Hi all, I am hoping to submit at the end of July. I had a conversation with my Dr.friend who said that before submitting his thesis, he paid someone to check over it for grammar and spelling. Has anyone else done this, or is thinking of doing it? Obviously I would like my thesis to have as few mistakes as possible, and I don't have anyone who could do this for free.

...but there's something about it that makes me feel uncomfortable (not just the money). I guess it's because I won't feel that it's all my own work. But I think mistakes are inevitable no matter how many times you proof read. What do other people think? Worth a try or just submit as it is? (English is my first language BTW)

I had a talk with this about others before I submitted. In the end I did not use the services because it felt weird somehow. There is nothing in the rules against it.

I think, in a way, an editor could be seen like another tool to prepare the copy for publication; not different than the ones on your computer only more reliable. The work is still yours, the editor won't be writing it for you, you are only paying for his services to check/correct certain things that are not relevant to your research but more about how it is written. I've never thought of this before but I think it's a good idea. If I could afford, I would get an editor to have a look at my finished thesis.

I agree with DanB. If your supervisor is checking it then they should be able to point out and mistakes (and they should be doing it for free)

Although the grammar and spelling are important the content is the essential point. As long as the science or the ideas are well formed and backed up then you should be fine. If all the viva voce assessor picks you up on, are some small spelling or grammar mistakes then you have no problem. Good luck.

Supervisors may feel that they are too busy to address typos/grammar issues and should concentrate only on the science but you could ask a fellow student or post-doc to proof-read for you? It shouldn't really be necessary to pay someone to find typos and bad grammar, surely any reasonably well educated person (friend, parent) can do this? Spell checking does not find everything as we all 'no' but used carefully (i.e. check and double-check spelling before you add anything to the custom dictionary!!) it can find most typographical errors, repeated words etc. Don't even bother trying to use the grammar check in MS Word, it is simply not designed to cope with scientific writing.

What would you think if the person who wrote the dissertation/ essay/ paper had not English as a first language? I am a bit concerned about this for my next and coming years. I think I don't make many mistakes when I write in English, but I sometimes use expressions which sound "weird" to a native, or my vocabulary is too limited.

I don't think the supervisor would be too busy. As they're reading it, checking the content, they will mark any mistakes, why wouldn't they? They want you to hand in the best work you can - it's a reflection on them.

If you do know someone who is really hot on their grammar and spelling use them, even if they don't understand the content, they should be able to see if your words flow and if there are any errors.

You might be lucky enough to have supervisors who will alert you to typos (as I was, my supervisors were very thorough). However, not every academic is prepared to do this. My friend who submitted yesterday had chapters returned to her from one supervisor with the soul comment "needs more commas, get someone to proof read for you!"

haha, 'soul' should, of course, be 'sole' - a spell checker wouldn't have caught that one!!

Then I believe that's a real poor show then if the supervisor cannot be bothered to properly read the text they're given. I'll count myself as one of the lucky ones then.

Many thanks to all for your responses to this question. I have two supervisors, my main supervisor and a second supervisor, and both have read the first draft of the entire thesis. My main supervisor has been great in many ways (esp. in terms of theory and knowing the literature), however close reading for grammar and spotting typos is not one of her strengths. This is partly because she is extremely busy and I get the impression my work is read on the train home from conferences etc. I have noticed typos in her published work which concern me. My second supervisor picks up more of these errors, and wrote on my draft 'I have indicated some typos but I expect there are more that I haven't picked up'...she is now on maternity leave so can't read my work any more. Of course in making edits before I submit I am likely to make even more typos! Maybe I should just try to accept there will be some typos and submit anyway. Thanks for the comments.