First check your style guide and follow that if you can. If the country has changed its name, list its publications under their names as they appear in the source (including any spelling mistakes! But put a [sic] after those) then have a 'see' or ‘see also’...
ChatGPT – How do I cite it?
An American Psychological Association blog has very useful advice about how to cite and keep records of ChatGPT advice. Posted Aug 11, 2024 at 00:10 23 words
Science, SI, and Cary, North Carolina
After studying and teaching science for 30 years, I thought I knew everything about Système International (SI) units. Turns out I didn’t. Editing has introduced me to a whole new, unsuspected realm of SI idiosyncrasies and conventions. Some fundamentals I edit science...
Compare citations and reference list – How?
One of the services an editor offers is checking that all items in the reference list are cited in the text and that all citations in the text are included in the reference list. This can be quite tricky and time-consuming. Several PEG members swear by a macro created...
Copy-editing a compilation or a paper-based thesis/dissertation: knowing and setting our limits
In this PEGblog, we explain what a compilation thesis is (often called a thesis by articles or a paper-based thesis/dissertation) and the limited nature and extent of the copy editor’s engagement with it. Compilation thesis: nature and process In Europe in particular,...
Plagiarism: rooting it out
Plagiarism on the grand scale has been made more and more tempting and easy for lazy [writers] by people who provide whole essays on all manner of subjects on the web. – Manning Murphy (2019) To understand the nature of plagiarism, it is useful to consider the origin...
My take on certain aspects of academic editing
I have been a supervisor and an examiner of academic texts but am now an editor of academic texts. I offer my services in academic editing because I want the student’s (and the university’s) efforts to be honoured with a well packaged product. This post explains a...
The comma
To me, part of the beauty of a comma is that it offers a rest, like one in music: a break that gives the whole piece of music greater shape, deeper harmony. It allows us to catch our breath (Pico Iyer). This post gives the comma its due regard and highlights its...
Plain Language in academic writing (part 1)
We are all familiar with fusty, complicated, roundabout academic writing – no doubt it filled many of the textbooks you struggled through at school and university; and if you have to read academic texts in your working life, you may dread the task because it is such a...
The don’ts of academic editing
There has been considerable debate in professional editing circles regarding the limits and boundaries of the editor’s role. According to Lozano (2014: 363), ‘correction or editing services [is] a practice that is openly endorsed by many journals and scientific...
The intricacies of editing academic texts for examination purposes
This challenging and often prickly topic has elicited a great deal of controversy. There are many editorial purists who do not see editing as a process but who are prescriptive about what should and should not be done. They believe that a line is firmly drawn in the...
Why should a thesis be edited?
A good editor can add significant value to the quality of a thesis. In this edition of PEGblog, Jacqui Baumgardt tells us why and how. The worth of a thesis A thesis is the personal work of a student attempting to achieve a master's or doctoral degree in a chosen...