This is crazy.
Today was dedicated to the final proofreading of the thesis before it gets under the tech review - ugh. Just hope it will survive the onslaught.
Had trouble with my printer /sour face/, but it was all well in the end, even if I will probably have to print elsewhere if the colors don't stabilize - I have some kind of watered down ones, probably because it was - probably - in the toner-saver mode. Too damn lazy to check it right now, but I am a very happy camper that at least black color is doing well, because otherwise the entire document would have gone to hell. I also got the permission for my thesis' theme - yippee - even if it is a little later, but honestly the chapters eluded me something fierce /grumbles/. We have to giver the disposition into the reading to out mentor and chief of our cathedra, first, and this is can tear nerves, because there is checking, re-checking and checking again. /grumpy/.
I thank all the gods and angels for having a good CD burner program, because it saved me much time with burning the entire thing to CD /sweatdrops/. It's duplicate now, and when it will be the defense, it will be triplicate. Meaning, the whoppin' 360 pages, and I shudder to think about the duplicating the entire thing when the defense will be over and done with. Papirology of hell. I just hope they will be merciful and absolve the poor shmucks of the students of it somehow - we have hand tablets for reason, for Pete's sake. /growls/. Would it be too hard for the school to buy some three of six hand tablets as for using them for this purpose?
Right, right, rant over. Cross the fingers the things tomorrow will be well.
Signing off,
Eirenei
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Proofreading Ad(Vices) Times 10
Urrgh. /groans/.
If there was ever a day when I felt like a zombie slash roadkill it is this one. Mandatory visit to the doc, getting the proofreading paid - yes, despite of my nitpicking I am human who still has his own works to get checked if he wants to graduate - it's some kind of a prerequisite, and boy, I am glad I did. However, no one warns the idiots who write their thesis that they have to squirrel away some cash to pay the proofreader with. Some prices I've met in the business nearly gave me a heart attack, and not in a good sense. Got a very good proofreader - my native tongue can be absolute bitch at times, and even if I am fairly literate, I was still gawping at the amount of mistakes made in the document I've sent to proofreader. /Twitch/. But with the amount of written material it was only too easy to lose the red strand of writing properly, even if in only small things like commas and whatnot. /glares at the offending things briefly/. I am very satisfied with Alexa's work - she is professional and blitzingly fast, when you give her enough time - I gave her six days, and she finished in four, which is a very good time, considering she had to get through nearly 120 pages of techno-babble and a half. Which means 30 pages per day, and considering the work requirements, she did fantastic.
Tips when you search for a proofreader:
1) Don't over blow your thesis. Really, don't. The more you write, the more it will need to be proofread, and the more you will have to pay. Be short and sweet, but still write enough to appease your mentor. If you know what you are talking about, and you have a good mentor, it's possible to whittle down some pages from the required amount.
2) Ask around. Meaning, ask your colleagues and if possible, the ones who had already done their thesis works. Good recommendation can save you one heck of a lot of gray hair. However, a warning - look around for a proofreader before you actually need him or her, because looking for them last minute can result in gray hair, higher prices and if you are really unlucky a shoddily done work from proofreader's side, becasue they just had to catch the unreasonable deadline you decided you wanted your work back. it's good if you begin to ask before the beginning of the last year of your study course.
3) Credentials. It's your decision if you will give your work into proofreading a person or company who does this professionally - but no matter which one you take your shine and consequently work to, always check if they have their credentials. The persons employed have to be professors in the language you write in - be that your mother tongue or any other, or professional, credited proofreaders, and ideally, have some years of doing this kind of shtick under their belts. There's also a matter of colleges or universities demanding a professional proofreading, and believe me, it's within reason. Unlicensed proofreaders are rarely up to the par to the work your thesis will put them through, and if you want a job to be done well, check and then choose a professional you trust them to do it well.
4) Offers sifting. You asked around for proofreaders, sent them your document and you received - offers for the job to be done on your precious baby of a thesis. This is like getting a car to the repair - every mechanic states the price and then you consider pros and cons. However, the offers are just that - offers. You are not obliged to pay for anything until you decide to really do your document into proofreading to one or other person or company. Take your time, consider benefits and drawbacks and find the balance you are happy with.
5)Deadline. The dreaded D word. Make sure you give your proofreader enough time to do your monster right. /Ahem./ That means you will have to consider the deadline you have and the deadline to which your proofreader can finish checking your work. So no last-minute deadlines - try to give the proofreader at least one to two days of additional time in the whole deadline deal - for example, you have a thesis with 60 pages, document only. The proofreader can do some 15 pages, 20 if they are pressed, per day, but let's go with 15. This means 4 days of work, you add one more day for reserve - so your deadline is 5 days total, so you will say 5 days and proofreader will try to stick with that. The longer the document is, and if you want your proofreader to edit document, you will have to add more time to get the work done.
6) Additional services. Nowadays proofreaders also offer checking the sources, citing, editing the document by standards of your college or university and so on and so forth. You can get that price down if you do those things yourself - and you will also learn something, thought sometimes Word can be pretty stubborn, but hey, just Ask Uncle Google. Saves a pretty penny too, even if you will find yourself sometimes frustrated over one little thing or another. But if you do decide for additional services, there applies the same rule as with price haggling - get the final price confirmed in writing, with all the additional services accounted for.
7) Downsizing. Yes, you read it right. There's no need to send absolutely entire document into checking, as it also amps up the final price. Just send the document that needs to be checked, without any tables of content and anything else. For example, you have 85 pages, and if you send only document, it cuts it down on 64. Pretty sweet, no?
8) Price haggling. Usually, the prices are already fixed, but if you choose a proofreader - instead of company - you can still haggle the price. Be prepared to barter. Yes, the entire experience is terrifying at first, but if you do your document well, with minimal grammatical errors and give your proofreader enough time to check it over, the price you two can come up with can be pretty reasonable. However, a warning - agree to the price before giving the document into proofreading, both sides, so there won't be any misunderstanding about payment later. The written confirmation is the best, because it counts as a contract.
9) Checking the works. This is the time that warms the cockles of your heart. Or it should have been, at any rate. Before you pay the piper, check the piper's work. Do make an agreement that the proofreader send you a part of the document upon the finishing the proofreading so you can check over their work. Better to be safe than sorry, and if there are any misunderstandings, that they are solved before concluding the transaction - i.e. putting the money in their hands.
10) Do your job. You got the proofread document back, so what now? Get through the whole thing and check the changes, and either reject or accept them. Yes, it is a dull job, but it's the only one that really guarantees your thesis or research work will be worth both of the time and money you put it in.
Whew. I think I completely railroaded from my intentional theme, but oh well. What did I want to write about already? /confused/
Well, hopefully this little tidbit will be useful for anyone reading it.
Signing off,
Eirenei
If there was ever a day when I felt like a zombie slash roadkill it is this one. Mandatory visit to the doc, getting the proofreading paid - yes, despite of my nitpicking I am human who still has his own works to get checked if he wants to graduate - it's some kind of a prerequisite, and boy, I am glad I did. However, no one warns the idiots who write their thesis that they have to squirrel away some cash to pay the proofreader with. Some prices I've met in the business nearly gave me a heart attack, and not in a good sense. Got a very good proofreader - my native tongue can be absolute bitch at times, and even if I am fairly literate, I was still gawping at the amount of mistakes made in the document I've sent to proofreader. /Twitch/. But with the amount of written material it was only too easy to lose the red strand of writing properly, even if in only small things like commas and whatnot. /glares at the offending things briefly/. I am very satisfied with Alexa's work - she is professional and blitzingly fast, when you give her enough time - I gave her six days, and she finished in four, which is a very good time, considering she had to get through nearly 120 pages of techno-babble and a half. Which means 30 pages per day, and considering the work requirements, she did fantastic.
Tips when you search for a proofreader:
1) Don't over blow your thesis. Really, don't. The more you write, the more it will need to be proofread, and the more you will have to pay. Be short and sweet, but still write enough to appease your mentor. If you know what you are talking about, and you have a good mentor, it's possible to whittle down some pages from the required amount.
2) Ask around. Meaning, ask your colleagues and if possible, the ones who had already done their thesis works. Good recommendation can save you one heck of a lot of gray hair. However, a warning - look around for a proofreader before you actually need him or her, because looking for them last minute can result in gray hair, higher prices and if you are really unlucky a shoddily done work from proofreader's side, becasue they just had to catch the unreasonable deadline you decided you wanted your work back. it's good if you begin to ask before the beginning of the last year of your study course.
3) Credentials. It's your decision if you will give your work into proofreading a person or company who does this professionally - but no matter which one you take your shine and consequently work to, always check if they have their credentials. The persons employed have to be professors in the language you write in - be that your mother tongue or any other, or professional, credited proofreaders, and ideally, have some years of doing this kind of shtick under their belts. There's also a matter of colleges or universities demanding a professional proofreading, and believe me, it's within reason. Unlicensed proofreaders are rarely up to the par to the work your thesis will put them through, and if you want a job to be done well, check and then choose a professional you trust them to do it well.
4) Offers sifting. You asked around for proofreaders, sent them your document and you received - offers for the job to be done on your precious baby of a thesis. This is like getting a car to the repair - every mechanic states the price and then you consider pros and cons. However, the offers are just that - offers. You are not obliged to pay for anything until you decide to really do your document into proofreading to one or other person or company. Take your time, consider benefits and drawbacks and find the balance you are happy with.
5)Deadline. The dreaded D word. Make sure you give your proofreader enough time to do your monster right. /Ahem./ That means you will have to consider the deadline you have and the deadline to which your proofreader can finish checking your work. So no last-minute deadlines - try to give the proofreader at least one to two days of additional time in the whole deadline deal - for example, you have a thesis with 60 pages, document only. The proofreader can do some 15 pages, 20 if they are pressed, per day, but let's go with 15. This means 4 days of work, you add one more day for reserve - so your deadline is 5 days total, so you will say 5 days and proofreader will try to stick with that. The longer the document is, and if you want your proofreader to edit document, you will have to add more time to get the work done.
6) Additional services. Nowadays proofreaders also offer checking the sources, citing, editing the document by standards of your college or university and so on and so forth. You can get that price down if you do those things yourself - and you will also learn something, thought sometimes Word can be pretty stubborn, but hey, just Ask Uncle Google. Saves a pretty penny too, even if you will find yourself sometimes frustrated over one little thing or another. But if you do decide for additional services, there applies the same rule as with price haggling - get the final price confirmed in writing, with all the additional services accounted for.
7) Downsizing. Yes, you read it right. There's no need to send absolutely entire document into checking, as it also amps up the final price. Just send the document that needs to be checked, without any tables of content and anything else. For example, you have 85 pages, and if you send only document, it cuts it down on 64. Pretty sweet, no?
8) Price haggling. Usually, the prices are already fixed, but if you choose a proofreader - instead of company - you can still haggle the price. Be prepared to barter. Yes, the entire experience is terrifying at first, but if you do your document well, with minimal grammatical errors and give your proofreader enough time to check it over, the price you two can come up with can be pretty reasonable. However, a warning - agree to the price before giving the document into proofreading, both sides, so there won't be any misunderstanding about payment later. The written confirmation is the best, because it counts as a contract.
9) Checking the works. This is the time that warms the cockles of your heart. Or it should have been, at any rate. Before you pay the piper, check the piper's work. Do make an agreement that the proofreader send you a part of the document upon the finishing the proofreading so you can check over their work. Better to be safe than sorry, and if there are any misunderstandings, that they are solved before concluding the transaction - i.e. putting the money in their hands.
10) Do your job. You got the proofread document back, so what now? Get through the whole thing and check the changes, and either reject or accept them. Yes, it is a dull job, but it's the only one that really guarantees your thesis or research work will be worth both of the time and money you put it in.
Whew. I think I completely railroaded from my intentional theme, but oh well. What did I want to write about already? /confused/
Well, hopefully this little tidbit will be useful for anyone reading it.
Signing off,
Eirenei
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