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.

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:

Before commissioning an editor, the Canberra Society of Editors checklist should be used to determine the scope of work.

Use of ‘Artificial Intelligence’ (AI)

‘Artificial Intelligence’ (AI) is intended to refer to generative AI tools, such as (but not limited to) ChatGPT, Microsoft CoPilot, Grammarly and other technologies reliant on Large Language Models (LLM) for text or image generation.
It is permissible to use AI in the editing of theses for tasks such as spell checking, grammar checking and making text shorter, consistent with Standards D and E under paragraph 3.
If AI tools have been used to edit the thesis, then the extent of the use of the technology should be noted in the acknowledgements section of the thesis.
If a candidate elects to use AI they should be mindful of ethical implications of their actions and refer to ANU guidance as updated from time to time.

Information	Printable version (PDF)
Title	Higher Degree by Research: Editing of Theses
Document Type	Guideline
Document Number	ANUP_000407
Version
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	25 Jun 2024
Next Review Date	25 Jun 2029

Responsible Officer:	Pro Vice-Chancellor (Graduate Research)
Approved By:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation)
Contact Area	Graduate Research Office
Authority:	Research Awards Rule 2021
Delegations	0
Information generated and received by ANU staff in the course of conducting business on behalf of ANU is a record and should be captured by an authorised recordkeeping system. To learn more about University records and recordkeeping practice at ANU, see ANU recordkeeping and Policy: Records and archives management.

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