If you’re reading this blog, you’re either a PGPR client or you’re thinking about becoming one. Either way – welcome! We hope we’ll get the chance to read some of your research soon.
We offer several levels of service here at PGPR. This is a blog to explain what you’ll get when you book each of those services.
1. Standard proofreading
First and foremost, proofreading is about ensuring that your spelling and grammar are correct. You probably realised that, but PGPR proofreaders also look out for and help you with more than just those factors. Those extra areas include:
- Tightening your writing by cutting down overly long sentences
- Clarifying confusing text
- Ensuring consistency of formatting, terminology, punctuation and so on
- Improving readability by removing repetition and style
- Checking for anthropomorphism (more on that here)
- Checking your in-text references
We’ll amend your piece using Word’s track changes feature and send you back two copies: one with the changes still marked and one clean copy. We will also include some comments to ensure we haven’t changed your meaning, ask any questions or check that you agree with any suggested re-formatting.
The PGPR team really love reading
Photo by Seven Shooter on Unsplash
Who should use our basic proofreading service? Clients who are happy with the structure and meaning of their work, but who struggle with English or academic writing.
2. Light proofreading
We also offer a light proofreading service which is perfect for those on a tight budget or those whose work is 90% there. With this service, we just check spelling, punctuation and grammar, rather than looking for those extras included in our standard service. This service is quicker and cheaper than our standard service.
Who should use our light proofreading service? Clients who are on a tight budget and/or those who are confident that their writing is strong and just want a second pair of eyes. Please note that we have to check that work is of a high enough standard to qualify for light proofreading as this is not always the case.
3. Feedback only
PGPR consists of Johanna Spiers and Astrid Coxon, both of whom are qualitative methods experts. As such, we can offer feedback on your structure, methodology, findings and discussion sections. We might ask whether you could dig a bit deeper with a certain interpretation, or if you can find links between certain themes. We may also suggest papers which would be useful to read, point out methodological errors or highlight sections of your thesis which your examiners might question you about.
We can also offer feedback on earlier stages of analysis, such as tables of themes or transcripts. It might be helpful for you to consider a Video Consultation with us if you’re at this earlier stage – more on those below.
If you book feedback only, you’ll get a single copy of your work back, marked up with helpful comments from one of our team. Read more about our brilliant team here.
The PGPR team will tell you what’s working and what needs more polishing
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
Who should use our feedback only service? If you are confident that your writing is strong, but you feel less sure about whether your analysis or methodology are as robust as they can be, this is the service for you.
4. Proofreading plus feedback
This is our deluxe service and is fairly self-explanatory! If you book this service, we’ll combine all the elements of basic proofreading and feedback. This means you’ll get two copies of your work back: one with the tracked changes still there for you to look at and one clean copy. Both copies will include the feedback comments.
PGPR clients are great; we genuinely enjoy giving you feedback
Photo by Adam Jang on Unsplash
Who should book proofreading plus feedback? If you’re feeling unsure about your English or academic writing skills and need some extra assistance with your analysis, book this service.
5. Video consultations
We also offer video consultations for our qualitative clients. These are an ideal opportunity to talk through difficulties you’re having at any stage of your research project with either Johanna or Astrid.
Once you’ve booked a session, you can send some examples of your work for us to look over. We will then spend up to an hour discussing the work with you via a video chat. Note it’s fine to turn the video function off if you feel shy – you’ll still be able to hear our advice and questions.
You can read more about the benefits of our video consultations here.
Use one of our friendly VC sessions to steer you in the right direction
Photo by visuals on Unsplash
Who should book a video consultation? Anyone who is feeling stuck with any stage of their qualitative research project.
6. Per-hour feedback
We now offer written feedback for tables of themes and other early stages of analysis. We charge per hour (instead of per word) for this because a table of themes might not have many words yet is likely to include a lot of material for discussion. We will comb through the documents you send us and offer our feedback via comments on the page and a written report. You can set the amount of time you want us to spend on your documents or we can estimate how long the job will take before we start. Just get in touch to hear more.
Who should use our per-hour feedback service? Clients who are at an early stage of their analysis and want written feedback to help them move forwards.
7. Referencing services
Reference sections can be a huge challenge for postgrad students. Fortunately, PGPR can help! We offer two referencing services. In the first, reference checking, we will proofread your reference list and ensure that every entry follows the exact format of the referencing system you’re using, whether that’s APA, Harvard, Chicago or any other system. In the second service, cross-checking, we will ensure that every reference on your list is included in your thesis and every in-text citation in your thesis appears on your reference list. This means we will flag up any references you can delete or that you need to add.
Who should book our referencing services? Anyone who is in a muddle about their reference list and can’t bear to sort it out themselves… We know there’s a lot of you out there!
8. Formatting
Our final service involves ensuring that your thesis looks as polished and professional as it can. We will ensure that all your headings are consistent and correct, that your table of contents is up to date, that your tables are formatted correctly and that everything looks just as it should. We recommend that you book our formatting service as the very last thing you do before submitting your thesis, so that everything is perfect before you send your precious research out into the world.
Who should use our formatting service? Anyone who isn’t that techy but still wants their work to visually dazzle – and to follow academic guidelines for presentation.
Our formatting service will ensure that your thesis is perfectly ordered
Photo by Héctor J. Rivas on Unsplash
If any of these services sound like they might be helpful for you, get in touch via the form below and have a chat with us about what we can offer.
