Uni-edit provides a reliable, high-quality English editing service to students and researchers at universities who are writing their honors thesis, masters thesis or doctoral dissertation in English. You may choose from one of the packages below to suit your needs and budget.
Budget Package
Standard Package
Gold Package
Fee (standard-speed)
HK$0.30/word
HK$0.40/word
HK$0.60/word
Focus
English editing
English editing
English editing, Idea development
Native English Editor
Yes, native speaker
Yes, native speaker
Yes, native speaker
Number of editors
1 editor
1 editor
2 editors
Make your meaning clear
Author's intended meaning made clear
Author's intended meaning made clear
Author's intended meaning made clear
Background of Editor
Professional Editor with background in field of your research
Professional Editor with background in field of your research
Professional Editor with background in field of your research + 1 additional Editor to further improve academic writing
English: US, UK, Australia, Canada
Author’s choice
Author’s choice
Author’s choice
Depth of editing
Light
Medium
Medium, special requests accepted
What does the English editing include?
Punctuation, spelling, grammar, basic conjunctions and phrasing
Punctuation, spelling, grammar, basic conjunctions and phrasing, sentence structuring and consistencies
Standard Package + your special requests
Follow a style guide?
No
No
Yes, if required
Result of editing
Obvious errors removed
Reads closer to native-speaker English, maintains author's voice
Well-written English of native-speaker, author's voice may be improved at places
Multi-round editing
No
No
Yes, multi-round
Comments and opinions from Editor
Yes, essential CHECK comments
Yes, CHECK comments
Yes, and Content IDEA
Research guidelines
No
No
Yes
Formatting
No
Optional, +HK$500/hour
Optional, +HK$500/hour
Tracked changes
Tracked changes only
Tracked changes and final
Tracked changes and final
Free follow-up service
No
Yes, free follow-up
Yes, free follow-up
Early preview of work
No
No
Yes, early preview
Staged delivery
No
No
Yes, if required
Turnaround and delivery times
What are the turnaround times for standard-speed service?
Below are typical turnaround times for the standard-speed service. The exact delivery deadline will be emailed to you with the quotation.
Word Count for Editing
Budget package
days required
standard-speed
Standard package
days required
standard-speed
Gold package
days required
standard-speed
Up to 4000
5
7
10
4001 to 10000
7
9
14
10001 to 15000
8
10
16
15001 to 20000
9
12
18
20001 to 25000
10
13
20
25001 to 30000
11
14
22
30001 to 40000
12
16
24
40001 to 50000
14
18
28
50001 to 70000
16
21
Please ask
70001 to 100000
20
26
Please ask
100000+
Please ask
Please ask
Please ask
What are the turnaround times and fees for urgent-speed service?
Urgent-speed service is available. We will prioritize your case and customer service will inform you of the delivery deadline before the work starts.
An additional fee of 50% of the total applies for all urgent-speed services.
The exact delivery deadline will be emailed to you with the quotation.
Additional days may be required depending on the options that you choose.
Word Count for Editing
Budget package
days required
urgent-speed
Standard package
days required
urgent-speed
Gold package
days required
urgent-speed
Up to 4000
3
4
6
4001 to 10000
4
5
8
10001 to 15000
5
6
10
15001 to 20000
5
7
11
20001 to 25000
6
8
12
25001 to 30000
7
9
13
30001 to 40000
7
9
14
40001 to 50000
8
11
17
50001 to 70000
10
12
Please ask
70001 to 100000
12
16
Please ask
100000+
Please ask
Please ask
Please ask
Editing fees
Example of English editing fee calculation
Package chosen by customer
Standard package
Options chosen
None
Turnaround
Standard-speed
Total word count
17000
Excluded word count
3000 (customer requests that the Reference section not be edited)
Billable word count for editing
14000
Rate
HK$0.40/word
Fee 14000 x 0.40
= $5600
5% credit card fee
= $280
Total payable
= HK$5880
Other charges?
Texts about medicine, medical research, or pharmaceuticals incur a 20% surcharge.
Texts about law or legal studies incur a 20% surcharge.
Texts authored in LaTeX require conversion to MS Word and cross-checking. A 20% surcharge applies.
Urgent-speed jobs incur a surcharge.
Uni-edit will provide you with an exact quotation before the work commences. The quotation is free of charge.
Payments by credit card or PayPal incur a 5% processing fee.
About the editing
See samples of English editing for theses and dissertations
Focus on making the author's intended meaning clear by improving English
At Uni-edit, we correct punctuation, spelling and grammar, all with the goal of making your intended meaning clear to your supervisors, panel reviewers and other readers.
The Editor focuses on clarity of meaning through correct English usage. The Editor will not point out non-language related problems such as scientific or logical argument, theory, and experimental problems (except in the Gold package, through Content IDEAs).
About the native-speaker Editors
Uni-edit Editors are native speakers of English.
Uni-edit Editors come from a Western country, eg., USA, the UK, Australia, or Canada.
Uni-edit Editors are experienced in academic editing.
Uni-edit Editors are trained by Uni-edit in academic English editing.
Uni-edit Editors specialize in a field of study.
The subject-matter specialist English Editor will understand your research field and be able to accurately interpret the language of that discipline, such as any technical terms and specific descriptions of ideas and concepts.
The Uni-edit Project Manager will match an Editor to your manuscript using the field of study.
Uni-edit’s team of English Editors enjoy their work, not only because of the pleasure of helping others to produce manuscripts of excellent quality, but also because of the contribution that they make to the knowledge economy and to the body of research that is shared worldwide.
Can you edit just some parts of my manuscript?
Yes. If you do not require all of the text of your thesis or dissertation to be edited, we can edit just certain parts according to your instructions, and only those parts will be charged for. For example, you may choose not to have the References section edited. The fee is calculated using the billable word count (total word count - excluded word count)
Choice of the style of English: US, UK, Australia, Canada
The Uni-edit team specializes in academic English. The English Editor can edit according to US, UK, Australian and Canadian styles of English, depending on your preferences or the requirements of your university.
CHECK comments in balloons for clarification
You will usually receive CHECK comments in right-side balloons in your MS Word file.
The Editor(s) will work on your manuscript to express ideas and concepts clearly and accurately. Sometimes they may not be completely sure of the intended meaning, or may find potential ambiguity in the writing. In these instances, the Editor will add a CHECK comment, indicate the problem and where possible offer a suggestion on how to resolve the problem. An average of one CHECK comment per page is common, but the frequency varies widely.
CHECK comments are provided in the electronic file using standard word processor functions, and are convenient for you to read and resolve. The CHECK comment system is a kind of dialogue between the author and the Editors that allows for clarification of the meaning of delicate or complex parts of the text. This service is included with the editing and no additional fees apply.
If you will not have time to review CHECK comments, please let us know with your order; the Editor will insert fewer or no CHECK comments, and these will be confined only to critical problems.
What does the formatting service include?
Uni-edit can assist you to prepare your manuscript in accordance with the requirements of your university. This includes document formatting, layout, spacing, font styles, sectioning, page numbering, language styles, tables of contents, references and indexes. It is quite common for examiners or reviewers of a manuscript to request some further formatting adjustments before resubmission. Uni-edit will gladly cooperate on subsequent rounds of fixes. Additional fees calculated per hour will apply for formatting and will be based on the amount of work required.
We recommend that you do your best to become acquainted with and adhere to your university’s formatting guidelines at the time of drafting your manuscript, in order to save valuable time later, when the submission deadline is approaching.
References and citations
Universities are generally strict about the use of proper references and citations that are in accordance with their preferred system. You may request the Editor to check that all citations are listed in the References section. You may also request the Editor to ensure that the references adhere to the required format style of your university, such as APA, Harvard, MLA, etc. Where a reference entry is incomplete or unclear, the Editor will insert a CHECK comment.
What are "tracked changes" and "final" versions?
The Editor will use Microsoft Word’s Track Changes function to perform the editing. This is an easy-to-use function that allows you to easily see each and every change that was made to your manuscript. MS Word allows you to easily accept all changes or choose the changes that you would like to accept one by one in the tracked changes version.
A final version of your manuscript is useful for authors who are not familiar with the Track Changes function in MS Word. We will be glad to assist you in the use of Track Changes or other functions of MS Word, as necessary.
What is the free follow-up service?
Uni-edit will always do our best to produce the promised result for the service that you order. However, in cross-cultural communication, particularly in specialized and often complex subject areas, there is always the possibility of misinterpretation of the intended meaning.
To support you thoroughly throughout the process of completion, for the Standard and Gold packages, we offer a follow-up service. After you receive and review the edited manuscript, you may choose to send us back the text after you have made revisions. You can request further attention to a particular passage or passages, and even insert comments to explain the intended meaning in more detail. Please write your questions in English only.
If your changes are made to clarify the originally intended meaning, then there is no extra charge for this follow-up service, if it is requested within 2 weeks. Substantially new ideas, concepts, and major content you introduce in the revised manuscript will incur a standard (per word) fee.
Uni-edit is confidential and private
Uni-edit understands that authors entrust us with their research, which has taken months or years to produce and can be highly confidential. We respect the trust that authors place in us and reciprocate by treating each and every text with great care and discretion. All Uni-edit Editors and staff have agreed to confidentiality conditions. Your manuscript will only be seen by Uni-edit staff and will never be posted anywhere public. Furthermore, each client's identity remains anonymous to the Editor. Uni-edit will never discuss your relationship with Uni-edit with your colleagues (including co-authors) without your permission.
Gold package details
Additional English Editor to further improve academic writing
For the Gold package, a main Editor will edit your manuscript, and then an additional English Editor will edit your manuscript again to further improve the academic writing.
The additional Editor will typically have a background in English literature, linguistics, or English language education.
This 2-Editor service produces a thorough result on the English writing.
Research requirements in guidelines
For the Gold package, the Editors will read the guidelines from your department for your thesis or dissertation that you will supply to us. The Editors will follow the language requirements in the guidelines and add comments at places where you might be able to better meet the requirements. By following the Editors' suggestions, you will be able to pass panel review or submission more smoothly.
What are Content IDEAs?
With Content IDEAs, your edited manuscript will also have comments labeled with the word IDEA. The purpose of an IDEA comment is to provide you with fresh insight into the content, structure or formatting of your manuscript. You can consider each IDEA comment in light of the overall purpose of your manuscript, then decide whether you would like to make further changes.
The Content IDEA service may not be available in cases where Uni-edit feels that contributions would violate a university’s requirements for originality of the thesis or dissertation.
Early preview of editing work
Uni-edit understands that you may like to receive an early sample of the editing work. To ensure you receive the quality you expect, we can, within a few days after your order is placed, present to you an sample of a few pages or a single chapter of editing. At times when your submission schedule is tight, this preview can allow you to request, in advance, an adjustment of our editing style by providing any necessary feedback on the editing. For example, you might request lighter or heavier editing, fewer or more CHECK comments, or other specific adjustments, and the Editor can alter their editing style accordingly.
Staged delivery
Generally we will edit your entire manuscript and then email you the complete work. However, you may request that we deliver the work to you in stages. For example, for a long manuscript, we can deliver it in 2 or 3 stages.
This can give you more time to review our editing work and make further revisions. If this staged delivery is requested, you will need to reassemble your entire manuscript once each part is finalized.
Tell us your special requirements
Your thesis or dissertation is a once-in-a-lifetime endeavor. If you have any special requirements, Uni-edit would like to hear them and we will do our best to help you.
Request quotation or place order
To request a quotation or place an order, please complete this form and email it to
uniedit.global@gmail.com , along with your manuscript (or a part of it).
Get a free upfront quotation of the exact total fee
For an exact quotation, please send uniedit.global@gmail.com your entire manuscript and complete the order request form found on this page. We will reply promptly. The quotation is provided free of charge and there is no obligation to proceed. We will proceed with the work only after receiving your instruction to proceed. Typically, the final price is the same as the quotation. If for any reason the price is likely to differ, we will contact you beforehand to discuss the situation with you.
For confidentiality reasons, you might prefer to send us only one chapter of your manuscript for the purposes of getting a quote. In this case, please also tell us the total English word count.
Get a quick estimation of the editing fee
For a rough estimate of the price and turnaround time, please email
uniedit.global@gmail.com . Include the topic of your research, the approximate number of English words, and how much time there is to complete the editing work. Uni-edit will reply promptly, with an estimate of the editing fee.
We start the editing work after you confirm the quotation
We will only start the editing work after receiving your emailed confirmation of and agreement to the quotation and job specification. Once the agreement has been made, Uni-edit is committed to completing the work on time. We can accept further updates to your text or manuscript after the work has started, but additional fees will apply. Extensive updates may require us to extend the delivery date.
Payments and invoicing
Pay before work starts - discount available
Receive a discount for prepayment.
Depending on the personal information provided with your order and your history working with us, we may request, at the time of quotation, a prepayment--in part as a deposit or for the full job amount.
The work will start after the payment is received, and the delivery deadline will be adjusted accordingly.
Pay after work starts but before delivery of completed editing work
You may apply to Customer Service to pay after the work starts. If Uni-edit agrees, you will need to pay before you receive delivery of the completed editing work.
Please discuss with us a flexible payment term for payments from your organization's budget or funds.
Acceptable payment methods
Payment is accepted by international bank transfer, and online by credit card and PayPal.
International bank transfers can be made to Hong Kong. You will be required to cover bank transfer fees. Account details will be provided with your email quotation.
Online credit card payment or Paypal payment can be made by clicking the Credit Card menu item on the left side of the screen. If the currency indicated does not match the currency of your payment (currency on the quotation), then change country shown by using the drop-down at the top-right of the screen.
Request a receipt or invoice in PDF format
For every job we will email you a clear quotation and email you to confirm receipt of your payment.
If you require a formal invoice or formal receipt in PDF format for fund reimbursement, please let us know your requirement and the documents will be emailed or posted to you. Please let us know your university or department’s requirements for billing documents, where necessary.