I’m a rather busy undergraduate student contemplating utilizing consultant/editorial services for a number of term papers. By this I mean I will be hiring grad students or other professionals to read through my essay outlines and drafts in order to ensure logical flow, proper grammar, good citations and general quality. I will be getting feedback on those things as well as general suggestions and pointers as to the best angles and strategies with which to broach particular topics (i.e. “when referring to the semiotics of breakfast cereal you should make explicit the diametric relation between sign value and use value”). So is all this kosher? So long as all actual words and phrases are manifested by myself and not my editor, can I do this without fear of getting on the bad side of the school’s academic honesty committee? Do I have any obligation to make mention of the fact that I used an editor?
It should be fine. My university had writing coaches that did the same thing for free if you booked them in advance. TA’s will often nudge things along for eager students as well if they ask for the right things. I did it for money among friends and acquaintances as well.
In general, editors for graded academic papers should mark things as problems whether they are single words or whole paragraphs. They should not rewrite whole paragraphs or even sentences and should not add facts or whole new ideas to the paper. They may make general stylistic comments or general advice on how to rearrange structure.
Your school may have a written policy on it already so you may want to take a look at that. As long as the letter and the spirit of the rules are followed, you should be Ok.
If in doubt, ask if it’s okay to get feedback on your work. If the person actually “edits” (i.e., makes the changes), I’d see that as more problematic than making suggestions, where you still make the decision about whether to accept and make the suggested changes.
Gosh. My university has a writing lab that employs graduate students to do exactly this–and English TAs are STRONGLY urged to send their students to them. As if it was part of the educational experience.
I am a consultant at a Writing Assistance Center at a local community college. Running a paper past me is very different from having some online service either write it for you or edit the hell out of your first draft.
While the do’s and don’ts of what I can do for you are a little vague, I do tend to see the same types of errors/problems a lot. I don’t write anything on your paper, but will point out to you that you consistently make a particular kind of spelling error, that you didn’t write a complete sentence, that you shift from one tense to another in the same paragraph for no good reason, that you omit or misuse articles, etc.
Most frequently, I point out that a student has either forgotten to write a thesis statement or that his supporting paragraphs have little to do with the thesis he has specified. A shocking number of students have never heard of the “Five Paragraph” format (intro, three supporting paragraphs, conclusion) and hurt for it. Our slogan is “Fix the writer, not the paper.”
Most of our client students are referred to us by their professors.
thanks all.