails in a hurry or increasingly on mobile devices where they are more prone to making mistakes. Our quick top tips to proofreading your emails will highlight some of the key issues to look out for.

Getting the recipient’s name right

Often when we are replying to someone new we read the email quickly and assume we remember the person’s name. However, that is not always the case, often the same name can have multiple spellings and it is important to take a moment and double check this. Getting this wrong can create the impression that you don’t have good attention to detail or that you do not care enough about the person or the matter to devote the time. This can be significant if it is an important work related matter, so take the time to always double check name spellings before replying.

Double check your tone

Often when writing emails it is easy to misjudge the tone of the email. Sometime it is necessary to be formal and sometimes a formal email may appear too cold or even rude. Therefore, it is important to think for a moment who you are sending the email to and what is the purpose. For example, if it is in relation to work or business and this is the first few times you have exchanged emails starting with ‘Dear’ and using a formal tone would work best. However, after you have built a rapport and a working relationship it is perfectly acceptable to relax the tone and be in the middle between casual and formal.

Don’t forget to attach

A common mistake when sending emails is to forget to attach certain documents. Many email clients will show a reminder if you have used the word ‘attach’ in an email, as this is such a common issue. However, this is not always the case so you need to always double check before you press ‘send’ that you have attached the document and the correct one for that matter!

Check for clarity and wordiness

It is important that your email is clear and gets across what you intend to. This can be a particular issue in a business context if it appears as if you are suggesting something that may not be included in your service. So make sure that your email is concise and clear. Never use too many words to describe something that can be described simply, as this again can create confusion and can lead to misunderstanding.

Try to keep your sentences simple and direct. Often emails written at a basic reading level have better response rates. Whereas, long, complex sentences with big words can make your text more challenging to read for a busy person who may be rushing through their emails.

In this context consider George Orwell’s five rules of writing:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figures of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive voice where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

Finally, proofread your emails

In this article we have covered many of the most common issues that people face when writing emails. However, along with checking for such issues, it is also important in the end to proofread your email thoroughly. This will ensure that you create a positive impression as well as allowing you to double check that you have not made any significant errors in the tone for example.

Our proofreading service

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How to Write Content for your Blog

Writing content for website blog is important for many businesses as well as online companies. The content serves the purpose of updating your audience as well as enabling you to demonstrate your particular expertise to your customers. Added to this, it is now also becoming increasingly important in helping websites to generate traffic. There are several factors that you should take into account when preparing content for your blog.

Know your Audience

Before you start to write blog posts, it is important to know who your audience are. Understanding your audience will help to tailor your content to what your audience want. As part of this you should consider the age range of your audience, why they would be on your site and what could potentially assist them. After knowing the answers to these questions you should then be able to better cater for what your audience want to read about.

Start with a Title

One useful way to begin is to brainstorm various potential titles or topics. Once you have a few titles you can then build from there. It is important not to think of the detailed nature of topics to start with as this will only slow you down. Instead by building gradually from the titles or topic you can very quickly determine if a topic is the right one to write about and whether your audience would be interested.

Organise your Content

To make the writing process much easier and more efficient, you should organise your content. Break the article or post into paragraphs and determine what you will write about in each. Start with the introduction where you should aim to summarise what the article will be about.

Begin Writing

Once you have your title and have organised how you will write your post, it is then time to begin writing. If you already have experience writing this may be the easy part for you, however if not it may take some practice. The key is the preparation, provided you have prepared and organised how your content will be presented the writing should flow smoothly.

Edit & Proofread

Once you have written your post and you are happy with it, you should make any final edit to it as well as proofread the post to ensure that it has no errors. Proofreading will ensure that the content is flawless and ready to be published on your site. You can either proofread the post yourself or outsource this. At Express Proofreading we specialise in providing a comprehensive business proofreading service, contact us today for a quote.