Have you been assigned the task of seeking out interesting topics that your audience will embrace, and to develop creative ways to present the information? But how can you find time in your schedule to write and edit? The various levels of complexity in the writing process can often be daunting. DEC is a reliable source for accurate business, academic, and manuscript proofing and editing. We ensure that you present clean, error-free writing. We also locate and correct syntactic and diction errors like repetitiveness, vague wording, sentence length variation, over-dependence on adverbs, passive voice, over-complicated sentence constructions, just to name a few.
Be assured that your submission is thoroughly examined by our highly skilled proofing staff and doubled-checked for structural integrity by a qualified university writing instructor. This multi-level proofing/editing process is an integral part of our goal to provide the highest quality service.
DEC does not simply deliver a correctly edited document; we also provide a complete explanation of the error. Note the following sample explanation of the structural miscue known as “syntactic ambiguity” as illustrated by this old joke:
“Call me a cab!”
“Okay, you’re a cab.”
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In English grammar, syntactic ambiguity is the presence of two or more possible meanings within a single sentence or sequence of words. Also called structural ambiguity or grammatical ambiguity.
EXAMPLES OF EDITING SUGGESTIONS
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Syntactic error: My father told my brother he had to get a job.
The ambiguity or lack of clarity in the sentence above stems from an unclear pronoun-antecedent reference. It is unclear to which of the males (father or brother) that the pronoun “he” refers.
Correction:
My father told my brother, “You’ve got to get a job.”
Or
My father told my brother, “I’ve got to get a job.”
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For academic submissions, you can request our editors to follow the standard writing styles: APA or MLA.
EDITING & PROOFING RATES AND POLICY
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Proofreading is done when a document is checked for spelling, grammatical accuracy and proper syntax. Editing is a much more involved process. In addition to proofing, it consists of making revisions so that the document makes sense overall and does not have any fundamental inconsistencies. This latter process at times requires that portions of the document be removed, changed or that more text is added to make the meaning clearer.
DEC's flat rate is $30 an hour. 5 to 10 pages per hour are typical for editing tasks and 9 to 13 pages per hour are typical for proofreading tasks. But because manuscripts vary in complexity, potential clients are asked to submit a sample of the manuscript before we can give a final quote.
EDITING AND PROOFING
