Correcting scientific papers correctly

In the academic world, students have to write papers again and again. During their studies, they write smaller term papers or so-called abstracts. At the end, there is a Bachelor’s or Master’s thesis. And if you want to go one step further, you can write a doctoral thesis. The grades of these works don’t play too big a role in working life. At least when you move from one job to another. But when applying for your first job, personnel managers may well want to see a particularly good grade. For this reason, graduates should do everything they can to ensure that the result is as positive as possible. We show how a professional proofreading service can help.

Why have your Bachelor thesis corrected?

Sometimes in life, grades matter. And sometimes only a few small points make the difference between success and failure. For example, if you are applying for a job with many others, you might feel this. The personnel managers have to use some criterion to classify applicants. Sometimes the grade of the thesis plays a role. That’s why you should have your Bachelor’s thesis corrected. In business, this is called “easy win” or “low hanging fruits”. Achieving a lot with little effort.

It was like that for me in 2004, when there were still diplomas. I handed in my work without professional editing. I was aware that I had weaknesses in the comma rules. I have no idea why. Until grade 8, I knew every rule by heart. Later, it became automatic to put commas. At some point, I no longer knew where to put a comma.

Anyway, my work was graded 0.25 points lower. The professor said: “The student ignores all the rules of comma placement. A quarter of a grade point worse, just because of commas. That was really stupid of me at the time.

Another topic: Now I’m a native speaker and I’m lucky enough to have a perfect command of grammar. However, you should know that students with a migration background don’t get any special consideration when handing in their work. No bonuses are given there for the fact that someone has not been in the country long and does not yet have a perfect command of the language. A paper written in German must be perfect, otherwise there are deductions. Rules are rules and they apply to everyone. This fact alone should be reason enough to let a proofreader work on the thesis. It would be a real shame if a thesis that is excellent in itself is graded poorly just because there were problems with the grammar.

Another source of error is that arguments and conclusions are sometimes expressed illogically. It does not have to mean that someone writes something technically incorrect. In most cases, a proofreader is not in a position to judge this. Instead, some authors find it difficult to formulate statements clearly and to express arguments comprehensibly. Here, too, it is worthwhile to have someone look at the matter.

A final, important aspect is the problem of adhering to the rules of scientific work. Quotations have to be correctly identified, footnotes have to be correctly attached, etc. Mistakes are also easily made in this area. Simply because there are countless rules to observe. There is a huge minefield waiting for anyone to set foot on it.

 

Conclusion

No one can save a Bachelor’s thesis that is weak in content. Nor is it mainly what an editor is responsible for. However, it would be a shame to give away grade points or credit points just because the work has formal or linguistic weaknesses.

In life, most graduates only hand in one Bachelor’s thesis. The grade is then fixed forever. In working life, it does not play a role forever. But it can be decisive, especially when looking for your first job. Investing in a proofreader is therefore definitely a good idea.