Guideline: Higher Degree by Research: Editing of Theses

Purpose

To provide guidelines for editors, whether they are formal supervisors, informal mentors, family or friends or professionals, regarding the extent and nature of help they offer in the editing of research candidates' theses and dissertations.

Guideline

Background

The Institute of Professional Editors Limited (IPEd) have collaboratively developed an agreed set of guidelines based on the Australian standards for editing practice that provide guidance to candidates, supervisors and professional editors in how much assistance they should provide to candidates who have requested help in writing their theses.

Proof-Reading and Editing of Research Theses and Dissertations

Academic supervisors of higher degree by research candidates provide editorial advice to their candidates on:

Matters of content, substance and structure;
Interpretation of the research literature and data;
use of illustrations and tables;
use of language (including clarity, voice and tone, grammar, spelling and punctuation);
use of technical and specialised terminology. (IPEd 2019).

Supervisors may also provide copy editing and proofreading. The Australian standards for editing practice outline the differences between editorial advice on content, substance and structure (Part C), copy editing (Part D) and proofreading (Part E).

Standard	Advice
Standard C: Substance and Structure	Appraisal
Standard C: Substance and Structure	Structural devices
Standard D: Language and Illustration	Clarity of expression
	Voice and tone
	Grammar and usage
	Spelling and punctuation
	Specialised materials
	Illustrations
Standard E: Completeness and Consistency	Integrity
	Textual elements
	Illustration
	Format layout and production

Candidates may use third parties (professional or otherwise) to assist in preparing their thesis for submission, provided they discuss this with their supervisor and provide the editor with a copy of this guideline and the Australian Standards for editing practice guideline before they commence work.
Third party editorial intervention is restricted to:

Standard D
Standard E

Where a third party provides advice on matters of structure (Standard C), only examples should be given, not detailed sets of changes.
Feedback as a result of professional editing or proofreading is provided in a format that encourages consideration of the recommendations of the editor rather than simply acceptance of those recommendations.
Where editorial advice is given, it is acknowledged as per the Higher degree by research - submission and examination of theses procedure.

Editorial Services

Available editorial services include:

A directory of editors from the Canberra Society of Editors at http://www.editorscanberra.org/editor/;
A searchable database from the Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) at http://iped-editors.org/Find_an_editor.aspx; and

Before commissioning an editor the following checklist should be used to determine the scope of work in line with these guidelines. http://www.editorscanberra.org/wp-content/uploads/checklist.pdf.

Information	Printable version (PDF)
Title	Higher Degree by Research: Editing of Theses
Document Type	Guideline
Document Number	ANUP_000407
Version	13
Purpose	To provide guidelines for editors, whether they are formal supervisors, informal mentors, family or friends or professionals, regarding the extent and nature of help they offer in the editing of research students' theses and dissertations.
Audience	Staff-Academic-Research, Students-Graduate-Research
Category	Academic
Topic/ SubTopic	Students

Effective Date	9 Apr 2021
Review Date	9 Apr 2024

Responsible Officer:	Dean, Higher Degree Research
Approved By:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation)
Contact Area	Office of the Dean, Higher Degree Research
Authority:	Research Awards Rule 2017
Delegations	0

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