Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is a set of values and practices that all members of the academic community must conform to. Honesty, responsibility and crediting others are paramount. An author should never falsify results of any research and they must give a citation whenever words, ideas or data are used that derive from wider reading or collaborating researchers. In short, academic integrity is about approaching study, research and professional life in an ethical way. Breaching academic integrity is termed 'academic misconduct'.
References
The terms ‘citation’ and ‘reference’ are often confused. The main body of text will include short citations (e.g. Janes et al., 2019) that refer a reviewer to the full reference (e.g. Janes, V.J., Grabowski, R.C., Mant, J., Allen, D., Morse, J.L. and Haynes, H., 2017. The impacts of natural flood management approaches on in‐channel sediment quality. River Research and Applications, 33(1), pp.89-101).
References are written as a footnote or, more often, within an extensive list at the end of your document. There are many accepted styles for referencing (Harvard, MLA, APA, Chicago, OSCOLA, IEEE, MHRA). The preference of an author's university or publishing body will need to be conveyed to the editor.
Editing services are allowed to check that references conform to the required formatting standards and also check that a reference has been provided for every citation. More information about this popular service can be found on our Services page.
Caution: Unethical proofreading and editing companies are in operation that offer to generate reference lists and/or correct reference content for accuracy. This would constitute academic misconduct.
AI & Plagiarism
The Thesis Professor does not use AI in the editorial services provided.
Universities vary widely in their rules of acceptance regarding AI use for content creation and refinement. Text auto-generated in this manner does not conform to the high standards of grammar that are considered essential to academic writing and can also fall foul of plagiarism checks. It is the author's responsibility to ensure that the work of others' is cited correctly; this includes any use of AI.
The Thesis Professor does not offer a paid-for plagiarism service. The university and/or publishing body should provide this free-of-charge using their preferred software.
Caution: be wary of companies who seek to profiteer from advertising paid-for plagiarism services or openly promote use of AI software.
The Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading
The proofreading industry is not heavily regulated, and many companies (even big ones) employ staff without editorial or academic experience. Many also use unethical practices (e.g. using AI to reduce turn-around times) that result in poor-quality service or constitute academic misconduct.
A proofreader registered with the UK Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP), or the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA), is the only certain way to protect yourself. These professional bodies promote excellence in English language editing and set the editorial standards of academic integrity. Chartered proofreaders help you polish a final draft of your work by improving the written quality ready for publication. They are permitted to identify and correct spelling, punctuation and formatting errors. They highlight sentences or passages that are overly complex or where the intended meaning is not clear. Further, they can point out errors in captions, labels, and the formatting of references etc.
But a proofreader must not write your assignment for you (‘ghost writing’) nor translate text into English (as English proficiency forms part of academic award criteria). Proofreaders must not further develop your data, ideas or arguments nor can they generate new references for you. By using an unscrupulous proofreader to take short-cuts in the academic writing process, you risk academic misconduct by collusion, cheating or plagiarism. This may lead to disciplinary action and even expulsion from the university system.
Caution: Choose your proofreader very carefully. Avoid services who offer essay writing services or 24 hour turn-around timeframes. Instead, select a professional proofreader registered with the CIEP or EFA who, ideally, holds academic qualifications above the level at which you are publishing.