Statement on editorial help for students' written work:
guidance for students, supervisors and examiners
This statement was approved by the Academic Board, July 2012
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Any written work a student produces (for classes, seminars, examination scripts, dissertations, essays, computer programmes and MPhil/PhD theses) must be solely his/her own work1. Specifically, a student must not employ a "ghost writer" to write parts or all of the work, whether in draft or as a final version, on his/her behalf2 . | |
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This guidance is for use when a student is considering whether to employ a third party such as a professional copy editing or proof reading company when producing work in draft or final version. | |
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It also applies when a student seeks editorial help from other, non-professional third parties, such as fellow-students or friends. | |
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It is not concerned with the regular and iterative interaction between student and tutor/supervisor(s) on draft versions of his/her work throughout the registration period. The student's tutor/supervisor is not regarded as a "third party" for this purpose. | |
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For research students, further guidance is included in the Supervisor's Handbook produced by the Teaching and Learning Centre3. | |
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If a student contravenes this statement, this will be considered an assessment offence and investigated in accordance with the Regulations on assessment offences: plagiarism. | |
1. |
If the student chooses to employ a third party, it is his/her responsibility to give them a copy of this statement. When submitting work the student must acknowledge what form of contribution they have made, by stating for example, 'this thesis/essay/dissertation was copy edited for conventions of language, spelling and grammar by ABC Editing Ltd'. | |
2. |
A third party cannot be used: | |
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2.1 |
to change the text of the work so as to clarify and/or develop the ideas and arguments; |
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2.2 |
to reduce the length of the work so that it falls within the specified word limit; |
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2.3 |
to provide help with referencing; |
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2.4 |
to correct information within the work; |
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2.5 |
to change the ideas and arguments put forward within the work; and/or |
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2.6 |
to translate the work into English. |
3. |
A third party can be used to offer advice on: | |
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3.1 |
spelling and punctuation; |
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3.2 |
formatting and sorting footnotes and endnotes for consistency and order; |
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3.3 |
ensuring the work follows the conventions of grammar and syntax in written English; |
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3.4 |
shortening long sentences and editing long paragraphs; |
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3.5 |
changing passives and impersonal usages into actives; |
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3.6 |
improving the position of tables and illustrations and the clarity, grammar, spelling and punctuation of any text in or under tables and illustrations; and |
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3.7 |
ensuring consistency of page numbers, headers and footers. |
4. |
The third party shall give advice by means of tracked changes on an electronic copy or handwritten annotations on a paper copy or other similar devices. The student must take responsibility for choosing what advice to accept, and must him/herself make the changes to the master copy of the work. | |
Notes |