Proofreading/editing essays and theses...

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dreamcatcher

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Hey guys, forgive me if I've posted this in the wrong section!

I'm thinking about offering proofreading and copy editing services to students while studying writing and editing at university, but I have no idea what to charge.

Has anyone proofread or edited essays and theses, and if so, how much did you charge?

I think I would be most comfortable charging per word, but let me know if you charged by page or hour as well!

Thanks.
 

Deleted member 42

Don't edit; tutor.

Tutor means you annotate papers and make them come talk to you about them; you don't "fix" the problems.
 

dreamcatcher

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Don't edit; tutor.

Tutor means you annotate papers and make them come talk to you about them; you don't "fix" the problems.

I actually had the idea to tutor English to high school students, and proofread/edit for the editing experience.
 

areteus

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Sign up for a tutoring agency and/or put your profile up on a website that offers tutoring services (I use UK Tutors and Cloisters for my source of pupils). You have to pay commission to them (it varies based on the company - UK Tutors charges a single introduction fee to both client and tutor, you pay it to share contact details once you have worked out a deal, Cloisters charges a percent of the fee you get paid). These are the best way I have found of getting clients.

These are UK prices so not sure if they will apply to you even if you convert to Aus currency. Usually I charge between £20 and £30 an hour depending on the level of work required but you will have to see what the market supports where you are. And I offer a service where I examine essays and thesis scripts, annotate them and discuss possible improvements with the client. I find that I mostly get this from students with EAL issues - they are usually hot on the subject matter but have problems translating that into good written academic level English. Once you explain how to express a concept appropriately, they usually learn and progress in their writing skills.
 

Deleted member 42

I actually had the idea to tutor English to high school students, and proofread/edit for the editing experience.

It's not going to be regarded as professional experience.

Also: there are ethical issues around editing or proofing for students.

At some schools, it's specifically forbidden to do so for pay.
 

czig

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I've done it. I worked with a woman who helps Asian students get into universities. My job was to clean up the writing, mainly by fixing verb tenses, and it didn't take too long to go through each 1,000 word essay. All of these students were English language learners, so while they were already good at writing, they needed a little proofreading help.

I charged $20 per essay. Cheap, but I needed the work.
 

Old Hack

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czig, I hope you read Medievalist's post right above yours.
 

GulfCoastMama

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Sorry to step on anyone's toes, but this is a serious problem that writers feel it to be "okay" to engage in the practice of "polishing" university admissions essays. The purpose of said essays is to determine the applicant's fitness for college based on a writing sample. If you are being paid to correct their errors, then the process becomes fraudulent and a participating writer is only contributing to a further degradation of our current educational system. Not to mention, it no doubt harms the student, who probably is not college material if they are unable to write a basic essay. Many kids take on huge amounts of debt to attend college, and getting paid to help them attempt a fraudulent entry is pretty sad, as they will surely fail in the end and be straddled with pointless debt.
 

Deleted member 42

You will note that the OP has not returned.

I'm going to lock this thread before someone else wants to advertise paper editing or an ad for a papermill.
 
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