Hi all, english is not my mother language. Everything I write I got the following response; "your ideas are not clear" I myself find it unfair comment. However, I'm up to this, I want to find an editor, tell him my ideas and then ask him to deliver the ideas in his own words! My question is that, is this something morally acceptable? I rather leave my PhD than doing something unmoral.

Please advice

Of course it's not morally acceptable. It is you who will put the name on the thesis, so it should naturally be YOU who is the author!

English is not my mother tongue either, and still I don't go out to find an editor. At the same time, fellow students from UK get the same comment sometimes:"you're ideas are not clear".

Work on making it clear what you are saying, it's tough for everyone.

Rayyan, you cannot have someone else write your PhD for you, even if it is your ideas. You will be passing someone elses work off as your own, and this is fraud. Issues of morality need not be debated.

However, most universities have no rules to prohibit the use of proofreaders or copy-editors (Camdbridge and Birmingham are amongst a few that prohibit it if I remember rightly). Thus, once you have written your work, you can hire a copy-editor to check for grammar, punctuation, sentence structure and typos. Many PhD students will do this by hiring someone or having a friend/partner copy-edit or proofread.

However, you CANNOT hire some to be a 'CONTENT editor' i.e. rewrite your work or write your work for you.

i'm not so sure it's so clear cut. i read in a "how to..." book about writing a thesis (can't remember the name) that some institutes allow the use of a copy editor. so, you'd have to write a version of your phd and then they would correct spelling and grammar (which is not the same as what you ask, but perhaps an option). however, i'm not sure if this is applicable to the uk and, if it is, which institutes allow it.

check with your grad school.

You may wish to seek help from the Language Dept in your university and attend additional courses. Your university/admissions has judged you capable of writing in English, so they should be helping you if you fall below standard.

In addition to using a copy-editor, I suppose there is nothing stopping someone writing a thesis chapter in their native tongue and then having it translated either (???).

I think in order to deal with this you need to first identify what the actual problem is and try to be objective about it. If you are not sure about the comments you are getting ask someone independent to read it without necessarily telling them what the issue is and get their comments. It's either you need help with your written English (which you can get from your university) or you are simply struggling to clearly put your ideas across even though you may have the language with which to express yourself. in the latter case you will just have to worker harder at it, more like fine tuning a guitar till the codes sound right!

I think the guy is not talking about proofreading or employment of a copy editor. The guy wants to employ a "ghostwriter", someone who will write the whole thing for him. Like Katie Price alias Jordan who never wrote a single sentence for any of her bestselling books.

yes jouri, but both myself and missspacey make it clear that, although you can't do that, there are other options. no point in just knocking someone, offer potential solutions!

A

No need to freak out!

If you read the question of the original poster again:

"My question is that, is this something morally acceptable?" you

I'm just giving my opinion on that particular, narrow and clear question.

freak out! i love that. now i'm going to have "le freak, c'est chic" in my head all day!!!

Not sure this is a unique problem, it may not be the words, but the idea that you have not explained properly. Happens all the time at all levels, I've had it on essays before now. you may not need to take such drastic action, and I agree with others this isn't the way to go at all, you may need to clarify your idea before you start writing. It may depend what your subject is, but if you have an idea X, then you need to put down something about where the idea came from, flash of inspiration/from reading A,B,C/ conversation/results of an experiment.

Write it down so you are clear what it is about, doesn't matter how, charts, bits of notes anything, however you work best, or what language you start with, you need to get it absolutely clear, if you can't explain it to yourself then you can't explain it to anyone else, once you have done this then you will be able to start to write it in english, it doesn't have to be great to start with, it can be polished up later. Getting your ideas across is what its all about to start with.

Brilliant advice, Joyce. Yep, muddy ideas equals muddy writing. And if you can explain your ideas to another person, perhaps you can write your thoughts down, conversational style, first and then rewrite in academic style. And you'll be surprised that your English is better than you think. Afterall, the institution accepted your application. Or did you get someone to write your application? (joke. please smile)