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Academic Editing Services in Australia

Capstone Editing is in the unique position to offer academics a specialised editing service that fully meets their particular needs.

Trusted Academic Editing Services in Australia and New Zealand

 

Are you looking for proofreading or academic editing services in Australia and New Zealand? Welcome to Capstone Editing. We are the only academic proofreading and editing business in Australia that’s owned and operated by academics and so are uniquely placed to offer you a trusted service that meets your specific needs. Every member of our team of academic editors is an academic themselves with PhD and master’s qualifications and extensive experience in writing and publishing their own academic work.

 

Whether you need academic editing for your thesis, a research paper, a academic journal article, a book manuscript, or a grant or promotion application, we can help. Capstone Editing’s university proofreading and editing services ensure your work is presented in the best possible light to give you the best chance of publication or funding success.

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Professional Academic CopyEditing Services

 

Do you need to find an editor in Australia? Our editors truly understand what it is to be an academic. And it’s this experience that makes them the best possible people for providing professional editing and proofreading for university students. We understand what’s needed to produce meticulous academic papers. We’ve worked with academics from every university in Australia and New Zealand, and we’re familiar with the guidelines of individual universities across Australasia. We’ve also worked with academics from international universities and offer online academic editing.

 

To join the Capstone Editing team, potential editors must have significant experience in editing academic work and must display the highest standards. We hone those standards further through our in-house training program, and only after completing this will they join our editing team. Our team comprises book editors from a range of academic disciplines, so you will always be assigned an editor who knows and understands what you are writing about.

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Premium Copyediting Service

Under our Premium Copyediting service, we will perform an extremely thorough edit of your document. This includes:

    • Correct grammar, syntax, spelling and punctuation (according to British/Australian or US English conventions)
    • Correct use of formal academic English
    • Improved logic, clarity and flow, including transitional phrasing
    • Complete internal consistency
    • Correct and consistent use of abbreviations
    • Suggestions on organisation, structure and support of statements
    • Querying of errors and inconsistencies in content
    • Word count reduction (through eliminating redundancy and unnecessary repetition)
    • Complete formatting
    • Complete, consistent and accurate referencing.

In addition, you will receive:

  • A detailed letter from your editor
  • A style sheet detailing all choices made in terms of hyphenation, capitalisation, spelling and so on, to help you maintain the consistency of your document should you make any further changes.

Substantive Editing and Proofreading Service

In addition to the Premium Copyediting service detailed above, those looking for a more in-depth academic editing service can benefit from our Substantive Editing package.

What is substantive editing?

IPEd’s Australian Standards for Editing Practice define substantive editing as ‘editing to assess and shape material to improve its organisation and content, to clarify meaning, improve flow and smooth language, ensuring that language use is appropriate to the nature of the material and its audience’.

Substantive academic editing also includes structural editing, which ‘focuses on the organisation of material and the types of elements included to clarify meaning and improve flow’.

What’s included?

Capstone Editing’s Substantive Editing service includes all the aspects of Premium Copyediting, as well as editing for:

  • Technical vocabulary
  • Improvement of organisation and structure, or detailed advice where author input is needed (rather than general suggestions only)
  • Changing from one referencing system to another, if necessary, and the location of any source details that may be missing from your reference list
  • Extensive rewording, if necessary
  • Identification of statements that need additional support, with detailed advice
  • Refinement of your Abstract, if necessary
  • A second edit or proofread of your work by a new editor, if necessary (for an additional charge).

Who is this service for?

Clients who choose to use our Substantive Editing service may include:

  • Early career academics
  • Those who have constructed their journal article, conference paper or other document from previously written work
  • Academics from a non-native English-speaking background
  • Those seeking to convert their thesis into a book for publication

Our Substantive Editing service level is only offered to academic or professional clients (not students), in accordance with the Australian Standards for Editing Practice. If you have any questions, please contact us.

Contact Us

0% interest finance options available

Capstone Editing is proud to be the only editing service in Australia to offer an after-pay service to our clients. Access top-quality editing when you need it, and pay for it over time in manageable instalments.

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Spread the cost

Pay for the course in equal monthly instalments over a period of 6, 12, 18 or 24 months.

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Interest free

Always interest free, no early exit fees and no hidden fees and charges.

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Easy application

Apply online for either instant approval or a decision within a few hours (depending on the provider you choose).

Don’t wait! Submit your document for editing now and pay later with a flexible payment plan that suits your individual needs.

Find out more

Finance provided by Payright and Humm

Capstone Editing has chosen to partner with Payright (Devizo Pty Ltd ABN 24 605 753 535) and Humm (Certegy Ezi-Pay Pty Ltd ABN 28 129 228 986) because they are Australian businesses that practise responsible lending.

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The Best Academic Editing Service - Our Promise to You

 

As professional academic editors, we guarantee we’ll deliver the highest quality editing on time. Every document we edit is checked for:

 

  • correct spelling, punctuation, grammar and syntax
  • correct use of formal academic English
  • logic, clarity and flow
  • internal consistency
  • correct and consistent use of abbreviations.

We’ll also provide document formatting service and accurate referencing, together with suggestions on organisation and structure

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Excellent Customer Service Comes as Standard With Our Academic Editing Services
 

Capstone Editing has built a reputation based on the quality of our academic editing services and the excellent customer service delivered by our hardworking client support staff. They are all trained editors themselves, so are more than able to answer any questions or address any concerns you may have. Simply contact us online 24/7 and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

If we fail to deliver on our promises, you can take advantage of our editing guarantees:

  • Quality Guarantee — If you are not 100% happy with the quality of our work, we will address your concerns immediately, in full and free of charge.
  • On-time Guarantee — If we fail to meet the agreed deadline, we will edit and return your document as soon as possible and refund your fee in full.

To get an estimate for our academic editing, input your details into our pricing calculator, or for a more accurate quotation, submit your details and documents via the ‘Order Now’ link. You’ll find that our prices are very competitive, and we offer you the opportunity to spread the cost of your editing and pay for it in instalments via a choice of interest-free payment plans.

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Enhance Your Writing With Our Professional Academic Editing and Proofreading Services

Capstone Editing is the only academic editing and proofreading company in Australia and New Zealand that is owned and run by academics. This means that we understand the dedication and effort that goes into your essay, research paper or thesis and have the experience required to help you polish and refine your work so it’s ready for submission.

Our editors come from a range of academic and research backgrounds, so we can connect you with someone who understands your discipline's unique needs. Our commitment to excellence also ensures your work will be handled to the highest standards of confidentiality and ethical practice, which is why we’re the best choice for academic editing and proofreading services for students, academics and researchers.

Our team of seasoned academic editors are familiar with the standards used by all universities in Australia and New Zealand, so you can be sure your document will be edited to the most rigorous requirements of your institution. Moreover, our editors will ensure your document aligns with the Australian Standards of Editing Practice and the ‘Guidelines for Editing Research Theses’ and will meet international publication standards.

Choosing Capstone Editing means you’ll benefit from our wealth of experience in academic editing to help you ensure your document is of the highest quality every time. Moreover, with our On-Time and Quality guarantees, you will receive world-class editing exactly when you need it or your money back.

Affordable Editing and Proofreading for University Students at Capstone Editing

Academic editing and proofreading services should be available to everyone. That’s why we offer a range of flexible payment options for all our services.

Our payment plans allow you to cover the cost of our services in instalments over 6, 12, 18 or 24 months. What’s more, all of our plans are interest-free and have no hidden charges or exit fees. This makes it easy to access our world-class editing and proofreading for university students, academics and other university professionals.

Want to find out more? Visit our FAQ page for more information about Capstone Editing’s services and pricing or contact our friendly team today.

Our Reputation

We are proud of our reputation as the highest-quality academic editing service available. Testimonials from our past clients and the examples of our editing we provide here demonstrate the quality of our work.

Editing examples

These documents provide representative examples of our work for past clients.

Testimonials

I would like to thank my editor at Capstone Editing for her thorough edit of my grant proposal. Her suggestions gave me better ways of expressing myself with clarity and (importantly for grant proposals) with fewer words! She provided detailed comments on her edits that helped ensure that we didn’t inadvertently change the intended meaning. I appreciated her attention to the details of formatting and nuances of meaning across the document. I highly recommend her to help improve the readability and clarity of academic documents.

Dr Monica Barratt NHMRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow University of New South Wales

Capstone Editing has edited many journal articles for me. Their editors' thorough command of language really helps in making sure that the article is well expressed and free of errors. They work very quickly and I have found it invaluable to have somebody format an article to the style of the particular journal. It is a massive time saver that allows me to move on to my next piece of work. I plan to use Capstone's services again, including for a book project I have coming up. I highly recommend Capstone Editing to academics wanting to save time and wanting to submit their work with the confidence that it has been thoroughly looked over and formatted to their particular requirements.

Associate Professor Dominic O'Sullivan Political Science Charles Stuart University

The fast, elegant and professional service provided by Capstone Editing saved me hours, days and weeks of work for which I am truly grateful. They worked to very tight deadlines and formatted, fixed and corrected my thesis so that I could submit it on time (and within my budget!) The editors who edited my thesis had phenomenal attention to detail and provided me with tremendously valuable feedback that improved the quality of my thesis. In addition to the usual material, my thesis had dozens of tables in both portrait and landscape format, a research study and case studies. My editors very quickly corrected and fixed all the material I threw at them and went beyond the call of duty to provide me with a beautifully referenced and immaculately formatted thesis. I am so appreciative of their advice and assistance.

Cheryl-Anne Whitlock Master of Arts (Journalism) University of Wollongong

Capstone Editing’s simple order process provides easy access to professional academic editing. In most cases, universities cover the cost of editing for their academic staff and we can invoice them directly.

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Frequently Asked Questions

An academic editor is a highly skilled editor who specialises in academic writing and copyediting of all forms and is equipped to meet the specific needs of academics. An academic editor polishes and improves documents such as university essays and Honours or doctoral theses, academic books, journal articles and grant applications. An academic editor will correct spelling, typographical, grammatical and syntax errors and correct any errors or inconsistencies in style, voice, content (if appropriate), formatting and referencing to improve the document’s accuracy and flow. An academic editor may also be responsible for editing a collection of academic writing for a journal or a book. An academic editor is familiar with all academic writing conventions as they apply to various texts in every field and is equipped to ensure that an academic document has the highest possible chance of examination, publication or funding success. An academic editor will often hold a postgraduate degree in English, communications, editing, publication or journalism.

Copy editing (or copyediting, as it is spelled in Australian English) is a thorough editing service performed on a document that ensures correct grammar, syntax, spelling, punctuation and language; correct use of formal academic English; complete internal consistency; correct and consistent use of abbreviations; complete and consistent formatting; and complete, consistent and accurate referencing. Copy editing also involves improving the logic, clarity and flow of a paper, dissertation, thesis or book, including transitional phrasing; making suggestions regarding structure, organisation, evidence and supporting statements; querying any errors and inconsistencies in the content; and word count reduction through eliminating redundancy and unnecessary repetition. In addition to the services included under standard copy editing, academic editing may also involve the critical analysis of academic documents, identifying any critical weaknesses in terms of content, structure and organisation to ensure the clearest possible transmission of the research or proposal in question.

Editing is important in academic writing because every document, regardless of its quality, will benefit from professional editing to assist in presenting the ideas in the clearest possible way. Editing will ensure that the academic document, thesis, article or book is free from any spelling, typographical, grammatical and consistency errors. Editing is important in academic writing to ensure that work meets international publication standards in both language and presentation. It offers work the best chance of examination, publication or funding success by ensuring that all language, style, formatting and referencing guidelines are followed meticulously. A strong publishing record is essential for academic careers at any level because it is tied to funding, performance review and promotion success. Correct language and presentation are also critical for any thesis undergoing examination to ensure that the research has the greatest likelihood of being passed by examiners with minimal or no corrections.

Academic proofreading is a service that predominantly focuses on error correction; it may be suitable for academic documents such as university essays and assignments, Honours and doctoral theses, journal articles, research project materials, conference materials and academic books. It ensures that the document contains no typographical, spelling or punctuation errors and checks for internal consistency and accuracy in capitalisation, hyphenation, number use, abbreviations and headings. It also ensures correct placement of and cross-referencing to peripheral materials, such as figures, tables and appendices. It does not include extensive reformatting but will check that the applied formatting is consistent. Unlike copy editing, it does not include matters of style, clarity and grammar. Thus, errors in grammar and syntax will not be corrected as part of a proofreading service. Academic proofreading is suitable for final drafts—documents that are very well written and contain few errors; usually, such documents will already have undergone copy editing.

You do not need to be formally certified to become a proofreader. However, ideally, a certified proofreader will have completed the same training as any copy editor or academic editor. This will involve gaining extensive experience in writing and correcting others’ writing. Becoming a successful proofreader may involve undergraduate or postgraduate tertiary qualifications, training provided by an independent organisation like Capstone Editing or training and certification by an institution such as the Australian Institution of Professional Editors Limited (IPEd), the US Proofreader Certification Association or the Editors Association of Canada. Any of these training opportunities will assist you in becoming a successful proofreader.

Education in English, communications or journalism is often required to become a proofreader. However, education in many other fields may also assist in becoming a proofreader. Education will involve extensive experience in writing and correcting writing according to grammatical, spelling, referencing and language conventions. Education needed to become a proofreader may involve undergraduate or postgraduate tertiary qualifications, training provided by an independent organisation like Capstone Editing or training and certification by an institution such as the Australian Institution of Professional Editors Limited (IPEd), the US Proofreader Certification Association or the Editors Association of Canada.